Jason grew up in the Kansas City area, attended law school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and lives in the area with his wife and five children. He is on the Board of Directors for the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers and is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel. Although Jason has a strong presence in the local Kansas City community, he represents his clients nationally in all matters of litigated and pre-litigation disputes and has appeared before state and federal courts in over 30 states.

Jason uses his broad litigation experience to advise his clients on risk-mitigating techniques to avoid or minimize litigation. In that vein, Jason has helped shape and refine Shook's Strategic Early Case Assessment, a key component of Shook’s client-centric litigation management model. Jason has also published articles and presented on how clients can leverage recent developments in risk allocation and mitigation case law to better account for risk in their various industries. In addition to trial work, Jason advises his clients in a pre-litigation context involving complex issues of insurance coverage and indemnity.

In particular, Jason is sought out by companies for his knowledge and skill in preparing and defending company employees for litigation involving claims of severe bodily injury, catastrophic property damage and wrongful death. His defense of these clients spans the complete array of personal injury lawsuits including slip and fall, premises liability, products liability, automotive liability and worker’s compensation. In January of this year, Jason recently obtained a complete defense verdict for his client in an automotive liability lawsuit involving alleged multimillion-dollar injuries. Although the client conceded liability in causing the accident before trial, the jury deliberated for four hours following a week-long trial before finding unanimously for the defense.

While Jason’s main area of practice is litigation work-up and trials, he is also well-versed in pre-suit risk mitigation and analysis, including published articles providing compliance counsel; early dispositive motion practice with a history of favorable published opinions; all aspects of discovery both written and deposition work; and post-trial appellate review and argument.

Representative Matters

National Convergence Counsel. Jason is passionate about finding the best possible outcome for his clients, which has often meant creating an alternative billing solution to avoid unnecessary spending. He has led teams of attorneys, paralegals, nurse analysts and support staff in consolidating nationwide litigation dockets to centralize and provide alternative fee and flat-fee based arrangements for Fortune 500 companies. This streamlined approach helps align the interest of attorney and client, which results in finding an optimal solution in less time and for less money.

Industry and Product Line Immersion. Jason thoroughly familiarizes himself with his clients' work to help him better represent his clients. For example, before beginning work for Tyco Fire Products, Jason attended an in-depth certification program where, alongside city, state and regional fire marshals, he learned the specifics of fire suppression and fire alarm installation, maintenance and operation.

Below are a few examples of recent trials, dispositive motions and settlements Jason has achieved for his clients:

  • Successfully argued in front of Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals following complete dismissal of estate and minor's wrongful death lawsuit involving two issues of first impression under Kansas law. Frost v. ADT LLC, No. 18-3259 (2018).
  • First-chaired admitted-liability automobile accident in Putnam County, New York. Following a week-long trial, the jury deliberated for just under four hours before returning a unanimous defense verdict. King v. Tyco Integrated Sec., No. 1109-2015 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Putnam Cty. January 2019).
  • Successfully argued Rule 12 dispositive motion obtaining dismissal of all claims with prejudice on behalf of alarm services client in wrongful death suit related to a residential fire pending in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. M.F. v. ADT, Inc. f/k/a Protection One, Inc., No. 18-2360, 2018 WL 6042763 (D. Kan. November 19, 2018).
  • Settled TCPA class action with potential class of more than 1 million following hearing on competing motions for summary judgment and class certification. Estey v. ADT LLC, No. 16-3141 (N.D. Ga. 2018).
  • Second-chaired Lanham Act and Deceptive Trade Practices trial on behalf of ADT LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The defendant, ADT competitor Vivint, settled with ADT for $10 million on the third day of trial. ADT LLC v. Vivint, Inc., No. 17-80432 (S.D. Fla. 2017).
  • Second-chaired alleged massive data breach trial in the Southern District of Florida involving the claimed theft of more than $60 million in pharmaceutical drugs from a warehouse in 2014. The three-week trial resulted in a complete defense verdict and an award of defense costs in favor of our client. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA v. Tyco Integrated Security, LLC, No. 13-80371 (S.D. Fla. 2016).
  • First-chaired property damage and alleged theft trial on behalf of alarm service company in Texas state court. Trial resulted in complete defense verdict and an award of partial defense costs. Valbruna Stainless, Inc. v. ADT Security Services, Inc., No. 2010-77852, 189th Judicial District (Texas Dist. Ct., Harris Cty., 2012).
  • Second-chaired jewelry store robbery trial following daytime theft of goods from Houston Galleria jeweler. Although trial ended in plaintiff’s verdict, the court granted JNOV in favor of our client and remitted verdict down to contractual limitation of $1000. Nacol & Co. v. ADT Sec. Servs. Inc., No. 10-137 (S.D. Tex. 2012).

Publications and Presentations

Erin Fishman, Jason Scott, Adventures in Contracting: Is Gross Negligence Covered?, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers Quarterly Report, Fall 2019.

Jason Scott, Aaron Kirkland and Kenneth Cochran, Best Practices for Defeating Attempts to Void Contracts, Law360, October 23, 2017. 

Kristi Burmeister, Aaron Kirkland and Jason Scott, "Enforcing Exculpatory Provisions in Contract Cases Involving Fraud-Based and Gross-Negligence Claims," Shook, Hardy & Bacon’s 11th Annual Update of the Law (Kansas City, Mo.), June 25, 2014.

Aaron Kirkland and Jason Scott, Enforcing Exculpatory Provisions Against Meritless Claims, Law360, March 17, 2014. 

Jason Scott, Requiring an Independent Tort Duty in Alarm Services Lawsuits, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers Quarterly Report, Spring 2013.

Jason Scott, One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State: An Analysis of LGBT Rights, UMKC L. Rev. (2008).

Jason Scott, Death to Poochy: A Comparison of Historical and Modern Frustrations Faced by Owners of Injured or Killed Pet Dogs, 75 UMKC L. Rev. 569 (2006).

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