Minimizing Risk. Resolving Disputes. Protecting Your Business.
Ryan
W.
French
- Associate
Practice Areas
- Bad Faith Insurance
- Subrogation
- General Liability
- Premises Liability
- Product Liability Litigation
- Construction Defect Litigation
- Breach of Contract Litigation
- Trade Secret and Information Theft Litigation
- Lanham Act Litigation
- Restrictive Covenant Litigation
- Quite Title Actions
- Mechanic's Lien Litigation
Education
- Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, California
- J.D.
- Honors: cum laude
Bar Admissions
- New York
- Pennsylvania
Biography
Ryan graduated cum laude from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California in 2014. During law school, he participated in the school's Art and Entertainment Law Clinic providing low income artists and entertainers with pro bono legal services. In between his first and second year of law school, Ryan worked in New York City as a contract intern for a Broadway management company that arranged the national tours of major theatrical productions like Stomp, Chicago, and the Blue Man Group. While in his final year of law school, Ryan worked as a law clerk in the production department of an animation studio that produced programs for Adult Swim, Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, and, later, Netflix.
Ryan is admitted to the bar in New York and Pennsylvania. He began his career performing large scale electronically-stored information (ESI) review for an international law firm on matters involving Affordable Care Act state enrollment website construction and real estate development contract disputes. Over the years, Ryan transitioned his practice to dealing with business tort, trade secret, and information theft cases along with general liability and insurance defense cases.
Ryan has experience defending employers in hostile work environment and discrimination actions, defending insurance companies in bad faith matters, crafting coverage opinions, and prosecuting declaratory judgment actions on behalf of insurance carriers. He has also worked in the areas of product liability and mass/toxic tort defense.
While a general practitioner early in his career, Ryan had the opportunity to argue several cases before the appellate courts of Pennsylvania relating to the statute of limitations for filing a mechanics' lien, an allegedly arbitrary condemnation of property by a municipal authority for the purposes of building a sewage treatment facility, and whether the actions of the Clarion County Domestic Relations Section of the Court of Common Pleas was engaged in handing out illegal suspended sentences for failure to pay child support - a matter that was granted review by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court where Ryan garnered support for his position from the dissenting Justice.
He currently resides in Pittsburgh's Polish Hill neighborhood with his dog and two cats.
Representative Cases
- Defended many insurance companies against claims for breach of contract, bad faith, and fraud.
- Defended a former electronic component sales representative and inventor against claims by his former company that he had misappropriated trade secrets and customer lists during his time as a sales person before starting his own electronic component manufacturing and sales company. Received summary judgment on nearly all claims brought against client leading to minimal settlement value.
- Lead defense counsel defending real estate brokers against claims of trade secret theft and information misappropriation when group left a former employer to start their own brokerage and agency.
- Lead counsel for general contractor in breach of contract and mechanics’ lien action against commercial property owner and developer. The case settled after general contractor’s motion for summary judgment was filed and pending.
- Was lead counsel in matter forcing surrender of property owners’ oil and gas leasing rights from large natural gas producer operating internationally.
- Secured lowest cost sewage treatment facility location after contentious eminent domain proceeding against landowners. Acted as lead counsel for entire case.
- Represented multiple plaintiffs in breach of contract, construction defect, and product defect action against manufacturers, distributors, and installers of prefabricated steel structures and manufactured homes. Acted as lead counsel for all cases.
- Defended employer and company shareholder against harassment, discrimination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. Obtained summary judgment on IIED claim and beneficially settled the remainder. Acted as lead counsel for entire case.
- Appealed property tax assessment of multifamily residential apartment complex on the basis of Department of Environmental Protection order demanding the operation of private sewage and water treatment facility servicing only the apartment complex. Acted as lead counsel for entire case.
- Represented Defendant against claims of breach of a covenant not to compete and employment agreement. Acted as lead counsel for entire case.