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FREDERICK J. SUDEKUM, III

    
Partner  
Education
 
Mr. Sudekum graduated, magna cum laude and phi beta kappa, from the University of  Missouri-Columbia with a B.A in Political Science in 1977. He received his J.D., with honors, from St. Louis University Law School in 1980.
 

   
    Experience
 
Since the firm's inception, Mr. Sudekum has been the Senior Partner at Sudekum, Cassidy & Shulruff, Chtd. He was also the firm's first Managing Partner. For more than 25 years he has concentrated his practice in defending insurance companies in a myriad of settings, primarily those involving detailed coverage analysis, fire and explosion cases.

Prior to forming Sudekum, Cassidy & Shulruff, Chtd., Mr. Sudekum was a Partner at a major Chicago law firm where he analyzed and defended first-party insurance claims and built-up third-party cases.

  
 

 
Expertise
 
Mr. Sudekum has conducted numerous examinations under oath, provided countless coverage opinions and has successfully tried a number of fraud cases to verdict. As a result of his vast experience representing insurers, he is one of the recognized leaders in Chicago in defending insurers cases involving extra-contractual damages.

Mr. Sudekum has also handled a number of subrogation cases, including products liability, automobiles, pre-manufactured fire boxes, propane torches, asphalt tiles and adhesives, various electrical and gas appliances, service panels, air-conditioning units, furnaces and lighting fixtures.

He served as the Illinois and Indiana editor of the "Annotations to the Homeowners Policy" (2nd edition) prepared by the Property Insurance Law Committee of the American Bar Association's Tort and Insurance Practice Section. Mr. Sudekum also was appointed by the Honorable Neil f. Hartigan,
Attorney General of the State of Illinois, to author a portion of the "Attorney General Arson
Training and Prosecution Manual."

He is a member of the American Bar Association's Tort Insurance Practice Section and its
Committee on Property Insurance and the Illinois Advisory Committee on Arson Prevention.
Mr. Sudekum has given numerous talks and seminars on subjects dealing with examinations
under oath and the evidence necessary to win explosion and fire cases. Mr. Sudekum
has served as a Seminar Panelist at the Property Loss & Liability Conferences
hosted by the Property Loss Research Bureau ("PLRB"). The title of the seminar
was "The Handling of Potentially Fraudulent Claim Files." Mr. Sudekum's
presentation concerned recent developments on the case law of the
misrepresentation defense. He has also addressed fraud rings, staged
automobile losses, how to conduct an examination under oath and the
one-year suit filing provision.