Kaufman, Payton & Chapa

Previous Law Firm Name

• Kaufman and Payton

Law Firm Overview

Since its founding in 1975, Kaufman, Payton & Chapa has earned a reputation as one of Michigan's most successful law firms with special experience and capabilities in the areas of insurance law, product liability, medical malpractice, professional liability, liquor liability, excess and reinsurance law, municipal, international insurance, life, health and accident law, environmental impairment, commercial, and property law.

Kaufman, Payton & Chapa's distinguished roster of clients includes local, national and international organizations in such fields as insurance, health care, manufacturing, finance, real estate, government, retail and recreation.

The firm provides services as both legal counselors and as advocates. As advocates, Kaufman, Payton & Chapa attorneys represent clients in trial and appellate work before state and federal courts and administrative agencies in routine and complex litigation. Litigation services include research, and trial and appeal of matters requiring court or other tribunal appearances, as well as advice and counsel to help avoid litigation. Legal counsel is provided to a variety of insurance companies, corporations, individuals, government agencies and non-profit organizations.

The firm's principal office is located in an architectural award-winning building in Farmington Hills, Michigan. To better serve clients and provide easily accessible counsel, offices are also maintained in Grand Rapids and Detroit. The offices work together to ensure that clients have ready access to the firm's vast range of legal services and the diverse skills and experience of the firm's attorneys.

Kaufman, Payton & Chapa is an expanding law firm that has grown from two attorneys to a current staff of 31, including 12 attorneys and 20 support staff members. Capabilities are continually broadening as associates are added and new offices are opened.

Administrative activities of the firm are handled efficiently by a professional legal office administrator and through sophisticated computer systems that employ the latest technical advances to provide professional service expeditiously and economically.

Among Kaufman, Payton & Chapa's greatest strengths is the aggressiveness and tenacity of its attorneys. Kaufman, Payton & Chapa is, above all else, a results-oriented law firm. The many long-term relationships the company has maintained with clients are the direct result of a strong commitment to producing results effectively and expediently

Kaufman, Payton & Chapa subscribes to the highest standard of professional conduct and responsibility. Clients are kept informed of progress and consulted regarding new developments and changes. Furthermore, the firm's professional commitment is demonstrated through the leadership role it has taken in legislative tort reform and its quarterly newsletter, The Kaufman Law Letter, which keeps clients informed of legal trends, changes and developments that may impact their businesses. The firm also sponsors periodic seminars and workshops for clients that are led by experts from around the country and Kaufman, Payton & Chapa attorneys.

Areas of Practice

• Administrative Law
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Antitrust & Trade Regulation
• Automobile
• Aviation
• Bad Faith Insurance
• Business & Commercial Law
• Business Organizations
• Business Planning
• Catastrophic Losses
• Commercial Law
• Computer
• Construction Law
• Contracts
• Corporate
• Directors and Officers Liability
• Eminent Domain
• Employment Law -- Employer
• Employment Practices Law
• Environmental
• Estate Planning
• Excess Insurance
• Fire and Arson
• Health & Health Care Law
• Insurance Defense
• Insurance Law 80%
• Insurance Law and Coverage
• International Law
• Labor Law
• Land Use & Zoning
• Legal Malpractice
• Life, Health and Accident
• Liquor Liability
• Litigation & Appeals
• Litigation Audits
• Medical Malpractice
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Municipal Liability
• Natural Resources Law
• Personal Injury
• Personal Injury -- Defense 20%
• Pharmaceutical Liability
• Premises Liability
• Product Liability
• Professional Liability
• Professional Malpractice Law
• Property
• Public Officials Liability
• Railroad Worker Injury/FELA
• Real Estate
• Reinsurance
• Science & Technology Law
• Social Security -- Disability
• Taxation
• Toxic Tort
• Transportation Law
• Workers' Compensation Law

Published Works

• Insuring Real Property and Related Risks, Homeward Bound Seminars Real Property Law Section, State Bar of Michigan, January, 1991
• Apportionment of Defense Costs and Indemnity Payouts Between Covered and Noncovered Claims Coverage Disputes in Catastrophic Eventss, American Bar Association National Institute, March, 1991
• Liquor Liability Law, Matthew Bender, 1987

Representative Cases

• ADBA v. Federal Insurance Co., 990 F.Supp 936 (U.S. District Court 1997)
• Barr v. Mt. Brighton, 215 M.A. 512 (Michigan Court of Appeals 1996)

West Practice Categories

Administrative Law, Administrative Hearings & Adjudication, Administrative Investigations, Licensing, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures, Bad Faith Insurance, Business & Commercial Law, Contracts, Secured Transactions, Transactions, Uniform Commercial Code, Business Organizations, Business Successions, Closely Held Businesses, Corporate Governance, Directors' & Officers' Liability, Dissolution, Formation & Business Planning, Joint Ventures, Limited Liability Companies, Partnerships, Reorganizations, Constitutional Law, Eminent Domain, Construction Law, Construction Liens, Criminal Law, Election Campaign & Political Law, Public Law, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, Environmental Law, Estate Planning, Living Wills, Powers of Attorney and Appointment, Trusts, Wills, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Professional Responsibility, Government Agencies & Programs, Social Security -- Disability, Health & Health Care Law, Insurance Defense, Insurance Law, Bad Faith, Commercial Insurance, Directors' & Officers' Liability Insurance, Errors & Omissions Insurance, Fidelity, Guarantee & Surety, Insurance Subrogation, Life & Health, Motor Vehicle, Property & Casualty, Reinsurance, International Law, Internet -- Cyberspace, Computer Law, Labor Law, Litigation & Appeals, Complex Litigation, Federal Appellate Practice, Federal Trial Practice, State Appellate Practice, State Trial Practice, Mergers & Acquisitions, Natural Resources Law, Personal Injury -- Defense, Premises Liability -- Defense, Personal Injury -- Plaintiff, Premises Liability -- Plaintiff, Probate & Estate Administration, Estate Administration, Products Liability Law, Alcoholic Beverages, Pharmaceutical Products, Professional Malpractice Law, Legal Malpractice, Medical Malpractice, Other Professionals Malpractice, Railroad Worker Injury/FELA, Real Estate Law, Land Use & Zoning, Science & Technology Law, State, Local & Municipal Law, Municipal Liability, Taxation Law, Toxic Torts, Transportation Law, Aviation, Workers' Compensation Law