Hammond, Thomas J.

Scottsdale Bad Faith Insurance Claims Attorney

Experience, Integrity, and Dedication

Steve Ryan has been a trial Lawyer in Arizona for over 30 years. Mr. Ryan has taken over 100 cases all the way to a jury verdict involving issues such as insurance bad faith, wrongful death, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, brain injury, quadriplegia, burn injuries, as well as other civil actions including defamation, abuse of process and malicious prosecution.

Mr. Ryan began his career representing individuals accused of crime who could not afford a lawyer. After 5 years of working as a public defender, he then worked for 2 small law firms for the next 13 years, representing the interests of insurance companies in many different types of lawsuits. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Mr. Ryan began a gradual change in emphasis of his practice from representing insurance and corporate interests to representing individuals and consumers harmed by insurance and corporate interests. From 1993 up through the present, Mr. Ryan has devoted his practice exclusively to representing victims, consumers and policyholders seeking compensation from those individuals and businesses that have harmed them.

Mr. Ryan believes that his year working for insurance companies have provided him with significant insight and understanding as to how insurance companies think and operate which, in turn, means that he is able to represent his current clients more effectively. Mr. Ryan knows how the "other side" thinks, including how they evaluate cases and what factors motivate them to settle a case.

In addition to representing individuals in legal proceedings, Mr. Ryan has been actively involved in class action litigation throughout the country. These class action lawsuits have primarily targeted various types of insurance misconduct or abuse of policyholders, including lawsuits related to payment of medical claims, total loss claims, and diminished value claims. These lawsuits have generated many tens of millions of dollars in compensation for policyholders all over the country insured with many different insurance companies.

In April 2007, Stephen C. Ryan was a principal speaker at a seminar entitled "Bad Faith Insurance Claims in Arizona", sponsored by the National Business Institute. Mr. Ryan spoke to attorneys and claim professionals from throughout Arizona on two topics. The first topic was Successful Courtroom Strategies, specifically advising attorneys how to best present and argue a client's bad faith claim in front of a jury. The second topic involved do's and don'ts of Pretrial Practice, essentially the concept of how to best prepare the client's bad faith claim for trial.

In March 2011, Stephen C. Ryan was a principal speaker at another bad faith seminar sponsored by the National Business Institute.  Mr. Ryan spoke to attorneys and claim professional throughout Arizona on the topics of mediation and how to handle a bad faith trial.

Mr. Ryan resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has three children, a daughter who graduated from Southern Methodist University and presently works in Dallas for Verizon, a son who graduated from Santa Clara University and is presently a second-year law student at the University of Michigan, and a second son who is graduating from Santa Clara University in June 2011.

When any opportunity for leisure time presents itself, Mr. Ryan has always been very active with athletic endeavors including running, golf and mountain biking. Mr. Ryan regards one of his top accomplishments (and experiences) in life as completing the New York City Marathon in 1985.

Mr. Ryan has also been very active in numerous charitable organizations.  He served for many years on the Board of Trustees for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  In that capacity, Mr. Ryan served as co-chairman of the Society’s annual charity golf tournament.  In 1994, Mr. Ryan founded The Perfect Match Golf Classic, another charity golf tournament, benefitting United Blood Services.  Mr. Ryan served as chairman of that event for approximately 10 years.

Finally, Steve volunteers several hours every week for Horses Help, a program that uses horse riding therapy for people with disabilities such as retardation, Downs Syndrome, autism and other disabling conditions.