Jennifer Welch

Jennifer is a passionate advocate and skilled litigator.  She focuses her practice on insurance coverage disputes, bad faith litigation, and personal injury litigation.

She is the chair of the firm’s Motor Vehicle Litigation Section, chair of the firm’s Insurance Law & Coverage practice group and serves on the Cranfill Sumner COVID-19 Response Team. She regularly advises clients on a wide array of insurance coverage issues involving both first and third-party coverages, including commercial general liability coverage, commercial and personal auto coverage, homeowners’ coverage, professional liability coverage, and property coverage.  She has represented insurers in numerous declaratory judgment actions in both state and federal courts, and she has also authored numerous publications and given many presentations on various insurance coverage issues.

Jennifer also routinely handles cases involving insurance bad faith, premises liability, motor vehicle negligence, and homeowners’ association disputes. She has particular experience and interest in handling uninsured and underinsured motorist claims and has an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of the laws governing such claims.  No matter what type of case she is litigating, Jennifer strives to help her clients develop cost-effective resolution strategies and, when necessary, aggressively represents their interests in court.

Jennifer is a Raleigh native.  In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, exercising, gardening, and spending time with her husband, Matt, and their two daughters, Grayson and Caroline.

Representative Matters

Cases or matters referenced do not represent the lawyer’s entire record. Each case is unique and must be evaluated on its own merits. The outcome of a particular case cannot be predicated upon a lawyer’s or a law firm’s past results.

• Obtained summary judgment for property owners association in lawsuit by homeowner over assessments and resulting lien.
• Secured declaratory judgment that insured was not entitled to underinsured motorist insurer where insured failed to provide advance written notice of settlement with at fault party.
• Obtained favorable decisions for insurers in COVID-19 business interruption coverage disputes.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of underinsured motorist carrier in matter where plaintiff insured claimed he was entitled to $1,000,000 in UIM coverage due to insurer’s failure to obtain effective selection/rejection form from the named insured.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of the defendant in a wrongful death action involving whether a property owner owed a legal duty to the employees of a contractor making improvements to the owner’s property.
• Obtained summary judgment for defendant insurance carrier in a matter involving a dispute in which plaintiff sought coverage under an excess workers’ compensation policy for an occurrence that took place outside of the policy period and therefore afforded no coverage for the subject loss.
• Obtained reimbursement for insurer in primary/excess declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court.

Articles, Presentations, and Publications

• “North Carolina Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage,” Client presentation (2019)
• Co-authored NC portion of DRI Duty to Defend Compendium (2016)
• “Insurance Bad Faith: Conduct Counts” – article for JD Supra (2013)
• Co-authored NC portion of DRI Professional Liability Insurance Compendium (2012)
• Speaker, Flood Insurance Seminar, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2019
• Speaker, “Automobile Insurance Coverage,” Insurance Law 2008, Wake Forest University School of Law
• Speaker, “Insurance Law,” Twenty-Eighth Annual Review NC 2008, Wake Forest University School of Law
• Speaker, “Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Claims,” Automobile Litigation:  Strategic Issues and Answers, National Business Institute, 2007
• “Summary of North Carolina Motor Vehicle Law” – Client presentation (2005)
• “Record Retention and Management” – Client presentation (2004)