Biography | Jennifer S. Stegmaier

Jennifer Stegmaier is a litigator and counselor with more than 20 years of experience in litigation, trial and appellate matters in state and federal courts throughout the county. Jennifer represents clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters in the financial services industry, including conversion of negotiable instruments; financial institution bonds; life, health and disability insurance; ERISA; fraud, negligence and bad faith claims; and a host of contract disputes. She represents clients in arbitrations, mediation proceedings and settlement conferences, and counsels clients in various regulatory matters in the life, health and disability insurance industry.

Jennifer’s practice is focused on a diverse array of complex commercial disputes involving hospitals, provider networks, managed care organizations, managing general underwriters, and insurance producers and agents. Jennifer has extensive experience defending insurance companies and financial institutions in claims for in-network and out-of-network hospital reimbursements in excess of $40 million, fidelity bond claims seeking coverage in excess of $100 million, and antitrust subpoenas and civil investigative demands from the federal Trade Commission pertaining to hospital mergers. Jennifer counsels and assists health insurance clients in responding to regulatory complaints, market conduct studies and issues arising from the impact of agency bulletins issued by departments of insurance. Jennifer also guides insurance clients in managing internal investigations, conducting employee interviews, and coordinating internal searches for documents and electronically stored information in anticipation of and during the litigation process, and developing best practices regarding the same.

Jennifer also is experienced at representing clients in data privacy class-action litigation and regulatory investigations. She has defended third-party claims brought by individuals throughout the country whose personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) has been compromised in a data security incident. In addition, she has handled numerous investigations by law enforcement and state and federal regulators, including state attorneys general and HHS/OCR for HIPAA violations. Jennifer advises clients on cybersecurity and data privacy breach response following a cybersecurity incident, assesses overall risk and compliance, and helps to remediate cybersecurity issues.

Outside the practice of law, Jennifer is the past president and a former 10-year member of the Board of Directors of the FBI Chicago Citizens Academy Alumni Association, a nonprofit organization separate and distinct from the FBI that supports the mission of the FBI and is designed to promote safe communities through community service and educating community members about law enforcement, with an emphasis on the mission, resources and priorities of the FBI. Jennifer is passionate about combatting sex trafficking and helping victims of this horrific crime. She volunteers with Reclaim13 and Selah Freedom, and was the team leader for the FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association’s national campaign to raise awareness and help victims of human trafficking across the county. Jennifer also is a member of a certified therapy dog team and volunteers with children with disabilities and special needs at Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Misericordia to help improve their health, activities of daily living and quality of life.

Education

Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology (J.D., 1998)
- 1998; Moot Court Honors Society; CALI Award for International Business Contracts; production editor, Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal
University of Illinois at Chicago (B.S. in Finance and Economics, 1992)
- Honors College

Bar Admissions

Illinois

Court Admissions

Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Professional Affiliations

FBI Chicago Citizens Academy Alumni Association, Board of Directors 2010−2019; President, 2017−2019; Corporate Secretary 2011−2017
FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association, National Human Trafficking Awareness, Team Leader, 2018−2019
InfraGard Partnership for Protection, 2017−present
American Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association
DRI: The Voice of the Defense Bar

Jennifer Stegmaier is a litigator and counselor with more than 20 years of experience in litigation, trial and appellate matters in state and federal courts throughout the county. Jennifer represents clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters in the financial services industry, including conversion of negotiable instruments; financial institution bonds; life, health and disability insurance; ERISA; fraud, negligence and bad faith claims; and a host of contract disputes. She represents clients in arbitrations, mediation proceedings and settlement conferences, and counsels clients in various regulatory matters in the life, health and disability insurance industry.

Jennifer’s practice is focused on a diverse array of complex commercial disputes involving hospitals, provider networks, managed care organizations, managing general underwriters, and insurance producers and agents. Jennifer has extensive experience defending insurance companies and financial institutions in claims for in-network and out-of-network hospital reimbursements in excess of $40 million, fidelity bond claims seeking coverage in excess of $100 million, and antitrust subpoenas and civil investigative demands from the federal Trade Commission pertaining to hospital mergers. Jennifer counsels and assists health insurance clients in responding to regulatory complaints, market conduct studies and issues arising from the impact of agency bulletins issued by departments of insurance. Jennifer also guides insurance clients in managing internal investigations, conducting employee interviews, and coordinating internal searches for documents and electronically stored information in anticipation of and during the litigation process, and developing best practices regarding the same.

Jennifer also is experienced at representing clients in data privacy class-action litigation and regulatory investigations. She has defended third-party claims brought by individuals throughout the country whose personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) has been compromised in a data security incident. In addition, she has handled numerous investigations by law enforcement and state and federal regulators, including state attorneys general and HHS/OCR for HIPAA violations. Jennifer advises clients on cybersecurity and data privacy breach response following a cybersecurity incident, assesses overall risk and compliance, and helps to remediate cybersecurity issues.

Outside the practice of law, Jennifer is the past president and a former 10-year member of the Board of Directors of the FBI Chicago Citizens Academy Alumni Association, a nonprofit organization separate and distinct from the FBI that supports the mission of the FBI and is designed to promote safe communities through community service and educating community members about law enforcement, with an emphasis on the mission, resources and priorities of the FBI. Jennifer is passionate about combatting sex trafficking and helping victims of this horrific crime. She volunteers with Reclaim13 and Selah Freedom, and was the team leader for the FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association’s national campaign to raise awareness and help victims of human trafficking across the county. Jennifer also is a member of a certified therapy dog team and volunteers with children with disabilities and special needs at Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Misericordia to help improve their health, activities of daily living and quality of life.

Events

Jennifer Stegmaier is a litigator and counselor with more than 20 years of experience in litigation, trial and appellate matters in state and federal courts throughout the county. Jennifer represents clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters in the financial services industry, including conversion of negotiable instruments; financial institution bonds; life, health and disability insurance; ERISA; fraud, negligence and bad faith claims; and a host of contract disputes. She represents clients in arbitrations, mediation proceedings and settlement conferences, and counsels clients in various regulatory matters in the life, health and disability insurance industry.

Jennifer’s practice is focused on a diverse array of complex commercial disputes involving hospitals, provider networks, managed care organizations, managing general underwriters, and insurance producers and agents. Jennifer has extensive experience defending insurance companies and financial institutions in claims for in-network and out-of-network hospital reimbursements in excess of $40 million, fidelity bond claims seeking coverage in excess of $100 million, and antitrust subpoenas and civil investigative demands from the federal Trade Commission pertaining to hospital mergers. Jennifer counsels and assists health insurance clients in responding to regulatory complaints, market conduct studies and issues arising from the impact of agency bulletins issued by departments of insurance. Jennifer also guides insurance clients in managing internal investigations, conducting employee interviews, and coordinating internal searches for documents and electronically stored information in anticipation of and during the litigation process, and developing best practices regarding the same.

Jennifer also is experienced at representing clients in data privacy class-action litigation and regulatory investigations. She has defended third-party claims brought by individuals throughout the country whose personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) has been compromised in a data security incident. In addition, she has handled numerous investigations by law enforcement and state and federal regulators, including state attorneys general and HHS/OCR for HIPAA violations. Jennifer advises clients on cybersecurity and data privacy breach response following a cybersecurity incident, assesses overall risk and compliance, and helps to remediate cybersecurity issues.

Outside the practice of law, Jennifer is the past president and a former 10-year member of the Board of Directors of the FBI Chicago Citizens Academy Alumni Association, a nonprofit organization separate and distinct from the FBI that supports the mission of the FBI and is designed to promote safe communities through community service and educating community members about law enforcement, with an emphasis on the mission, resources and priorities of the FBI. Jennifer is passionate about combatting sex trafficking and helping victims of this horrific crime. She volunteers with Reclaim13 and Selah Freedom, and was the team leader for the FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association’s national campaign to raise awareness and help victims of human trafficking across the county. Jennifer also is a member of a certified therapy dog team and volunteers with children with disabilities and special needs at Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Misericordia to help improve their health, activities of daily living and quality of life.

Dismissal of Data Breach Class Action on Behalf of Radiology Facility and Archival Imaging System

Geoffrey A. Belzer (Partner-Chicago), Anjali C. Das (Partner-Chicago), Peter J. Larkin (Partner-White Plains) and Jennifer S. Stegmaier (Of Counsel-Chicago) obtained a data breach class action dismissal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a radiology facility and archival imaging system that contained protected health information. About a year and a half after receiving notice of a breach, two patients filed a complaint against the firm’s client and its IT service provider for failing to implement adequate cybersecurity measures, alleging multiple unauthorized individuals had accessed their information. Geoffrey, Anjali, Peter and Jennifer prevailed on their motion to dismiss when the court held that allegations of increased risk of future harm alone is not a cognizable injury. The court also rejected each of the plaintiffs' additional theories of injury based on time and money spent on theft and fraud monitoring, “benefit of the bargain” injury, intrusion upon seclusion and statutory violations. Plaintiff’s counsel initially filed a purported class action designating another individual who was ultimately determined to never have been a patient of the radiology practice. Plaintiff’s counsel dismissed that action after the team moved for dismissal, and counsel then instituted the parallel suit involving these two plaintiffs and the motion to dismiss follows.

Geoffrey Belzer, Anjali C. Das, Peter J. Larkin and Jennifer S. Stegmaier