Chris LaFon
Attorney at Law
clafon@theveritaslawfirm.com
Chris specializes in complex, commercial litigation. His practice has included large-scale disputes with many parties involving over one hundred million dollars in sought damages, as well as more nuanced engagements involving, for examples, disputes between partners, purported breaches of real estate purchase agreements, personal injury claims, allegations of significant corporate fraud, a staffing company dispute, a failed bank board proxy vote, alcohol advertising regulations, a breach of an agreement for use of patented chemical processes, commercial landlord-tenant issues and local construction contract disputes. Additionally, he has significant experience investigating claims and evaluating liability and coverage under various types of insurance policies.
Additionally, Chris has handled numerous employment law issues, from the pre-suit creation of policies and procedures to raise clients’ productively and to avoid litigation, to the defense of Veritas clients against single and multi-plaintiff claims in state and federal court. Chris also has extensive experience litigating issues arising out of residential and commercial construction, including alleged defects and claims under consumer protection laws.
Chris has worked on many cases supporting the rights of individuals and small businesses. In his practice, he focuses on the needs of each of his clients and works to achieve the most efficient and economical resolution of a matter, whether through trials, arbitrations, mediations or other alternative dispute mechanisms.
For the first ten years of his career, Chris worked on various commercial disputes, a significant number of which involved insurance coverage disputes. Having represented both policyholders and insurance companies, he anticipates an insurer’s arguments and defenses and creates a strategy from the early stage of filing a claim through litigation, if necessary, to navigate through complex coverage issues and anticipated arguments. His work has included litigation on whether electronics exposed to smoke constituted covered property damage; on whether certain losses constituted covered business income loss; on the appropriate allocation of damages among many insurers providing successive years of coverage; on available coverage for multi-million dollar product liability and environmental contamination liabilities; on whether losses arising out of employee theft and dishonesty were covered; and on whether losses were covered despite an insurer’s reliance on policy exclusions. At Veritas, he has worked on coverage matters involving first-party property coverage for damage and losses suffered by local restaurants and third-party coverage claims arising out of disputed liability for alleged bodily injury and property damage.
His experience includes working on pre-suit disputes, declaratory judgment actions, bench and jury trials, international arbitrations, and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. He has represented clients in a variety of state and federal courts nationwide, from a federal appellate court in San Fransisco to a state court in a small Virginia county. Chris’s background of representing both plaintiffs and defendants allows him to identify and anticipate issues to best meet his clients’ needs.
Chris attended The University of Pennsylvania Law School and is a 1997 graduate of The College of
William & Mary. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Jersey.
