Biography
Jonathan Small represents clients in complex commercial litigation. He focuses his practice on insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, unfair business practices claims, professional liability, class actions, and appeals.
Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Litigation
Jonathan litigates and advises clients on complex property insurance coverage issues and allegations of bad faith and unfair claim settlement practices arising out of large property losses. He is adept at working with expert witnesses in connection with these cases, including forensic accountants, architects, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, cost estimators, and appraisers. He contributes to the firm's Property Insurance Coverage Insights blog.
Jonathan also litigates and advises clients on complex liability insurance coverage issues and allegations of bad faith and unfair claim settlement practices. He has won pretrial dismissals of numerous liability insurance and bad faith lawsuits, including two precedent setting cases affirmed on appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Unfair Business Practices and Professional Liability
Jonathan has significant experience representing clients in cases involving allegations of unfair business acts or practices and professional liability. He has a record of successful outcomes in these cases, including a dismissal affirmed on appeal to the Massachusetts Appeals Court in a case alleging that a lawyer improperly disclosed privileged information.
Appeals
Jonathan maintains an active appellate practice, primarily focused on insurance and unfair business practices cases. He has successfully briefed two precedent-setting liability insurance and bad faith cases in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He has also argued and won appeals in Massachusetts and Connecticut appellate courts in cases involving unfair business practices, class actions, and defamation claims. He is a regular contributor to the firm’s Massachusetts Appellate Blog.
Class Actions
Jonathan has represented insurers and other business clients in class action lawsuits in a number of substantive areas, including property insurance coverage, liability insurance coverage, and federal telecommunications statutes. In those cases, he has conducted class-related discovery and defeated attempts at class certification at the trial and appellate levels.
Pro Bono
Jonathan maintains an active pro bono practice. He represents victims of domestic abuse through the firm’s Domestic Violence Restraining Order program. He also represents immigrant children in deportation proceedings and coordinates the firm’s trainings and referrals on these cases from Kids In Need of Defense and the Center for Children’s Advocacy.
Prior to joining Robinson+Cole, Jonathan was a litigator in a Boston law firm where he represented real estate developers, real estate investment trusts, large law firms, and other sophisticated business clients in complex commercial litigation.