Chris H. Begeman - Phoenix, AZ

Overview

Chris Begeman is a partner at Righi Fitch Law Group. Mr. Begeman is admitted to practice in Arizona and New Mexico. He handles a wide variety of civil cases, including transportation, construction defect, personal injury, product liability and insurance bad faith. His current practice focuses on defending trucking companies and their drivers in personal injury and property damage matters, individuals and companies involved in injury accidents and construction companies in construction defect and job site injury matters. Mr. Begeman has successfully defended and tried both personal injury and construction defect cases.

Mr. Begeman recently obtained a favorable verdict in a personal injury matter stemming from an automobile accident. Mr. Begeman' s client was extremely intoxicated at the time of the accident. Although liability was conceded, Mr. Begeman was able to convince the jury to award Plaintiff only a day of medical expenses and a nominal amount for pain and suffering. Despite a criminal conviction for operating while impaired, Mr. Begeman successfully argued that punitive damages were not warranted and the jury agreed.

In a construction defect case, Mr. Begeman utilized fee shifting strategy to recover $1.3 million from the plaintiff in a construction defect case. In the case Chris represented a New Mexico general contractor. He advised the contractor to make a strategic settlement offer of 1.3 million. The plaintiff rejected the offer and trial ensued. After securing a full defense verdict, Chris recovered $1.3 million in defense fees and costs from the plaintiff. Mr. Begeman has also successfully defended national home builders in arbitration. Representing a national home builder in a soil movement matter, Mr. Begeman successfully argued that the home had not experienced post construction movement necessitating repairs. The arbitrator agreed and awarded the Claimant less than 2% of Claimants' experts' cost of repair.

Mr. Begeman currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel. Mr. Begeman also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors for Phoenix Christian PreK-8^th Grade School. He is also an active member at Mt. View Presbyterian Church. In his spare time, Mr. Begeman enjoys spending time with his wife and four children, playing softball and everything sports related.