Sharp, Heather N.
Biography
Heather is a coverage attorney whose practice involves primarily third-party liability claims arising under commercial general liability insurance policies, with a special focus on construction defect claims. She also has considerable experience in suits involving toxic torts, such as environmental contamination and latent diseases resulting from long-term exposure to hazardous substances. Heather’s practice includes advising insurers in connection with pre-litigation decisions, issuing coverage opinions, drafting reservation-of-rights letters, and vigorously defending liability insurers when they are brought into suits as defendants pursuant to Louisiana’s Direct Action Statute.
Heather also defends insurance companies in first-party property cases involving residential and commercial properties damaged by disasters such as hurricanes, hail storms, and fire. Additionally, she is experienced in evaluating coverage under inland marine insurance policies, and in defending insurers in suits involving these policies.
Heather graduated cum laude from Louisiana State University in 2001, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. In 2005, she received her Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University, where she was the recipient of the C.E. Laborde, Jr. Scholarship and graduated Order of the Coif.
Following law school, Heather joined the commercial litigation section of Louisiana’s largest law firm, where her practice focused primarily on defending sizeable corporations. In 2010, she joined Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard’s insurance section.
Heather is admitted to practice in all federal and state courts in Louisiana. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, DRI, and the Baton Rouge Association of Women Attorneys.
Heather authored the article entitled “New ISO Forms Impact Construction Contracts,” published in the Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin in September 2013. She was also a contributing writer for the “Take Five” series, a sequence of articles published by the American Bar Association’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee explaining the basics of commercial general liability coverage.
