Kyle Riley manages the firm’s Seattle, Washington, office. He has profound expertise in Washington bad faith law, wrongful death, and catastrophic injury claims. Kyle also has significant experience defending fire losses, trucking companies, banking institutions, and self-insured rental car companies.

Prior to joining Smith Freed Eberhard, Kyle worked with the Oregon Department of Justice where he gained significant litigation experience specializing in the recovery of self-insured losses. He joined Smith Freed Eberhard in 2003.

In Bauducco-Heiss v. Jim Fruitt Trucking, Kyle was the lead attorney defending a truck driver and trucking company in a lawsuit related to a serious motor vehicle accident involving the death of two adults and a serious brain injury of a young girl. Kyle was able to locate a favorable witness and retain an expert to defeat the codefendant’s attempts to be dismissed from the underlying case. The case ended in a global settlement.

In Naylor v. Gwin & Sons Logging, Kyle was the trial attorney for a third-party defendant alleged to have caused damage to a pipeline through their logging activities. Defense retained joint experts able to plot the pipeline and identify the source of the failures as being caused by freezing damage unrelated to logging activity. Kyle’s cross-examination resulted in the plaintiff’s expert admitting that he had not measured the length of the line. The jury returned a defense verdict after an hour of deliberation entitling the lead defendant to recover their attorney fees from the plaintiff.

Publications & Thought Leadership

Kyle has given several presentations to claims representatives including “Campaign Against Diminished Value Claims,” OADC Bulletin, Winter 2008 and “Introduction to Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act,” OCAA, Spring 2008 Seminar.

Kyle co-authored a successful briefing on the duties of self-insured rental car companies to provide liability coverage to renters in Washington. Shields v. Enterprise Leasing Company, 160 Wn. App. 664 (2007).

Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, J.D., cum laude, 2002
Pacific University, B.A., Mathematics & Political Science, 1998

Member, Washington State Bar Association
Member, Washington Defense Trial Lawyers
Black Belt Trial Advocacy Training Program Graduate
Washington Super Lawyers - 2018 - 2020