Jerry “Jay” Fancher
Jay joined Fee, Smith & Sharp in 2024, after more than twenty years of experience as a litigation attorney in law firms in Dallas, Beaumont, and Austin.
Jerry “Jay” Fancher Senior Counsel
Jay joined Fee, Smith & Sharp in 2024, after more than twenty years of experience as a litigation attorney in law firms in Dallas, Beaumont, and Austin.
About Jerry
EXPERIENCE
Jay joined Fee, Smith & Sharp in 2024, after more than twenty years of experience as a litigation attorney in law firms in Dallas, Beaumont, and Austin. He has represented a variety of businesses and individuals when they are in need of litigation counsel, including large multinational corporations, charitable organizations, large industrial premises owners, hospitals and other healthcare providers, insurance companies in first-party suits relating to property damage, large and small privately-owned businesses, and individuals. Jay’s impressive track record has even earned him the honor of being selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for Personal Injury Defense (2025). Whether Jay is retained directly by a large corporation or organization or assigned by an insurer to represent the interests of individual or small business insureds, Jay’s clients can expect that his representation will be diligent, innovative, and conscientious, and that his client’s best interests will always be paramount.
Jay’s journey has taken him all over Texas, as well as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where he graduated high school. He attended college at the University of Texas at Austin where he studied history, before attending Baylor Law School. Since law school, he has raised two daughters with his wife. Since 2017, Jay and his family have lived in Austin, and Jay now spends his free time with his wife wandering Austin and the Hill Country, soaking up the culture and taking in the scenery.
Representative Matters
- Obtained a complete defense verdict after a two-week jury trial for a regional hospital system client in a wrongful death lawsuit relating to an ectopic pregnancy.
- Obtained a complete defense verdict after a two-week jury trial for a regional hospital system client in a wrongful death lawsuit relating to infant deaths.
- Obtained a complete defense verdict after a three-week jury trial for his clients – a healthcare company, physician group and CEO – in a suit seeking more than $70 million on claims raising various issues concerning the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), Medicare and the alleged corporate practice of medicine.
- Defended a healthcare provider through resolution in federal lawsuit alleging violations of the Federal False Claims Act.
- Defended insurance associations against hundreds of first-party insurance claims and lawsuits relating to catastrophic weather events in Texas.
Presentations
- “Obamacare – Beyond ‘Happy Talk’ and ‘Sky is Falling Talk’”
- Jefferson County Bar Association, February 2013
- Orange County Bar Association, April 2013
- Health Care Liability Claims in Texas 2015 – 2016 Update, March 2016
- Chapter 542A – The New Way to Handle Weather-Related Property Damage Claims in Texas, April 2018.
- Recent Developments in the Courts – Disputes Between Insureds and Insurers, 2017-2018, April 2018.
