STEWART B. HARMAN

Shareholder/President

With Plant, Christensen & Kanell since 2006
Tel. (801) 990-0809
Fax: (801) 531-9747
sharman@pckutah.com
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Mr. Harman is a shareholder with Plant, Christensen & Kanell. He began his legal career with Plant, Christensen & Kanell in 2006 and is involved in many different aspects of insurance defense and municipal defense litigation. 

Mr. Harman regularly handles cases in the following areas: personal injury, wrongful death, Section 1983 civil rights actions, police misconduct/use of force cases, constitutional takings claims, Title VII claims, premises liability, intentional torts, slip and fall, insurance/agent broker liability, trucking and auto cases, employment law, complex litigation, construction accidents, construction defect, product warranty claims, products liability, oil and gas, ski industry defense, HOA claims and property damage claims in both state and federal court.

Mr. Harman has resolved hundreds of cases through mediation, arbitration, dispositive motions and trial. He has served as first chair during multiple bench and jury trials, and has briefed and argued before the Utah Court of Appeals, Utah Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  

Mr. Harman is a veteran of the Utah Army National Guard from 1998 to 2006. He served one deployment to former Yugoslavia (Bosnia) as part of Operation Joint Forge in 2002 and 2003.

Education

• Appalachian School of Law, Grundy, Virginia, J.D.: 2006, Summa Cum Laude

  • Editor-in-Chief, Appalachian Journal of Law, Volume V; Associate Editor Volume IV

  • Recipient of the 2006 Burton Award for excellence in legal writing

  • 2006 Presidential Management Fellows Finalist

  • Clerkship with U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Sergeant, United States District Court, Western District of Virginia

• University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, Dual B.S.: Organizational Communication and Political Science, 2001

Appellate Cases / Publications / Selected Lectures

Appellate Cases:

• Manuel v. O’Reilly Auto Enterprises, LLC, et al, 2024 UT App - Not Reported

• Summers v. American Family, 2023 UT App - Not Reported

• Galindo v. City of Flagstaff, 2019 UT 67, 452 P.3d 1185

• Fire Ins. Exchange v. Oltmanns, 2018 UT 10, 416 P.3d 1148

• The Pioneer Craft House, Inc., v. City of South Salt Lake, 676 Fed. Appx. 744 (10th Cir. 2017)

• Dao Trang Phap Hoa v. Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Ass’n of Utah, 2015 UT App 125, 351 P.3d 106

• Cope v. Utah Valley State Coll., 2014 UT 53, 342 P.3d 243

• Wood v. World Wide Ass’n of Speciality Programs & Schs,, Inc., 2014 UT App 106, 326 P.3d 685

• Martin v. Am. Fam. Ins. Co., 2009 UT App 20

Publications / Selected Lectures:

• Restoration of Competency Through Involuntary Medication: Applying The Sell Factors, 4 Appalachian J.L. 127 (2005).

• Speaker, Latest Trends in Public Entity Litigation. Olympus Risk Conference, March 2024.

• Speaker, Law Enforcement Liability: Applying Qualified Immunity. URMA Risk Conference, August 2023.

• Speaker, Where We Are: Recent Cases That Challenge the GIA and Where do we Go From Here?, Salt Lake County Risk Conference, October 2021.

• Speaker, Avoiding Extraordinary Verdicts in an Era of Escalating Litigation, Olympus Risk Conference, September 2021.

• Speaker, What to Expect if the Qualified Immunity Defense Changes, Olympus Risk Conference, September 2020.

• Speaker, Qualified Immunity Defense: How Ferguson, Missouri Impacted the Legal Landscape, Olympus Risk Conference, October 2019.

• Speaker, Qualified Immunity and Governmental Immunity, Olympus Risk Conference, October 2018.

• Speaker, Litigation Pitfalls, Utah Municipal Attorneys Association, Spring Convention, 2017.

• Speaker, Lawsuits Happen—Are You Immune?, Utah League of Cities & Towns, Fall Convention, 2016.

Practice Areas

• General litigation (State and Federal Court)

• Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

• Municipal Law and Defense

• Civil Rights Claims

• Employment Law (Title VII)

• Insurance law

• Products liability

• Premises Liability

• Oil and Gas

• Trucking/Auto accidents

• Construction and Construction Defect Litigation

• Product warranty

• Ski Industry

• HOA

Admitted to Practice

• Utah State Bar (All Utah Courts)

• United States District Court, District of Utah

• United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

• Idaho State Bar (All Idaho courts)

Professional Affiliations and Memberships

• Utah State Bar Association

  • Serve on Standing Committee on Model Utah Civil Jury Instructions - August 2023 to present.

  • Member of the MUJI Subcommittee on Insurance

• Salt Lake County Bar Association

• Utah State Litigation Section

• Utah Defense Lawyers Association

  • Board of Directors, February 2023 to present

• Utah Municipal Attorneys Association

• Idaho State Bar Association

Interests and Hobbies

Proficient in Danish and Norwegian Languages. Served LDS Mission in Copenhagen, Denmark. Eagle Scout. Current member of the Board of Directors for the Brighton Ski Team and certified with the US Ski and Snowboard Association as a Competition Official, Chief of Race and Referee. Served on the City Council for the City of North Salt Lake from 2010 to 2014. Interests include running, cycling, skiing, golf and backpacking. Athletic accomplishments: 2012/18 Boston Marathons, 2012 Wasatch 100 Mile Ultra-marathon, 2015 Ironman Arizona, 2021 Grand Canyon Rim2Rim2Rim and 2021 JFK 50-Miler.