Representative Experience

Brad Johnston is a shareholder and director of The Cavanagh Law Firm, P.A.  He has more than 20 years of diverse experience in civil litigation, including jury trials in state and federal court.  His trial experience includes matters involving personal injuries, construction/indemnity issues, insurance coverage and insurance bad faith, and breach of contract/fiduciary duty.

Mr. Johnston has broad experience in construction and real estate matters.  He  has handled a variety of real estate and construction-related lawsuits, including suits involving defective construction, purchase contracts and leases, boundary disputes and other title defects, adverse possession, and materialmen’s liens.  He has represented national construction management firms, real estate developers, general contractors, subcontractors, and property owners in contract and construction defect lawsuits.  He has handled matters involving a variety of civil, structural, and electrical engineering and also architectural standard of care issues.  He has also drafted construction contracts for developers, general contractors, subcontractors, and property owners.

In the personal injury area, Mr. Johnston has handled many personal injury and wrongful death cases for both defendants as well as plaintiffs, including dram shop, products liability, and tire cases.  He has also defended many cases for insured and self-insured clients, ranging from automobile accidents to products liability, premises liability, nursing home neglect, and elder abuse cases.

Mr. Johnston also has extensive experience in vertical transportation cases and has represented an international elevator manufacturing and service company in a variety of personal injury and contract matters.

Mr. Johnston has handled a number of appeals and has argued cases before the Arizona Court of Appeals.  Representing a Canadian governmental entity, Mr. Johnston obtained summary judgment in an action to enforce a Canadian judgment against a Canadian citizen living in Arizona, which ruling was upheld on appeal.  See Alberta Securities Comm’n v. Ryckman, 200 Ariz. 540, 30P.3d 121 (App. 2001).

Mr. Johnston graduated from Brigham Young University, magna cum laude, in 1991.  He is a 1994 graduate of Cornell Law School, where he served as Articles Editor for the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy.  He served as a judicial extern to the Hon. Patrick Monserrate, Supreme Court of New York.  He is admitted to practice in Arizona state courts, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  He has served as a Maricopa County Superior Court Pro Tempore.  He is a member of the Defense Research Institute, the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel, and the construction law sections of the Arizona State Bar and the Maricopa County Bar.

Mr. Johnston and his wife are the parents of six children.  He serves as a Unit Commissioner in the San Tan District, Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Associations & Activities

• State Bar of Arizona
• Maricopa County Bar Association
• Board Member, Maricopa County Bar Construction Section
• Member, International Association of Defense Counsel

Bar Admissions

• Arizona, 1994

Court Admissions

• U.S. District Court, Arizona
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Education

• Cornell University (J.D., 1994)
• Brigham Young University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1991)

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