Stephen C. Keller

About Stephen C. Keller

Stephen C. Keller joined Barnes Maloney PLLC in 2004 and he became a partner in 2012.  His practice areas include bad faith and insurance coverage issues, governmental and tort liability litigation, automobile and trucking negligence, construction defects and appeals.

He was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky but Louisville has been his home since 1996. He received Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in Communication from the University of Kentucky. Before attending law school, he worked for the Kentucky legislature and its 1996 Commission on Poverty.

Stephen’s work has generated published decisions in multiple cases including Woods v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 589 F.Supp.3d 675 (E.D. Ky. 2022), Travelers Indemnity Company v. Charles Armstrong, et al., 565 S.W.3d 550, (Ky. 2018), Dippin’ Dots LLC v. Travelers Property Cas. Co. of America, 322 F.R.D. 271, (W.D. Ky. Aug. 23, 2017) and Patterson v. City of Earlington, 650 F.Supp.2d 674 (W.D. Ky. 2009).  He also authored an article entitled “When a Corporation May ‘Speak’ through Prior Deponents: The Process of Adoption by Designation in Federal Court” which was published in the July-August 2023 edition of DRI’s For the Defense magazine.  He also co-authored an article for the October 2023 edition of CLM magazine entitled “Attorney-Client Privilege and Extra-Contractual Claims: A Primer for First-Party Bad Faith Actions Involving UM and UIM.”

He has active memberships in both DRI and FDCC.  He belongs to the Insurance Law Committees for FDCC and DRI.

In his free time, he enjoys running, traveling and reading.

Education

Brandeis School of Law at University of Louisville (J.D. 1999)
University of Kentucky (B.S. and M.A. 1995)

State Licensure and Courts

Kentucky, 1999

U.S. District Court – Western District of Kentucky, 2004

U.S. District Court – Eastern District of Kentucky, 2004

U.S. District Court – Southern District of Indiana, 2017

U.S. Court of Appeals – Sixth Circuit, 2004

U.S. Court of Appeals – Seventh Circuit, 2022

Significant Decisions  

OM Shiv Hospitality LLC v. Northfield Ins. Co., Civil Action 1:24-CV-00048-GNS-HBB (Jun. 25, 2025)

Cindy Kirtley, et al. v. City of Walton, et al., 2025 WL 1738299 (E.D. Ky., June 23, 2025)

Saturday v. Ashwood Townhouses of Laredo Association Inc., 2023-CA-0541-MR (Ky.App. Nov. 8, 2024)

White v. Baptist Healthcare System Inc., et al., 2024 WL 1813237 (Ky.App. Apr. 26, 2024)

Medrano v. Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, et al., 2024 WL 1348252 (S.D. Ind., Mar. 29, 2024)

Brown v. Town of Corydon, et al., 2023 WL 8236991 (S.D. Ind., Nov. 28, 2023)

Woods v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 2023 WL 7304386 (6th Cir. 2023)

Guido v. The Travelers Companies Inc., 2023 WL 5658920 (E.D. Ky., Aug. 31, 2023)

Austin v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 2023 WL 5253000 (E.D. Ky., Aug. 15, 2023)

Michael A. Veneman CPA PSC v. Travelers Casualty Ins. Co. of America, 2022-CA-0021-MR, (Ky.App., May 5, 2023)

Affiliated FM Insurance v. RAM Construction, 2023 WL 322390 (E.D. Ky., Jan. 19, 2023)

Woods v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 2022 WL 6201790 (E.D. Ky., Oct. 7, 2022)

Travelers Indemnity Company, et al. v. Bernard Tew, et al., 2022 WL 3696676 (6th Cir. 2022)

Derek Boyd v. Davin Nichols, et al., 2022 WL 2209951 (S.D. Ind., June 21, 2022)

Woods v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 589 F.Supp.3d 675 (E.D. Ky., Mar. 7, 2022)

Travelers Indemnity Company, et al. v. Bernard Tew, et al., 2021 WL 5380944 (E.D. Ky. Nov. 17, 2021)

Dedrick v. Turner, Case 4:18-CV-148-RLY-DML (S.D. Ind. Dec. 26, 2019)

Woods v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 411 F.Supp.3d 397 (E.D. Ky., Aug. 14, 2019)

Travelers Indemnity Company v. Charles Armstrong, et al., 565 S.W.3d 550, (Ky. 2018)

Roberts v. O’Niel, 2018 WL 2197725 (S.D. Ind. May 14, 2018)

Dippin’ Dots LLC v. Travelers Property Cas. Co. of America, 322 F.R.D. 271, (W.D. Ky. Aug. 23, 2017)

Thiele v. Kentucky Growers Ins. Co., 522 S.W.3d 198, (Ky. 2017) as counsel for amicus curiae

Westfield Ins. Co. v. Estate of McMahan, 2017 WL 1658952, U.S. District Court (W.D. Ky., May 1, 2017)

Dawson v. Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, 2014 WL 4809400, U.S. District Court (W.D. Ky., Sept. 25, 2014)

Estate of Whitaker v. Miller Brothers Coal LLC, 2012 WL 6061744, (Ky.App. Aug. 21, 2013)

Pruitt v. Genie Industries Inc., 2013 WL 485966, U.S. District Court (E.D. Ky., Feb. 6, 2013)

Ryan v. Discover Property and Casualty Ins. Co., 2012 WL 3555360, U.S. District Court (W.D. Ky., Aug. 16, 2012)