THE SHERNOFF INSURANCE BAD FAITH SEMINAR

Transcription

1 THE SHERNOFF INSURANCE The evolving concept of Institutional Bad Faith WILLIAM M. SHERNOFF Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP The insurance backstory on Mattel vs. Bratz MICHAEL J. BIDART Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP Featured Speaker Capitalizing on the media potential of your bad faith case... Plus an All Star Faculty MARK J. GERAGOS Geragos & Geragos SPECIAL OFFER ON California Practice Guide INSURANCE LITIGATION NOVEMBER 2012 PRODUCED BY

2 THE SHERNOFF INSURANCE FOCUS If you practice or want to start practicing insurance bad faith, this program offers you invaluable information and insight. Seasoned litigators, a preeminent judge and prominent Practice Guide authors will share their know-how and experience to help you develop techniques and strategies for successfully handling bad faith cases, in this 30+ year program. Learn how to prepare a bad faith case for trial and how to capitalize on the media potential of your bad faith case. Understand how to take the lid off an insurance policy in third-party cases. Become proficient at building a bad faith case when a carrier refuses to defend. Grasp promising new concepts, such as institutional bad faith, and learn how to maximize damages, both compensatory and punitive. Discover how corporations and other insureds can avoid missing coverage for the defense of claims. HIGHLIGHTS LAW AND MOTION Creating triable issue of fact to defeat summary judgment Bringing the case back to state court after removal Dealing with demurrers TRYING A BAD FAITH CASE FROM A TO Z Trial themes and pretrial considerations Motions in limine Voir dire issues Opening statement: setting the stage Cross-examination of insurance adjusters Jury instructions Closing argument The punitive damages phase TRG'S CALIF. PRACTICE GUIDE: INSURANCE LITIGATION AUTHOR PANEL Perspective from the courthouse - trial and appellate issues TAKING THE LID OFF THE POLICY The duty to settle How to trigger the duty to settle What to do if the insurer is not defending A proper assignment of rights CAPITALIZING ON THE MEDIA POTENTIAL OF YOUR BAD FAITH CASE HOW CORPORATIONS (AND OTHER INSUREDS) CAN AVOID MISSING COVERAGE FOR DEFENSE COSTS When does the duty to defend arise? How to recover pre-tender fees Defense of "mixed" claims (Buss v. Superior Court) Reimbursement rights When do panel rates apply? (Civ. C. 2860) INSTITUTIONAL BAD FAITH The evolving new tort Pleading and discovery of institutional bad faith A different standard for punitive damages ratios SPECIAL OFFERS FORF ENROLLEES Enrollees will receive a complimentary copy of Payment Refused, written by William M. Shernoff. Enrollees may also purchase at a special price the three-volume California Practice Guide: Insurance Litigation, written by Justice H. Walter Croskey, Judge Rex Heeseman and Christina J. Imre. (See inside for details.) (Because the Practice Guide has limited value without Updates, we will enter your subscription for annual Updates unless you instruct us otherwise.) 6 HOURS MCLE CREDIT (Including 1 hr. Legal Ethics) The Rutter Group certifies that this activity has been approved for MCLE credit by The State Bar of California in the amount of 6 hours, of which 1 hour applies toward Legal Ethics. Visit T M to earn additional MCLE participatory credit! To enroll or for more information, call (ext. 2)

3 PROGR GRAM FACULTY Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP is a national leader of insurance bad faith law on behalf of individual and business consumers. As counsel to policyholders, SBEB attorneys are fueled by a common purpose to protect consumers who have been unfairly denied insurance benefits. The firm fights insurance company abuse and holds insurance companies accountable for their wrongdoing. William M. Shernoff, the founding partner of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP, is credited with pioneering the bad faith cause of action - one of the few new torts established in the 20th century. He has been described in The American Lawyer as the attorney insurance companies fear most and is recognized as one of the nation's "Top 10 Litigators" by the National Law Journal. A longtime consumer advocate with more than 35 years of experience, Mr. Shernoff has made a career out of multi-million dollar verdicts and precedent-setting case law. Mr. Shernoff has written the books Payment Refused, How to Make Your Insurance Company Pay Your Claims and Fight Back & Win: How to Get Your HMO to Pay Up. He is co-author of the legal treatise Insurance Bad Faith Litigation. Mr. Shernoff has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America Michael J. Bidart is a partner with the firm of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP and leads the commercial, property, and HMO insurance litigation practice of the firm. With the highest peer review rating of AV Preeminent in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and more than 35 years experience, Mr. Bidart is one of the country's top trial lawyers, specializing in insurance bad faith matters on behalf of individual and business consumers. A fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), American College of Trial Lawyers, and International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he has been named in the Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers each year since 2004 and recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in California. Cal-ABOTA's Trial Lawyer of the Year for 2011, he has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America Ricardo Echeverria is a partner with the firm of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP and handles insurance bad faith and catastrophic injury cases. He has been selected for inclusion in Southern California's Super Lawyers list every year since 2004, and is a member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of California and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, where he currently serves on the Executive Committee as the organization's Secretary. Mr. Echeverria was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 2010 (he was previously nominated for the award in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009). He was also a finalist for the Consumer Attorneys of California Consumer Attorney of the Year award in 2007 and Recently, he was presented the Jennifer Brooks Lawyer of the Year Award by the Western San Bernardino County Bar Association. Gregory L. Bentley is a partner at Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP, specializing in the representation of consumers on a wide variety of cases, including insurance bad faith and catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death claims. Mr. Bentley is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, is on the Board of Directors of the Consumer Attorneys of California, and received the Consumer Attorneys of California Chapter President Award in He has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Magazine in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and also as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in California by The National Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Bentley is Past President of the Consumer Attorneys of the Inland Empire (2010 and 2011), and sits on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Consumer Attorneys of California. Steven M. Schuetze is a lead attorney in the Law and Motion Department at Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP, working on insurance bad faith and catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases. Mr. Schuetze was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1989 and the State Bar of Washington State in 1990, and has worked at the firm since He has been a trial attorney on numerous jury trials and binding arbitrations, and briefed and argued appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth Appellate Districts of the California Court of Appeal. Steven Messner joined Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP in Mr. Messner attended the University of La Verne College of Law where he graduated first in his class. While at La Verne, Mr. Messner was the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. Mr. Messner obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He practices insurance bad faith law and business litigation in the Claremont office of the firm. Mr. Messner has tried bad faith cases on several jury trials, on behalf of policyholders, and participated in numerous mediations and settlement negotiations for plaintiffs. Howard S. Shernoff has successfully litigated insurance bad faith cases against numerous major insurance companies. He was co-trial counsel with his father, William M. Shernoff, in Nickerson v. Stonebridge, which resulted in a $19 million punitive damages verdict. He recently argued for and won a published appellate opinion expanding the statute of limitations to three years in certain health and disability cases. Mr. Shernoff regularly writes articles on insurance bad faith topics and was named to the Southern California Super Lawyers Risings Stars in 2012.

4 Travis M. Corby practices insurance bad faith law and business litigation in the Beverly Hills office of the firm. Mr. Corby has spent much of the past five years fighting the condemned practice of insurance rescissions in the areas of health, life, property and auto. He also co-counseled a verdict of $19 million against Stonebridge Life Insurance Company for its unlawful medical necessity peer reviews, and an arbitration award of $3.7 million against Travelers' Indemnity Company of Connecticut for its use of a policy provision that was found to violate California law. Mr. Corby has also successfully negotiated settlements for his clients against numerous major insurance companies. Samuel Bruchey joined Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP in Before practicing law, Mr. Bruchey worked for many years as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles and New York City. In 2004, Mr. Bruchey was a member of a team of reporters that was recognized as a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. He received his undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University in New York, and earned a Master's Degree in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. He practices insurance bad faith law and business litigation in the Beverly Hills office of the firm. Mark J. Geragos (FEATURED SPEAKER) has represented many well-known figures in the world. Mr. Geragos cemented his national reputation as a trial lawyer with back-to-back State and Federal Court jury trial acquittals for Whitewater figure Susan McDougal. His client list has included Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Nicole Richie, former Congressman Gary Condit, Roger Clinton, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Winona Ryder, among others. Mr. Geragos has won his last eight jury trials, including a stunning $8 million bad faith verdict on behalf of a 90-year-old World War II veteran. Mr. Geragos has been a recipient of the "Attorney of the Year Award" by California Lawyer magazine in Civil Litigation, named "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Association, repeatedly named "One of the 100 Most Influential Attorneys in California," and voted one of Los Angeles' Super Lawyers for the last 10 years. Mr. Geragos regularly appears as both media guest and legal commentator. Sharon Arkin is the principal of The Arkin Law Firm and is an appellate specialist, certified by the California State Bar, Board of Specialization, specializing in asbestos, insurance bad faith, HMO liability and catastrophic personal injury cases as well as consumer class actions and other plaintiff actions. She has been selected as one of Southern California's appellate Super Lawyers by Los Angeles Magazine every year since 2004 and won the California Lawyers Attorney of the Year ("CLAY") award for appellate advocacy in Jeffrey Ehrlich is the principal of the Ehrlich Law Firm in Encino, California. His practice focuses on providing appellate support for the plaintiffs' trial bar. He is an appellate specialist certified by the State Bar of California, and has briefed and argued more than 200 appeals - in the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and throughout the federal and California appellate systems. He is a contributing author of The Rutter Group s California Practice Guide: Insurance Litigation, and is editor-in-chief of the Advocate magazine. He is a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School. Judge Rex Heeseman has been a Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court since After graduating from Stanford Law School, he was an Assistant United States Attorney. Commencing in 1974, he practiced as a business litigator at private law firms and acted as an arbitrator and an expert witness. He co-authors The Rutter Group's California Practice Guide: Insurance Litigation. As an Adjunct Professor, he currently teaches courses on "California Business Torts" and "Insurance Law" at Loyola Law School. He frequently writes and lectures on those topics. Additionally, he has served on the California Judicial Council and the Ninth Circuit's Advisory Committee. Christina J. Imre is a partner in Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP, Los Angeles, specializing in appeals, writs and trial consultations. A nationally-recognized expert on punitive damages and insurance, she has handled and consulted on cases throughout the country. In addition to dozens of articles, she has published monographs on punitive damages and a column on the California Supreme Court, authored four chapters of a major treatise on appellate practice, and serves as a contributing editor to many publications. She lectures on insurance and punitive damages nationwide. Honors include being voted by her peers a "Southern California Super Lawyer" for (by Los Angeles Magazine), and one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Los Angeles Law" (Los Angeles Business Journal). She is a Fellow of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers and co-author of The Rutter Group's California Practice Guide: Insurance Litigation. Jennifer Keller, partner at Keller Rackauckas LLP, won a 2012 CLAY Attorney of the Year award in Litigation for captaining MGA Entertainment to victory in the retrial of Mattel v. MGA (aka Barbie v. Bratz), in which MGA was awarded $309 million while the jury completely rejected Mattel's claims to the Bratz line. Ms. Keller was retained as lead counsel just two weeks before voir dire began. In 2009, as lead counsel in Auerbach v. Daily, she persuaded a jury to award her venture-capitalist client $350 million after his opportunity to buy a company was stolen by an insider. With a background in criminal defense, Ms. Keller has tried over 150 cases to jury verdict. She has been repeatedly named to the Daily Journal's Top 100 Lawyers in California and is among Lawdragon's Leading 500 Lawyers in America. Ms. Keller sees herself as an old-fashioned barrister who can try any type of case.

5 15760 VENTURA BLVD. SUITE 630 ENCINO, CA PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID VAN NUYS, CA PERMIT NO THE SHERNOFF INSURANCE NOVEMBER 2012 AVAILABLE AT SPECIAL PRICE TO SEMINAR ENROLLEES THE RUTTER GROUP CALIFORNIA PRACTICE GUIDE INSURANCE LITIGATION by Justice H. Walter Croskey, Judge Rex Heeseman and Christina J. Imre Basic Insurance Concepts and Terminology Creation of Insurance Relationship Policy Contents: Anatomy of an Insurance Policy Interpretation of Insurance Policies Termination, Reformation and Rescission First-Party Coverages Third-Party Coverages CONTENTS Multiple Insurers on Risk Subrogation Insolvent Insurers Extracontractual Liability Bad Faith Damages Statutory and Administrative Regulation Practice and Procedure 3 VOLUMES Special Enrollee Price...$250 Regular Price...$525 Price includes shipping; add applicable sales tax. AUTHORS JUSTICE H. WALTER CROSKEY Calif. Court of Appeal 2nd Dist., Div. 3 JUDGE REX HEESEMAN Los Angeles Superior Court CHRISTINA J. IMRE Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP To enroll or for more information, call (ext. 2)

6 THE SHERNOFF INSURANCE PLEASE RETURN THIS ENTIRE PAGE WITH YOUR ENROLLMENT CHECK LOCATION REGISTRATION: 8:30 AM PROGRAM: 9:00 AM - 4:45 PM LIVE PROGRAM LOS ANGELES Friday, November 2 Los Angeles Downtown Hotel formerly Los Angeles Marriott Downtown 333 S. Figueroa Street (213) VIDEO REPLAYS SAN FRANCISCO Friday, November 9 Hotel Nikko San Francisco 222 Mason Street (415) SHERMAN OAKS Saturday, November 10 Courtyard by Marriott Ventura Boulevard (818) COSTA MESA Saturday, November 10 Westin South Coast Plaza 686 Anton Boulevard (714) SAN DIEGO Saturday, November 10 Courtyard San Diego Airport/Liberty Station 2592 Laning Road (619) AUDIO/VISUAL/ONLINE This program will be available in CD and DVD formats and at TM Call (ext. 2) for information. (Recorded in Los Angeles November 2, 2012) TRG Seminar PASSholders (admission only) FREE Tuition $250 SPECIAL OFFERS ON PRACTICE GUIDE FOR ENROLLEES California Practice Guide: Insurance Litigation $250 NAME PHONE ( ) ADDRESS STATE BAR NUMBER (required for MCLE reporting) FIRM ADDRESS ADD applicable sales tax on $250 Practice Guide CITY STATE ZIP I am a TRG PASSholder. Enclosed is my check for $ Charge $ Credit Card # SIGNATURE Do NOT send Updates on the Practice Guide. I understand it has limited value without Updates. (Cost of 2012 Update was $199.) YOUR BEST BUYS FOR MCLE! One-year RutterPASS $495 (Free admission to seminars*, including this program, plus RutterOnline and Lending Library) (*) TRG/CJA and CFLR programs excluded One-year TRG Law Firm PASS $995 (Seminar admission* for anyone in your firm) (*) TRG/CJA and CFLR programs excluded Receipts will be mailed for your records (not necessary for admission; prepaid roster at door). Refunds, less $15 administrative charge, will be issued if we receive written notice of cancellation 48 hours before program. If necessary for you to cancel therafter, you may apply tuition toward a CD or DVD purchase. TOTAL SUITE payable to THE RUTTER GROUP. on my VISA MASTERCARD AMERICAN EXPRESS Exp. Date 3 ways to enroll! Mail or fax this order form Call (ext. 2) Visit TM Mail to THE RUTTER GROUP: Ventura Boulevard Suite 630 Encino, CA Fax to