Business Law

I enjoy representing policyholders in disputes with their insurers. I also represent employees in family responsibility employment discrimination cases.

• Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

• Casualty Insurance
• Commercial Insurance
• Directors' & Officers' Liability
• Errors & Omissions
• Health Insurance
• Insurance Malpractice
• Life Insurance
• Motor Vehicle Insurance
• Property Insurance

CA, Dec 1987
Bar Number: 129849

All state courts of California.

Consumer Attorneys of California, Queens Beach (California Women Lawyers), Bar Association of San Francisco, American Bar Association.

I have completed a nine day intensive course in trial advocacy skill through the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) and am enrolled in other courses to be designated a NITA advocate. I regularly attend state and national conferences on insurance bad faith law, employment law and civil litigation.

I regularly write and publish a blog dedicated to current issues in insurance law pertaining to consumer concerns.

B&E Convalescent Center v. State Compensation Insurance Fund (1992); Insurance code section bar 533 bars coverage for intentional acts, such as employment discrimination.

From 1997 to 2003 I was part of a team of attorneys who worked on a large insurance bad faith class action suit with over 2 billion dollars in potential damages. As a result, I learned a great deal about the business of insurance.

1

California

My practice is committed to representing insurance policy holders in disputes with insurers. I represent policyholders who have had a claim denied by their insurance provider or whose policies have been unreasonably canceled. Disputes may involve a health plan, disability insurance, comprehensive general liability insurance (CGL) and homeowner insurance, as well as others. My practice also represents employees who have suffered employment discrimination because of family care-taking responsibilities.

I gained my extensive insurance and civil litigation experience working in-house for one of the nation's largest workers' compensation insurers. In May 2008, I made the commitment to use the experience I had gained to help individual policyholders and opened my own law practice to fulfill this commitment.

In addition to insurance bad faith law, I also handle employment law cases. In the course of my career, I became equally concerned about the difficulties employees face in finding and maintaining work situations that permit them to provide appropriate care for family members. Hence my practice is also dedicated to family responsibility discrimination law (FRD).

I worked nineteen years for a state-run, non-profit workers' compensation insurer. As senior counsel for that organization, I handled all aspects of complex and sensitive insurance bad faith civil litigation. As a result, I have several published decisions in the area of insurance law. I am familiar with how insurance businesses are run, and bring this knowledge to my current work for policyholders.

Board member of California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE) from September 2006 to April 2008.

(415) 954-8598

Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Yes

No.

I am flexible as to fee arrangements and offer several options from which clients may choose. I have a fee agreement for payment on an hourly basis of $300 per hour. I am also willing to take cases on a contingency basis under a standard contingency fee agreement of 20% prior to litigation, 30% if a case in litigation settles prior to trial and 40% if the case goes to trial. I am also very interested in the current trend of alternative billing arrangements, and am open to arrangements that are fair and reasonable.

$300 per hour if paying hourly.

I offer a free one hour consultation.

It depends on the circumstance of the case.