Howard Wollitz is Of Counsel to the Firm, and is an insurance coverage and business litigator with particular expertise in insurance coverage and bad faith, reinsurance, and professional liability. He has evaluated and opined on insurance coverage in matters involving general liability, professional liability, non-profit organizations, marine, inland marine, property, and environmental.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mr. Wollitz received his Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University, and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law. While attending UCLA, he was a member of the Board of Editors of the UCLA Law Review.
Mr. Wollitz is a member of the State Bar of California, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh and Ninth Circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Court for the Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California, and the Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Wollitz has served as an expert witness on professional liability, professional ethics, attorneys fee disputes, and insurance bad faith matters. He has represented carriers in both arbitrations and mediations.
He has been a featured speaker at continuing education conferences on a national and state level, and has lectured on professional liability, insurance coverage, risk transfer devices, and defense and avoidance of bad faith. He is a sought after speaker at client seminars on a multitude of topics, including insurance coverage, statutes, regulations, and duties of good faith and fair dealing.
Mr. Wollitz has been recognized as a California Super Lawyer.
Publications, Speaking Engagements and Presentations
- Panel Chairperson, Insurance Coverage for Business Litigators, Los Angeles Seminar, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, 1985
- Emerging Trends in Bad Faith Litigation (Chap. 18), Prosecuting and Defending Insurance Claims, Cushman and Roznowski, Wiley Law Trial Practice Library, 1989
- Speaker, Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith, Seminar, Statton Press, 1989
- Speaker, Nationwide Survey of Independent Counsel Rules in Reservation of Rights & Conflict of Interest Situations, 1999
- Speaker, Erosion of the Case-Within-A-Case Method of Trying Causation in “Transactional” Legal Malpractice Cases, 2000
- Speaker, California’s Special Motion to Strike: The Anti-Slapp Statute, C.C.P. § 425.16, Application to Malicious Prosecution Actions, 2002
- Panelist, Maximizing the Use of Experts Relating to Covered Damages, a Plaintiff’s Perspective, West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar, 2010
- Panelist, A Rebounding Economy Creates Opportunities for Commercial Construction Projects and Their Agents/Brokers, Crittenden Conferences, Inc., Middle Market Accounts Conference, 2011
- Panelist, Are Eight Corners Enough? Strategies for Utilizing Extrinsic Evidence in Duty to Defend Cases, CLM Annual Conference, 2013
- Panelist, Timing is Everything in Construction Defect Litigation, West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar, 2013
- Panelist, Bad Faith Litigation Avoiding the Traps, Snares and Pits, Bad Faith and Coverage Mini-Conference, December 2014
- Panelist, The Bad Faith Set Up – Responding To Policy Limits Demands, Bad Faith Litigation Strategies, ExecuSummit Litigation Strategies Series, May 2015
- Panelist, Hottest Bad Faith Topics From Around the Country, CLM New York Conference, December 2015
- Panelist, Expert Witnesses in Bad Faith Litigation, CLM New York Conference, December 2016
- Speaker, Evaluating Additional Insured Coverage and Contractual Indemnity Issues, CLM Training Program, Parsippany, New Jersey, April 2017
