Howard Wollitz
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
Tim Harris
Tim Harris, an equity partner in the Firm, has successfully defended lawyers, directors, officers, appraisers, architects and other professionals since 1982. He also handles employment and business litigation, and directs the Employment Litigation Department. The Firm represents management in all aspects of employment litigation. He has defended directors, officers and third parties against claims brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and RTC.
He has been rated a Superlawyer and obtained one of the “Top 50” jury verdicts in California in 2019.
Mr. Harris has appeared in state and federal courts, before the American Arbitration Association and the International Chamber of Commerce.
Born in Yakima, Washington, Mr. Harris received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with distinction, from the University of Washington in 1975, and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law in 1978, where he was Articles Editor and a member of the Board of Editors of the UCLA Law Review. Mr. Harris is a member of the State Bar of California, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for all California Districts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Mr. Harris is the author of several articles including “Selection and Presentation of Evidence At Trial,” (2005); “The Business Judgment Rule For Officers, Directors and General Partners,” (2003); “The Requirement of Expert Testimony In Appraisal Litigation,” The Appraisal Journal (1992); and “Business Decisions” (2010).
Robert D. Hoffman
Robert D. Hoffman, a partner in the Firm, practices in complex insurance coverage litigation, professional liability defense and coverage, general liability coverage and bad faith defense areas.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. Hoffman received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Colby College in 1982, and his Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School in 1985. Mr. Hoffman is a member of the State Bars of California, the District of Columbia, and Colorado, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for all California Districts, and the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Reported decisions include Coregis Insurance Company v. Camico Mutual Insurance Company, 959 F. Supp. 1213 (C.D. Cal 1997); Admiral Ins. Co. v. Debber, 442 F. Supp. 2d 958 (E.D. Cal. 2006) aff’d 295 Fed. Appx. 171 (9th Cir. 2008); World Health and Educ. Foundation v. Carolina Cas. Ins. Co., 612 F. Supp. 2d 1089 (N.D. Cal. 2009); Carolina Cas. Ins. Co. v. RDD, Inc., 685 F. Supp. 2d 1052 (N.D. Cal. 2010); Admiral Ins. Co. v. Kay Automotive Distributors Inc., 82 F. Supp. 3d 1175 (C.D. Cal. 2015); Hanover Insurance Company v. Poway Academy of Hair Design, Inc.,174 F. Supp. 3d 1231 (S.D. Cal. 2016); Phase II Transportation, Inc. v. Carolina Casualty Insurance Company, 228 F. Supp. 3d 999 (C.D. Cal. 2017).
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Mickey M. Mardirossian J.D.
Juris Doctor
Mickey M. Mardirossian received his J.D. cum laude from Cornell Law School in 1993. He was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania in 1993 and previously practiced law with the large and prestigious Philadelphia-based law firms of Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis and Cozens & O’Connor. Mickey grew up in Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. He attended the University of California in Berkeley, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Psychology with “High Distinction” honors in 1990.
Mickey has significant experience in insurance coverage and litigation matters including business litigation, insurance, professional liability, commercial general liability and personal injury claims.
Read MoreIra Revich
Ira Revich, an equity partner in the Firm, specializes in environmental, asbestos and other mass tort insurance coverage litigation. Mr. Revich has extensive experience in appellate matters before the California Courts of Appeal and California Supreme Court. He also specializes in professional liability claims involving tax and accounting issues.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Revich received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1970, his Juris Doctor degree, from Wayne State University School of Law in 1973, and an L.L.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law in 1974. Mr. Revich is a member of the State Bars of California, Michigan, and New York, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court.
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