Insurance: Policyholder - California
What the team is known for
Farella Braun + Martel is deeply experienced in matters concerning policyholders, offering clients a range of noncontentious services, including advice on policy interpretation. The team handles significant coverage litigation as well, particularly in the areas of D&O insurance, cyber liability, employment practices liability and construction-related claims. The firm is also noted for its class action work and advises clients on policy wording negotiation and insurance policy purchasing.
Strengths
"They have an unimpeachable mastery of the current state of insurance coverage law as well as a practical understanding of how insurance carriers work."
"The junior partners and associates are extremely bright and excellent writers."
Work highlights
Farella Braun + Martel provided strategic and insurance coverage advice to OpenAI on privacy, intellectual property infringement, and defamation claims arising out of ChatGPT and Codex platforms.
Notable practitioners
Mary McCutcheon enjoys an excellent reputation for her insurance coverage practice, which sees her represent policyholders in technology, construction and product liability disputes, among others.
Erica Villanueva is the chair of Farella's insurance recovery practice group. She is widely respected in the California market and often works on complex insurance coverage disputes, frequently representing clients from the tech sector. She is recognized for her handling of D&O disputes and bad faith claims. "She is a subject matter expert who dives deep into details. She's a strategic thinker who is able to see the big picture and provide practical business advice."
Tyler Gerking is a respected insurance attorney who regularly advises on D&O, data privacy disputes and insurance coverage. "He has been great and we lean on him very heavily to run our insurance from the ground up."
Amy Briggs is relied upon by a wide range of policyholders to handle their insurance claims and bad faith litigation. "She is a tough, creative litigator."
Raymond Sheen focuses his practice on insurance recovery disputes. He regularly handles coverage claims concerning cyber liability, trademark infringement and business interruption losses. "He is someone who thinks incredibly creatively and comes up with solutions that are outside of the box. He's helped us recover funds from insurers in instances when we didn't think we could." "He is unrivaled in his ability to deliver results for the company and to creatively convert the denial of insurance coverage into near-full payments."