Former President of Association of California Insurance Companies Joins Barger & Wolen

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Barger & Wolen LLP

Firm to Expand California Footprint with New Sacramento Office

Sam Sorich, the former president of the Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC), California’s longest established property/casualty insurance trade association, joins Barger & Wolen as Of Counsel on June 15, 2011. Mr. Sorich, who has been in the insurance industry for more than 30 years, will also open and head the law firm’s new Sacramento office. 

“After my retirement from the ACIC, I was looking for an opportunity to continue to serve the insurance industry and its customers. Joining Barger & Wolen was the perfect opportunity to do that,” Sam Sorich says. “Barger & Wolen is an extraordinary firm that has incredible presence and influence in the insurance industry and has successfully represented many of ACIC’s 300 members.”

As ACIC president, Sorich directed the group’s legislative, regulatory and litigation activities. His role with Barger & Wolen will focus on expanding the firm’s presence and relationships in Sacramento particularly with the Department of Insurance and other state agencies. Although Barger & Wolen is not new to Sacramento, due to its representation and regulatory work before the Department of Insurance, Sorich will become a liaison for the firm’s clients within the influential circles of the state’s capital. 

“This new move solidifies our presence in Sacramento, which is a center of influence in California for the insurance industry,” says Steven Weinstein, chairman of Barger & Wolen. “The addition of Sam not only shows our understanding of our client’s business practices and needs, but it demonstrates our leadership in the industry.”

Under his direction at ACIC, Sorich and ACIC played a key role in the crafting and regulatory implementation of the 2003-2004 workers’ compensation reforms, the development of regulations that implement Proposition 103's provisions on auto insurance rating and underwriting, litigation that determines the scope of the insurance commissioner's authority over homeowners insurance underwriting, and legislation that provides consumers with effective disclosures regarding insurance coverage. 

Robert Hogeboom, one of the leaders of the firm’s regulatory practice, adds: “Sam Sorich is well respected by the insurance industry and regulators throughout the country. He will continue to play a key role in the regulatory work that we do for insurance companies at the state and federal levels.”

Sorich is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. Before beginning his insurance career, Sorich served as a Peace Corps volunteer and an assistant attorney general in the office of the Illinois Attorney General. Sorich is a member of the Illinois Bar and the Hawaii Bar.

Originally posted in Barger & Wolen's Insurance Litigation & Regulatory Law blog.

Upcoming Event: Crisis Management: A Primer on Crisis Response and Prevention

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Barger & Wolen LLP

Barger & Wolen partner David J. McMahon will lead a roundtable discussion on Crisis Management: A Primer on Crisis Response and Prevention at the 2011 Council on Litigation Management Annual Conference, (March 23-25 | New Orleans, LA).

Program Description:

A crisis is a severe, unexpected situation that threatens to harm a business, its shareholders or the general public.

The objectives of the roundtable are to provide a primer on crisis response and prevention through five hypothetical cases studies.

The case studies will illustrate how crisis management specialists, public relations professionals, legal counsel and other in-house professionals can be effective players in crisis response, prevention and planning.

Joining Mr. McMahon will be Rhonda Barnat, Abernathy MacGregor Group, Warren Perkins, Jr., Boh Bros. Construction Co. L.L.C. and Frank Vasek, Chartis Insurance.

About the Council on Litigation Management

The Council is the largest fully inclusive defense organization, comprised of thousands of
insurance companies, corporations, corporate counsel, risk managers, insurance professionals,
claims adjusters and attorneys. Through education and collaboration, its goals are to promote
and further the highest standards of litigation management in pursuit of client defense. The
Council sponsors educational programs, provides resources, fosters communication, and
recognizes lawyers who meet high standards. To learn more about the Council, please visit
www.litmgmt.org.

Barger & Wolen Receives First-Tier Ranking in the Inaugural "Best Law Firms" Survey by U.S.News and Best Lawyers®

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Barger & Wolen LLP

Barger & Wolen is proud to announce that the firm has received a first-tier ranking by U.S. News and Best Lawyers® for our Nationwide Insurance practice, as well as our regional practice in Los Angeles. In addition, partners Kent R. Keller and Royal F. Oakes are listed for their work in Insurance Law.

“We are honored to be included with such a distinguished group of law firms,” said Steven H. Weinstein, chairman for Barger & Wolen. “It is especially rewarding to have our peers note our work. It validates, for us, that a mid-sized firm can provide incredible legal services, while maintaining the competitive price structure the insurance industry seeks.”

About the Rankings:
"U.S. News is the world’s leading publisher of institutional rankings based on both objective data and peer evaluations," says Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers. "We are combining this expertise with Best Lawyers’ experience of providing rankings of individual lawyers based on peer reviews for almost three decades. By combining hard data with peer reviews, and client assessments, we believe that we are providing users with the most thorough, accurate, and helpful rankings of law firms ever developed."

Financial Abuse of Elders and the Recovery of Attorneys' Fees

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Barger & Wolen LLP

By Jennifer N. Lee

Financial elder abuse claims are on the rise in California.[1] Companies engaging in financial transactions with people over the age of 65, like insurance or financial services companies that sell products to elders, are increasingly targets of the plaintiff’s bar.

This is largely due to the fact that the California Elder and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA) includes a mandatory provision for the recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs; if the plaintiff proves by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not to be true) that the defendant committed financial elder abuse, the court must award attorneys’ fees.[2] This fee-shifting provision is unilateral; a prevailing defendant may not recover attorneys’ fees. Wood v. Santa Monica Escrow Company, 151 Cal. App. 4th 1186 (2007).

While the ability to recover attorneys’ fees is clear, in some instances, the amount of fees that may reasonably be awarded is not. First, the there is no provision in the EADACPA that provides guidance on the reasonableness of attorneys fees in cases involving financial elder abuse claims. Welfare & Institutions Code sec. 15657.1 does set forth factors to provide guidance on attorneys fees awards:

  • The value of the abuse-related litigation in terms of the quality of life of the elder or dependent adult, and the results obtained;
  • Whether the defendant took reasonable and timely steps to determine the likelihood and the extent of liability; and
  • The reasonableness and timeliness of any written offer in compromise made by a party to the action.

Unfortunately, these factors do not expressly apply to financial elder abuse claims; they expressly apply only to claims involving physical abuse and neglect. The absence of an analogous provision for financial elder abuse appears to be a legislative oversight, since the same types of awards (e.g., attorney fees, punitive damages, etc...) are recoverable for both types of elder abuse claims.

For the time being though, until the Legislature corrects its oversight, plaintiffs’ attorneys prosecuting financial elder abuse claims may continue to argue that their fee claims need not be subject to scrutiny against these factors.

Plaintiffs may even seek an enhancement of attorneys fees, by relying on Civil Code Sec. 3345. This statute allows for trebling to redress unfair or deceptive practices committed against an elder where a statute imposes a fine, penalty or remedy whose purpose or effect is to punish or deter.

Plaintiffs have argued in favor of treble attorneys fees, asserting that the attorneys’ fees provisions of the EADACPA are statutes intended to redress unfair practices committed against an elder and that the purpose of those fee-shifting provisions is to punish or deter further wrongful conduct.

Allowing the recovery of treble attorneys’ fees is problematic. For one, it would violate standards of professionalism prohibiting attorneys from being compensated for work not done or receiving unearned fees. Unfortunately, neither the EADACPA nor sec. 3345 provides any guidance on this issue.

Compounding the lack of statutory guidance, little case law exists to better define the parameters for attorney fee recoveries by plaintiffs. 

Only one case to date discusses the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees for a prevailing plaintiff who successfully asserted a financial elder abuse claim. In In re Levitt, 93 Cal. App. 4th 544 (2002), the Second Appellate District opined that the size of the estate at issue may be a factor in determining the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees sought. 

In Levitt, a prominent attorney, who was the drafter of the EADACPA, represented a somewhat modest estate to prosecute a financial elder abuse claim and prevailed. He, along with co-counsel, sought attorneys fees and costs in the amount of $127,000 on an estate valued at $370,000. The court reduced the sought-for amount to $110,000, not because of the quality of work done, the amount of time spent or the result obtained, but rather because of the sheer size of the estate in relation to the fees incurred.

The bottom line is that while the EADACPA makes the recovery of attorney fees and costs mandatory, it provides little guidance as what fees may be reasonably recovered. Until further legislative guidance is provided, counsel defending financial elder abuse claims should apply all measures of reasonableness provided for under the rules of professional conduct, the reasonableness factors set forth in the EADACPA for attorneys fees in physical abuse and neglect claims, case law and accepted practices for attorney fee billing to reduce any mandatory attorneys’ fees claims.

[1] "Financial abuse" of elders is defined as the assisting with or taking, secreting, appropriating or retaining of real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud. Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code sec. 15657.5. By statute, “wrongful use” is imputed if the person or entity knew or should have known that the conduct was likely to be harmful to the elder. With such low and vague pleading standards and because little case law defines “for wrongful use,” an institutional client that engaged in a legitimate business transaction with an elder could be sued for financial elder abuse by a disgruntled beneficiary or a conservator of the estate who disagrees with the suitability of the transaction.

[2] It should be noted that the burden of proof to recover attorneys’ fees is lower than the clear and convincing evidence required to recover punitive damages.