Representative Matters - a Sampling
~ AS MEDIATOR
AMERICAN DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)/DISABILITY RIGHTS/CIVIL RIGHTS:
Over 100 ADA Title III architectural barrier lawsuits regarding a wide range of alleged accessibility issues at various types of business establishments open to the public, including nursing homes, care facilities, hotels/motels, medical/dental offices, restaurants, fast-food locations, gas stations, retail stores (including luxury stores), shopping malls, grocery stores, and small/local businesses.
ADA lawsuits regarding website accessibility.
Alleged ADA accessibility, sexual harassment, fraud/misrepresentation, tortious Interference, and emotional distress arising out of lodging facilities and healthcare issues as to a veteran.
Alleged deliberate indifference to substantial risk of harm to health and other claims, including ADA, 4th Amendment unreasonable seizure, false imprisonment, medical negligence and 14th Amendment due process violation claims, in matter arising out of mental treatment of an individual at a county hospital in alleged violation of the patient’s civil rights.
Various alleged violations of ADA Title II and state accessibility/disability statutes by a municipality, including a matter re County allegedly discriminating against plaintiff by not ensuring that sidewalks and curbs in his residential neighborhood are readily accessible to and usable by him as wheelchair user.
Claims of statutory violations for failure to rent to applicant with an emotional support dog (as opposed to a service animal).
Fair housing cases re alleged discrimination by landlords against potential tenants.
Commercial/BUSINESS:
Dispute by individuals who had worked at a recording studio re wages involving employee or independent contractor status dispute.
Disputed payments under commercial contracts.
Professional liability claims vs. non-medical service providers.
A number of real estate disputes between buyers and sellers of both commercial and residential properties, regarding misrepresentations in purchase agreements, condition of property and other related claims.
Commercial landlord/tenant disputes.
Suit vs. an IT managed service provider (MSP) alleging breach of contract, professional negligence and other legal theories following a ransomware attack on its servers that in turn affected its customers’ computer networks, to recover ransom that had been paid on behalf of a customer, and other damages.
Employment disputes involving status of claimant, including as either an independent contractor or an employee - wage and hour.
Employment dispute re misclassification of employee status - exempt or non-exempt - for parties in entertainment industry.
Pre-suit claim of alleged sexual harassment/abuse and unwanted sexual advances by a professor toward an intern/student in a professional licensing program.
Numerous commercial contract disputes.
Appeal from a judgment regarding the characterization of funds provided in connection with an IPO.
Appeal from a judgment re regulatory fees pertinent to material imported and disposed of in conjunction with surface mining operations at a municipal facility.
Appeal from a judgment in favor of a commercial service provider for unpaid invoices.
Alleged breaches of commercial contracts in business v. business lawsuits.
“Lemon Law” cases, i.e. sale of allegedly defective automobiles.
Enforceability of Arbitration Agreement in commercial contract.
Fraud lawsuits.
Law firm partnership dispute involving a departing partner and his prior law firm.
Fair Debt Collection Practices litigation.
TCPA privacy litigation.
Breach of Lease involving medical office building.
Appeal from a judgment involving arbitration rights under commercial contract.
Pre-arbitration real estate dispute arising out of a seller’s mistaken agreement to sell commercial real estate to two different buyers , in particular, the damage claims of buyer #2 for not being able to complete the purchase of the property.
Pre-arbitration dispute by buyers of a home completely remodeled by owner-builder, for damages arising out of alleged defective construction and misrepresentations in the seller’s disclosure statement submitted when the property was in escrow.
Suits between commercial property owner, tenant and sub-tenant re alleged breach of contract, conversion, eviction, and damages related to the condition of the premises, non-payment of rent, release of equipment to subtenant and Covid-19 impacts.
Suit involving commercial tenants, property owners, business owners and property manager re asset sale/purchase and dispute re unpermitted renovations, upgrades and lease termination.
Suit against mortgage lender for damages arising out of alleged wrongful eviction, foreclosure and sale of home by plaintiff during Covid-19 pandemic.
INSURANCE:
Allocation and cost share agreement between historical insurers for ongoing asbestos litigation against a mutual insured.
Auto insurance policies with minimum limits and multiple claimants - negotiating agreement between the claimants for the available proceeds.
Coverage issues arising out of destruction of computers and inability to access software and third-party client data by insured.
Claims under homeowner and commercial insurance policies for property losses arising out of wild land fires in California.
Suit vs. a trucking insurance broker for alleged professional negligence, misrepresentation and related claims by reason of a trucking liability insurance policy it had procured for a motor carrier client not including the UIIE-1 Endorsement (Truckers Uniform Intermodal Interchange Endorsement) and not adding Equipment Provider as an additional insured on the policy.
Property insurance lawsuit by a homeowner insured vs. its insurer alleging failure to properly pay policy benefits for losses arising from Woolsey fire.
Property insurance lawsuit by a commercial insured against its insurer seeking multi-million $$ recovery for loss of commercial buildings, contents, business income, and other damages, arising out of the Thomas Fire.
Lawsuit re available coverage under Commercial Crime Coverage issued to auto dealer for losses arising out of embezzlement by employees, including issues of multiple policies, agent/broker exposure re limits of liability and damages sought against earlier insurer for breach of contract, bad faith and punitive damages arising from denial of coverage.
Cyber insurer subrogation claim after data breach and ransom being paid on behalf of insured.
Duty to Settle/Excess judgment cases, including where trial court judgments were in excess of the insured’s $1 million commercial policy limits.
Dispute regarding availability of reinsurance to reimburse a municipality for millions of $$s it had collectively paid for multiple settlements arising out of one incident.
Numerous matters regarding insurance coverage issues and related claims for declaratory relief, breach of contract, bad faith and unfair business practices under various types of liability insurance policies regarding defense and indemnity of underlying lawsuits.
Claims for coverage and alleged bad faith issues arising out of claims handling under 1st party insurance policies - both personal and commercial lines.
Rescission of various types of insurance policies for alleged misrepresentation in the application for insurance.
Dispute over ownership of a deceased’s life insurance policies and entitlement to life insurance proceeds, including the life insurer as a party.
Insurance coverage and bad faith dispute under multiple excess-level indemnity insurance policies regarding reimbursement of defense and settlement amounts paid by insured in connection with an adverse arbitration award.
Alleged obligation of a settling defendant’s insurer to pay insured’s attorney costs and interest attributable to a post-settlement attorney fee arbitration between the attorney and his client.
Declaratory relief regarding right of insurer to recover defense fees and settlement amounts paid pursuant to reservation of rights under Buss and Blue Ridge.
“Defense mediation” with multiple insured defendants and their insurers re allocation and funding agreements in preparation for later mediation with plaintiff(s) in underlying habitability lawsuit.
Insurance coverage and allocation issues re underlying product liability litigation.
Insurance coverage issues re insured status, insured location and other coverage issues involving lawsuit stemming from death of a resident from drug overdose at a rehabilitation center.
Underinsured motorist (UIM) litigation.
Numerous duty to defend cases vs. insurance companies.
Matters involving available indemnity, or not, for various types of losses under multiple insurance policies issued by different insurance carriers (including London Market policies), including allocation issues.
Insurance coverage litigation re Tenant Improvements & Betterments under commercial property policy.
Dispute regarding whether or not a 2860 “Cumis” Counsel conflict existed by reason of the nature of Insurer’s reservation of rights, including ROR under Buss case, and claim of insured to reimbursement by insurer for defense fees paid to its personal counsel in underlying catastrophic construction site injury case.
TORT/PERSONAL INJURY:
Pre-suit sexual harassment claim against university professor mentor of claimant in a professional graduate program.
Numerous premises liability matters, including suits against various retail stores, grocery stores, a hospital, and the City of Los Angeles.
Personal injuries arising out of trucking and auto accidents.
Appeals from seven-figure $$ personal injury verdicts in favor of injured plaintiffs following trucking accidents.
Product liability lawsuits seeking damages for personal injuries.
Habitability lawsuit involving multiple tenants of apartment complex, alleging various uninhabitable living conditions.
“Settlement days” involving premises liability based lawsuits asserted against the same corporate defendant.
Personal injuries arising out of the bite of plaintiff’s face and nose by a dog that was 50% pit bull.
Low-impact rear end truck/auto accident with an “eggshell” plaintiff whose injuries resulted in several back surgeries and for whom opening demand was 7 figures.
Pre-suit mediation re allocation of available insurance proceeds between multiple claimants, arising from personal injuries suffered in auto accident where driver’s insurance had insufficient limits to provide coverage for all injured claimants.
~WHEN IN PRACTICE
When in practice, either as party counsel or monitoring/coverage counsel, Ms. Lawler handled a wide variety of lawsuits and legal matters , including matters involving insurance coverage and/or insurance bad faith claims arising out of underlying lawsuits. She settled, both through mediation and direct outreach to opposing counsel, hundreds upon hundreds of matters during those 37 years, including matters such as:
business and contract disputes of many kinds,
winery losses, including wines, barrels and related products from Australia, France and California,
defective products in the US and abroad,
fraud, financial and D&O claims arising from the 2008 banking collapse, including mortgage fraud cases,
Condo and Homeowner Association lawsuits, including D&O related claims,
construction defect actions,
habitability/slumlord cases,
cemetery malpractice cases,
employment issues under EIL policies,
personal injury cases, including catastrophic injuries and wrongful death,
equine cases,
farm/agriculturally based lawsuits, including crop issues,
employment issues and lawsuits, including sexual harassment, wrongful termination, hostile work environment, employee (exempt or non-exempt), independent contractor status, etc.
sexual harassment and clergy abuse cases,
professional liability lawsuits (attorneys, real estate/insurance agents + brokers, architects + engineers, miscellaneous),
environmental cleanup actions in CA and NV, including dry cleaners, industrial plants + underground storage tanks,
long tail toxic tort exposure cases, including Latin American banana plantation pesticide exposure cases,
homeowner fire and water damage losses,
17200 Unfair Business Practices claims,
TCPA claims,
misappropriation of style of doing business and trademark infringement cases involving a wide range of words, images and products,
breach of contract and fraud cases,
commercial real estate disputes,
class actions,
defamation,
tort claims of various types,
1st party property loss claims due to fire, flooding, theft, earthquake and other causes,
marine claims, including boating, scuba and skin diving deaths and injuries,
fine art and specie claims,
ADA,
insurance coverage, declaratory relief, bad faith + unfair business practice cases vs. domestic and international insurers under numerous types of insurance policies and involving as many fact situations as there were policies/insureds,
and even a declaratory relief action and appeal involving a murder for hire situation!