Some of MacGregor & Berthel's representative cases include the following:
Alexander v. Allstate This was a Malibu Fire loss, where facts discovered during discovery led to a claim for return of policy proceeds paid on a combination dwelling, contents and artwork claim. The result was a settlement for a stipulated judgment for the insurer for restitution of over $1 Million.
Amann v. Allstate This was a suit by a group of sixteen policyholders arising out of the Northridge Earthquake. The case was dismissed after we successfully demurred several times to the complaint and various amendments thereto.
Canonie Environmental v. Titan Corporation Titan Corporation, a major international defense and technology company, retained MacGregor & Berthel to defend against a claim for unfair competition by a rival in the environmental remediation industry. The competitor sought to enjoin most of Titan's operations, alleging that Titan had systematically targeted employees with special trade secret information and contacts with key customers in order to create its business from scratch. Pre-trial discovery revealed that the employees in question had voluntarily sought out competitive employment with our client, and, further, that there was an ongoing pattern of business practices within the plaintiff company that was driving its employees to leave. Moreover, it was shown that the key customers involved had made voluntary decisions to move business from the competitor to our client, thus removing a critical element of the plaintiff's claim. The case settled for nuisance value, an amount dwarfed by the increased revenue realized by the client from the acquisition of the disaffected employees and customers. Ironically, we have since been retained by Titan on an ongoing basis in connection with trade secret and employee piracy matters in which the client has been on either side of this highly complex issue.
Colquitt v. Allstate An Allstate policyholder sued for bad faith denial of earthquake insurance policy benefits, contending, among other things, that Allstate had abused the appraisal process in the policy. Although the March 1999 trial took place in Central Civil West, a venue widely regarded as hostile to insurers, the three week trial ended in a jury verdict for Allstate rendered in forty minutes.
England v. Allstate This bad faith case arising from a homeowner's claim that his multi-million dollar residence (formerly the home of John Lennon's son) had been vandalized for more $500,000 in contents stolen, ended with summary judgment for Allstate.
Fellows v. Allstate This bad faith case presented a re-trial limited to the issue of the proper amount of punitive damages where a jury's prior determination as to liability, compensatory damages and malice, fraud and oppression in a racially charged uninsured motorist claim were already established. In the first trial, plaintiffs' attorney, the highly successful consumer advocate Michael Piuze, had prevailed over predecessor counsel, winning a jury verdict that included an award of $40 million in punitive damages. The Court of Appeal had upheld the trial court's grant of a new trial limited to the extremely narrow issue of the amount of the punitive award. Predictably, plaintiffs promised a well publicized re-trial of the case. Despite being limited to trying the issue of the amount of punitive damages only, Mr. MacGregor presented such a persuasive case to the jury in his opening that immediately thereafter Mr. Piuze advised Allstate that " your boy has hit one over the fence," asked for an immediate recess to discuss settlement and accepted the company's long-standing offer of an amount that was a small fraction of the $40 million plaintiffs had previously won and $70 million reserved for the retrial.
Goguen v. Allstate This high profile bad faith case, which was one of the subjects of " 60 Minutes " piece on Allstate, ended just this past week with summary judgment for Allstate. The Court found that plaintiffs had not been denied policy benefits as a matter of law.
Hayes v. Logicon Defense contractor, Logicon, Inc. was sued by a former black female employee for race discrimination. Careful investigation of the remaining employees in the unit and pre-trial discovery revealed that the company had a meticulous record of race-neutral hiring and job assignments and a well-documented history of extending to the plaintiff special privileges such as providing car-pool privileges and flex time to accommodate her commute and child-care responsibilities. Most significantly, we were able to establish that the decision complained of had been made by the client's customer, thus relieving our client of direct responsibility. MacGregor & Berthel succeeded in winning summary judgment for Logicon.
Herzberg v. Allstate District Judge Manuel Real awarded Allstate summary judgment on this bad faith case arising from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, finding that the company had not withheld policy benefits as a matter of law.
Lazarovits v. Allstate This bad faith claim was based on the contention that Allstate had failed to pay a policy limits contents claim in connection with the Northridge Earthquake. At trial, Mr. MacGregor proved that the bulk of the items listed in the claim were not only undocumented but were part of an elaborate scheme to fabricate and exaggerate the loss. The two week trial ended this past January with a jury verdict, rendered inside of an hour, finding that the plaintiff had committed material misrepresentations of fact, thus voiding the policy under the insurance code and the terms of the policy itself. The client is currently considering a suit against the policyholder for recovery of all policy proceeds previously paid in connection with the dwelling and additional living expense portions of the claim.
Morosco v. Allstate This bad faith case arose out of the Northridge Earthquake and attracted national attention as a result of a 1998 piece on the ABC News magazine program "20/20". The plaintiffs claimed that Allstate had low-balled the repair estimate for their earthquake damages, delayed resolution of the claim and refused to pay for an extensive repair plan that called for the reconstruction of the residence from the framing up. We successfully contended before a Los Angeles federal court jury that the claim was promptly and fairly adjusted, paid on the basis of an agreed price between the policyholders' contractor and the adjuster, then reopened and supplemented twice as additional damages were discovered. Moreover, the jury was persuaded that the extent of the damages to the property was largely the result of actions taken by the plaintiffs and their own contractors. Chief among these was their decision to abate asbestos found in the ceiling and drywall joint compound by removing and discarding every square inch of drywall and floor covering in the house, as well as every fixture, all electrical fixtures and wiring and all heating and air conditioning throughout the residence. After a three week trial, the jury returned a unanimous defense verdict; answering negative on the question of whether or not the company had breach its covenant of good faith and fair dealing in less than half a day.
Titan v. Physicomp Titan Corporation came to MacGregor & Berthel as a plaintiff to retrieve trade secret software allegedly pirated by former employees. The software had been painstakingly developed at great expense by those employees while they were working for Titan and was worth millions, as it was capable of performing extremely complex three-dimensional calculations ranging from such things as the impact of the Shoemaker-Levy comets on Jupiter to the cascade effect of a nuclear or sub nuclear explosion on matter in the path of the event. The litigation was a complete success for Titan, resulting in the return of the software and the absolute prohibition against the competitive activities of the departing employees.
Yaghlagian v. Allstate An Allstate policyholder sued for bad faith, seeking compensatory and punitive damages in connection with the handling of her uninsured motorist claim. The deposition of a well-prepared adjuster resulted in an immediate walk-away.
Yavetz v. Allstate After obtaining summary judgment on the issue of punitive damages, MacGregor & Berthel tried this bad faith case before the Honorable Richard Neal, who now sits on the Court of Appeal. The six week trial on the policyholder's $600,000 claim for dwelling loss, contents damage and additional living expense ended with a defense verdict and special finding that the policyholder had committed fraud voiding the policy altogether.
Wallace v. Allstate Allstate stipulated to a $10 million judgment coupled with a covenant not to execute against its insured and in favor of the third party rendered a quadriplegic in an automobile accident in which Allstate's minor insured was 100% at fault. The insureds assigned all of their rights against Allstate arising out of Allstate's alleged breach of its duty to settle to third party Lisa Wallace an she sued for bad faith in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco. The Honorable Martin J. Jenkins granted summary judgment for Allstate and an appeal is currently pending before the Ninth Circuit.
