Michael is a key member of the firm’s insurance recovery practice. He specializes in representing insureds in complex insurance coverage matters, including providing coverage advice, managing pre-litigation disputes, handling international arbitrations, and litigating coverage lawsuits. Michael frequently advises clients on insurance policies and programs, helping them identify and address potential gaps in their coverage.
Michael has played a lead role in recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for insureds. His expertise spans a wide range of matters, including negotiating and litigating property and business interruption claims globally. He has represented clients from various industries, such as garment manufacturers in Indonesia, circuit board and laser product manufacturers in Thailand, and automobile manufacturers in Japan.
Michael also has substantial experience in political risk insurance coverage matters, including an arbitration in the London Court of International Arbitration over political risk losses in Indonesia. Additionally, Michael has significant experience with representation and warranties claims and recently litigated a claim involving a substantial loss and complex valuation issues on behalf of an insured in Delaware.
Michael also has pursued insurance coverage for California “wage and hour” class action lawsuits, often finding coverage where others have failed. His practice also includes seeking insurance coverage for advertising liabilities, cyber losses, directors and officers liability, errors and omissions and professional liability, fire, flood, and other natural disaster losses, marine insurance claims, rescission lawsuits, and subrogation claims. He has also represented insureds in insurance broker disputes and general business litigation and contract disputes.
Michael regularly speaks and writes on insurance law issues and is an editor and co-author of the New Appleman Sports and Entertainment Insurance Law & Practice Guide (LexisNexis, 2016), a comprehensive book addressing insurance law issues facing policyholders in the sports and entertainment industries.
Experience
- Representing a defense contractor in connection with its pursuit of coverage for losses due to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.
- Representing a Napa Valley resort in connection with tens of millions of dollars of property and business interruption losses suffered as a result of local wildfires.
- Representing a prominent talent agency seeking coverage under a directors and officers liability policy for a lawsuit filed by a competitor agency.
- Representing a Napa Valley restaurant in connection with property damage caused by a fire loss.
- Represented a defense contractor in connection with a claim under an employment practices liability policy for alleged violations of the California Labor Code.
- Represented a speaker manufacturer for a multi-million dollar contingent business interruption loss arising out of multiple fires in Japan.
- Represented a leading hotel management company that provides management services to dozens of hotels in connection with its pursuit of coverage for losses due to SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and the subsequent actions and orders of state, local, and national civil authorities.
- Represented a stadium developer in connection with a substantial property loss during the construction phase of the stadium caused by multiple rainstorm events that caused significant damage at various locations throughout the stadium.
- Represented a municipality in an insurance coverage lawsuit arising out of multiple motor vehicle accidents that addressed the number of occurrences under a commercial general liability policy and the necessary relationship between occurrences such that they can be deemed related under the policy language.
- Represented an appliance manufacturer in connection with a contingent business interruption loss suffered at the locations of multiple critical suppliers as a result of the Texas Freeze.
- Represented a prominent home and furniture retailer in connection property damage suffered during the Texas Freeze.
- Represented a satellite television company in a lawsuit seeking insurance coverage for contingent business interruption losses due to property damage to a supplier during the 2011 Thailand floods. Michael secured a favorable ruling from the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed that insurers in California must inform themselves of the usages of the particular business insured (DirecTV v. Factory Mutual Insurance Co., 2017 WL 2629134 (9th Cir. June 19, 2017)).
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University of California College of the Law, San FranciscoJD
cum laude
2006 - University of California, Los AngelesBA2003
Named a “Super Lawyer: Insurance Coverage,” Southern California Super Lawyers, 2024
Named a “Rising Star: Insurance Coverage,” Southern California Super Lawyers, 2013-2021
Named a “Rising Star,” Law360, 2020
- Author, "Insurance Policies May Cover Coronavirus-related Losses," Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 16, 2020
- Author, "Trade Usage Overlooked in Insurance Policy Interpretation," Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 27, 2019
- Author, "Supply Chain Losses in the Wake of Natural Disasters," Lexology, April 25, 2019
- Author, "Bad faith liability for insurers arises before the duty to defend," Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 5, 2018
- Author, "Ruling Shows Breadth of an Insurer’s Duty to Defend Third-Party Claims," Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 25, 2018
- Author, "Insurance Law Implications of the Shared Economy," LexisNexis Quarterly, April 12, 2017
- Author, "Settlement Offers Might Not Preclude Bad Faith," Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 26, 2016
- Author, "Policy Benefits Should Be Included When Reviewing Damages," Law360, July 11, 2016
- Author, "Insurers Face Big Punitive Exposure for California Bad Faith Claims," Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 29, 2016
- Author, "The Exhaustion of Underlying Limits: Ali v. Federal Insurance Company and The Fictitious Death of Zeig," Mealey’s Emerging Insurance Disputes, August 1, 2013
- Author, "PERSPECTIVES: Marine Insurance Defined by Higher Disclosure Standards," Business Insurance, January 13, 2013
- Author, "Insurance Coverage for Concussion Lawsuits," Concussion Policy & the Law, August 4, 2012
- California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- Speaker, "Insurance Coverage for Class Action Litigation," Association of Corporate Counsel, May 30, 2024
- Speaker, "The Art of Negotiating with Insurers," Association of Corporate Counsel, November 30, 2022
- Speaker, "Insurance Coverage for Losses and claims Associated with SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19," RIMS, April 14, 2020
- Speaker, "Maximizing the Value of Your Insurance Coverage Assets" and "Top Risks and Threats Facing Hotels Today," 2018 CHOICE Hotel Annual Conference, May 2-3, 2018
- Speaker, "D&O Liability Insurance: Hot Buttons Every Firm Needs to Know," The Knowledge Group, September 12, 2016
- Speaker, "Complex Business Interruption Claims Following a Natural Disaster," CalCPA Economic Damages Section Meeting, February 24, 2016
- Speaker, "10 Things You Don’t Know About Insurance That Can Hurt You," Association of Corporate Counsel Southern California Roundtable, June 25-26, 2014