2007          Established that life insurer has no duty to investigate a possible death claim until a legal representative is appointed for the                         beneficiary-estate [Estate of Grant v. State Farm Life Insurance Co.]



2007          Established limits on post-Abatie discovery in ERISA benefits litigation involving a structural conflict of interest [Beckstrand v.

                  Electronic Arts Group Long Term Disability Plan]

 

2006          Obtained the Eastern District of California’s first dismissal of representative claims for unfair competition under Prop 64 [Starr-

                  Gordon v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.]



2004          Established that the “disclosed principal” rule required the dismissal of a policyholder’s claim of agent misconduct in connection                   with the sale of a life insurance policy [Magsayo v. Primerica Life Insurance Co.]



2003          Established that California DOI cannot properly be joined to destroy diversity in disability income insurance claims litigation   

                  [Borsuk v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.]



2002         Successfully prosecuted California’s first-known litigated case involving the rescission of a long term care insurance policy [GE

                 Capital Assurance Co. v. Golden]



2001         Obtained an order compelling an insurance agent to arbitrate claims of alleged sexual harassment against an insurance broker

                 who did not sign the agent’s arbitration agreement [Miranda v. AFLAC]



1999         Successfully defended the first-known litigated case in California involving suitability and the sale of long term care insurance

                 [Yudnich v. The Harvest Life Insurance Co.]



1997         Expanded California’s market for long term care insurance by establishing California DOI’s authority to approve of tax-qualified

                 long term care insurance policies [Congress of California Seniors v. Quackenbush]



​1997         Filed an amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of a life and health insurance trade association regarding

                 the "impostor defense” [AMEX Life Assurance Co. v. Superior Court (Slome Capital)]



1997         Established limits on the availability of injunctive relief in actions governed by the Federal Arbitration Act [Davenport v. Blue

                 Cross of California]



1996         Used the Harris Trust corrective legislation to obtain the nation’s first dismissal of fiduciary and co-fiduciary liability claims 

                 against an insurer holding ERISA plan assets in its general account [Tool v. National Employee Benefit Services, Inc.]



1996        Established that the loss of a health care professional’s license to practice is a legal disability which does not qualify for benefits

                under a disability income insurance policy [Damascus v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co.]

​

1992        Established that a life insurance company has a private right of action for “twisting” under California Insurance Code Section 781

                against agents who misrepresent facts to induce policy surrenders [Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. v. LeDuc]

​

1992        In a disappearance case involving an accidental death policy, confirmed that the beneficiary bears the burden of proving the

                insured died as the result of an accident [Johnson v. Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Co.]

​

1992       Established that a change in premium is sufficient proof that a life insurance applicant’s smoking history was material [Kentucky

               Central Life Ins. Co. v. Marin Bay Park Trust]