Anaheim California Expert Witness Engineer Directory

General Commercial Liability Coverage Depends on Facts - Not Labels

October 27, 2025 — Michael Yelle - Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
The Twiggs hired Rainier Pacific Development, LLC to build a home. But, after the home was complete, the Twiggs complained the concrete garage slab was sloped toward the house and cracked.[1] The Twiggs and Rainier agreed to a “Repair Agreement” (in other words, a contract) that obligated Rainier to repair the slab by applying a thin concrete overlay.[2] The Twiggs alleged the repairs were defective and proceeded to arbitration. In arbitration, the Twiggs made a claim for breach of contract by alleging Rainier had breached the Repair Agreement.[3] The arbitrator ruled in favor of the Twiggs, and a trial court entered judgment against Rainier. When the Twiggs’ efforts to collect on the judgment were unsuccessful, the Twiggs sued Rainier’s commercial general liability insurer, Admiral Insurance Group.[4] Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Michael Yelle, Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
Mr. Yelle may be contacted at michael.yelle@acslawyers.com

Fort Lauderdale Associate Secures Summary Judgment in Rare Premises Liability Win

December 22, 2025 — Lewis Brisbois Newsroom
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (October 29, 2025) - Fort Lauderdale Associate Kyle Hollander recently secured a summary judgment victory for his client, Winn-Dixie, in a contested premises liability case. This was a hotly disputed liability case of water on the floor near an ice cooler with surveillance footage of a customer constantly bringing bags of ice to and from the cooler to the register. The plaintiff unknowingly stepped into the area of dripped melted ice and fell. Kyle successfully argued based on the plaintiff’s own deposition testimony and the surveillance footage that Winn-Dixie didn’t have the requisite actual notice. Additionally, Kyle argued that the brief duration the condition remained on the floor was legally insufficient to establish constructive notice under Florida law. The Court agreed, finding that the evidence would not survive a directed verdict and granting summary judgment in favor of the defense. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

Insurer’s Federal Suit Dismissed in Favor of Insured’s State Suit

April 14, 2026 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The federal district court granted the insured’s motion to dismiss the insurer’s federal suit for declaratory judgment because the insured filed a more complete action in state court. Church Mut. Ins. Co. v. Elmwood Baptist Church, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 259762 (S.D. W.V. Dec. 16, 2025). Elmwood purchased a property policy from Church Mutual Insurance Company. After the roof of Elmwood’s property collapsed, the parties disputed the amount Church Mutual owed to Elmwood. Church Mutual filed suit in federal district court asking for a declaration that the policy was “void ab initio,’ or, alternatively, that Church had fully compensated Elmwood for its loss. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Employer’s Liability Exclusion Bars Coverage

November 18, 2025 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The court held the policy’s Employer’s Liability Exclusion precluded coverage for the injured individual who was deemed to be an employee of the insured. Craft v. Access L.L.C., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179794 (W.D. La. Sept. 2, 2025). Charles Craft worked for FL Crane & Sons, Inc.. The general contractor of the project, Lemoine Company, LLC, hired FL Crane to do work on the project. Lemoine rented a crane from Morrow Equipment Company, LLC, and hired a crane operator from Skyhook Ops, LLC. Burlington was Skyhook’s insurer. Craft claimed his left arm was injured while working atop a scaffolding when Skyhook caused the scaffolding system to be pulled apart when operating a crane. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Chris Konzelmann Appointed to NASP Board of Directors

November 03, 2025 — White and Williams LLP
White and Williams LLP congratulates Chris Konzelmann, Partner and Chairman of the Subrogation Department, on his appointment to the National Association of Subrogation Professionals’ (NASP) Board of Directors. In an announcement posted to LinkedIn, NASP stated, “These new board members bring diverse experience, leadership, and a shared vision for NASP’s future. Together, they will continue advancing NASP’s mission to provide education, advocacy, and community for subrogation professionals across all industries.” Chris is a long-standing member of NASP and a frequent presenter at its Annual and Spring Conferences. He also regularly delivers webinars and training sessions for subrogation clients, helping them stay informed on legal developments and best practices in recovery strategy. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of White and Williams LLP

Toolbox Talk Series: GenAI Document Review

January 06, 2026 — Brendan J. Witry - The Dispute Resolver
This month's installment of the Toolbox Talk Series explored the use of Generative AI in document review, which as construction lawyers know can be voluminous. Jack Bandlow and Travis Olson from BRG provided an overview of how lawyers can use GenAI to make document review in construction litigation more efficient. Like other uses of GenAI, it is a tool that is not designed to replace lawyers. Rather it helps eliminate or reduce mundane or tedious tasks that are not the highest and best use of a lawyer's time. The AI-powered document review platforms are designed to recognize patterns in documents and transforms words and text into "vectors" to group concepts with similar meanings. For example, whereas a traditional keyword search for "weather delay" will only return hits on that keyword, a search utilizing vectoring will also search for conceptually similar terms, even if the keyword does not match. These tools can use natural language searches to return results that a responsive to the prompt. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Brendan J. Witry, Laurie & Brennan LLP
Mr. Witry may be contacted at bwitry@lauriebrennan.com

Kahana Feld Secures Discontinuance with Prejudice in Fraudulent Case

January 06, 2026 — Kahana Feld
Kahana Feld secured a victory for its client after uncovering evidence that the plaintiff’s alleged trip-and-fall claim was fraudulent. The plaintiff sought $8 million in damages and claimed serious spinal and knee injuries stemming from an incident outside a Bronx retail store. Through strategic investigation and a crucial non-party deposition, our team established that the plaintiff’s identified eyewitness was out of the country at the time of the alleged accident—contradicting the plaintiff’s testimony and confirming the falsity of the claim. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Kahana Feld

Seventh Circuit Finds “Additional Insured” Requirements Met Where Non-Party Subcontractor Was Proximate Cause of Underlying Injuries

February 23, 2026 — Jason Taylor - Traub Lieberman Insurance Law Blog
In Atlanta Gas Light Company et al v. Navigators Ins. Co., Nos. 24-2888 & 24-2889 (7th Cir. Jan. 22, 2026), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals assessed whether an upstream contractor was an “additional insured” under an umbrella policy issued to its subcontractor. Atlanta Gas and Southern Company Gas (“AGL”) hired United States Infrastructure Corporation (“USIC”) to locate and mark gas lines that AGL owned throughout Georgia. In 2018, USIC failed to mark a gas line in Homerville, Georgia, and a boring company struck it, leading to an explosion that severely injured three women. The victims settled their claims with USIC but did not come to terms with AGL. AGL eventually did settle with the victims, but only after they sued AGL in Georgia state court (the “Underlying Suits”). AGL’s service agreement with USIC required USIC to obtain primary and excess liability insurance coverage that included AGL as an additional insured. Because USIC’s settlement with the victims exhausted its primary policy, AGL tendered the defense and indemnification of the Underlying Suits to USIC’s excess insurer, Navigators. Navigators denied the request on the ground that AGL was not an “additional insured” under the policy. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jason Taylor, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Taylor may be contacted at jtaylor@tlsslaw.com

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