Insurance Defense

Casualty and General Liability Defense

Klinedinst’s Casualty and General Liability practice group represents clients in a wide array of matters.  Our attorneys already serve as panel counsel for many insurance carriers which allows us to ramp up quickly and vigorously defend our clients against these types of claims.

Casualty and general liability litigation often involves claims of personal injury and wrongful death in premises cases, transportation claims, workplace accidents, product liability matters and other types of claims. Our clients include property owners and managers, retailers, trucking companies, employers and manufacturers.

Our skilled attorneys have successfully defended these matters through dispositive motions, trial and strategic alternative resolution procedures where appropriate.

To learn more about our casualty and general liability capabilities contact a Klinedinst attorney by clicking here.

Insurance Defense

Insurance claims and litigation can move quickly. Klinedinst’s Insurance Defense attorneys work with insurance carriers, insured businesses, and other organizations to understand the issues at hand, evaluate potential exposure, and develop a defense strategy suited to each matter.

Our attorneys handle a broad range of claims involving businesses and organizations across multiple industries. Klinedinst attorneys also serve as panel counsel for insurance carriers and represent clients throughout the litigation process, from early case evaluation and discovery through motions, alternative dispute resolution, and trial.

Insurance Defense Capabilities

• General Liability & Product Liability Defense
• Hospitality & Restaurant Liability
• Transportation Liability
• Retail & Premises Liability
• Employment Litigation & Disputes

These matters can involve personal injury and wrongful death claims, premises liability, transportation accidents, workplace incidents, product liability, employment disputes, and other liability-related claims. Our attorneys represent clients that include property owners and managers, retailers, restaurants and hospitality businesses, transportation companies, employers, manufacturers, and other businesses.

Klinedinst works closely with clients throughout each stage of a matter, with an emphasis on clear communication, practical case management, and understanding both the legal and business considerations involved.

To learn more about our Insurance Defense capabilities, contact a member of the Klinedinst team.

Related Practice Areas

• General Liability & Product Liability Defense
• Hospitality & Restaurant Liability
• Transportation Liability
• Retail & Premises Liability
• Employment Litigation & Disputes

Product Liability

The attorneys in Klinedinst’s Product Liability practice represent regionally, nationally and internationally-based clients and defend their product liability claims throughout the Western United States. We also serve as national coordinating counsel for clients with multi-state and multi-district products litigation.

Product liability cases are some of the most demanding, often with complex underlying issues and high exposure potential. Our firm has a proven track record of defeating these lawsuits at trial and through law and motion work, including motions for summary judgment. Recognizing that no product liability case is the same, our team is sophisticated and flexible enough to handle virtually any claim presented. In defending design defect allegations, our attorneys work closely with client engineering staff and appropriate consultants in the particular field to overcome such claims.

Our professionals have successfully defended these cases brought under theories of strict product liability, negligence, express and implied warranty, fitness for intended purpose, as well as the defense of subrogation actions.

When it comes to experience, no product is too big or too small. Products involved in past and present litigation range in size from soft drink cans to construction cranes. Our attorneys have tackled cases including consumer/household products, plumbing and electrical products, chemicals, automobiles, ship tanks, forklifts, grave crypts, guns, plane ramps, scaffolds, tires, and toys.

Learn more about our product liability experience, and contact one of our product liability attorneys today.

Restaurant and Hospitality

The Restaurant and Hospitality practice at Klinedinst is comprised of a team of attorneys who are prepared to address the specific needs of the industry.

Our lawyers possess extensive experience in such matters as general premises liability issues, especially allegations of inadequate security (liability for conduct of a third party) and standard of care issues related to the food service and hospitality industries. Klinedinst’s Restaurant and Hospitality team comes from an incredibly diverse legal and professional background, and even includes a former supervising public health microbiologist. In defending our restaurant and hospitality clients, we focus on employment and labor issues, personal injury litigation, Americans with Disabilities Act issues, food products safety, mold and toxic tort, foodborne illness outbreaks, and business litigation.

With team members located throughout California, our attorneys are quick to respond to any issues facing your business, and help guide you through the legal and business challenges ahead.

Transportation

Klinedinst’s Transportation Practice Group is comprised of attorneys experienced in identification and control of risk to members of the transportation industry. The Transportation Group represents a wide array of entities who are concerned with the transportation of goods, materials,  equipment, and people in all modes of transport. This includes motorcycle, passenger vehicle, vans, shuttle, and livery vehicles (taxi and cab services, buses, trucks, and rail).

Klinedinst attorneys are often called upon to represent:

Trucking companies, including common carriers, private carriers, and trucks for hire, including tankers;

Solid waste handlers, from collection transfer to disposal, including landfill claims;

Public transportation services, such as city buses and public rail transit;

Para-transit services, including fixed route and dial-up providers to ensure compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title II; and

Emergency care and transportation providers for the sick and injured, including ambulance companies, paramedics, and local fire departments.

Construction vehicles include:

• Concrete pumping trucks
• Ready-mix trucks
• Aerial work platforms
• Scissor lifts
• Articulated boom lifts
• Telescopic boom lifts
• Mast climbing work platforms
• Scaffold (suspended and supported)
• Material handler
• Cranes and derricks
• Bucket trucks

Entertainment vehicles include:

• Cinema
• Craft service trucks
• Camera rig
• Production equipment trucks
• Production trailers, including cast trailers, make-up trailers, wardrobe trailers, specialty trailers

Klinedinst attorneys also provide defense for manufacturers, installers, and purchasers of conveyance, including elevators and escalators. Our attorneys defend against conveyance claims alleging violations of standards found in ASME A17.1. In addition, the firm defends claims involving construction hoists and industrial elevators.

Our attorneys stand ready to assist clients with immediate, on-scene accident and catastrophic loss investigation and counsel on a 24 hour/7 day a week basis. Klinedinst attorneys have compiled a stable of transportation experts at the top of their field who are also committed to rapid response, providing both expert investigation and legal representation at the accident scene until the issue is resolved.

Members of the Transportation Group are active with many industry-leading organizations including American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Transportation Industry Defense Association (TIDA), Defense Research Institute (DRI) Transportation Section, the Transportation Group of USLAW Network, and Transportation Lawyer Association (TLA).

Members of the Transportation Group are often asked to provide best guidance with respect to claims management, as well as claims avoidance. For example, our attorneys work with risk managers, maintenance, and safety departments to identify common claims and solutions for mitigation. Clients were the first to use 3M’s retro-reflect tape, as well as Sony’s black-and-white back up cameras.

Attorneys are often asked to help edit transportation clients’ Health and Safety Manuals, as well as Driver’s Handbooks. Klinedinst’s goal is to have multiple audiences – whether they are employees, opposing counsel, or a jury – come away with the understanding that clients maintain safe working and operating environments.

The Transportation Group provides clients with employment counseling and representation, as well as corporate and transactional services. Our team also includes attorneys with experience advising clients regarding a wide variety of intellectual property matters including protection of trade secrets and trademarks, and representation of clients in intellectual property litigation.

The Transportation Group also includes specialists from our employment team who have substantial experience with employment and labor issues confronting the transportation industry. Our team regularly handles class actions and individual lawsuits involving misclassification and various labor code violations. The team also provides proactive counseling to avoid misclassification, labor code violations and to help defuse and manage employee disputes before they turn into expensive litigation.

Retail and Premises Liability

The Klinedinst Retail and Premises Liability group is comprised of attorneys from multiple practice areas, assembled to meet the diverse needs of major retailers and entertainment facilities, small business owners, grocery chains, restaurants, and public storefronts.

Our attorneys help clients face challenges in an ever-changing regulatory environment. From compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act statutes, to state and local employment regulations, the team at Klinedinst helps retail clients stay ahead of the regulatory curve. Klinedinst also helps retailers with legal issues arising from labor relations, including collective bargaining agreements and work stoppages.

Today’s retailers face significant exposure with personal injury and tort litigation. Klinedinst works with retailers and their carriers to defend slip/trip and fall suits, allegation of inadequate security cases, as well as other premises liability and injury claims.

Klinedinst’s Retail and Premises Liability Defense group also helps defend retailers against false imprisonment claims, arising primarily out of shoplifting. The group also handles claims of abuse made by disruptive customers seeking remuneration, as well as allegations of assault made while on premises by both employees and unrelated third parties.

Retailers that carry thousands of products frequently find themselves subject to product liability litigation involving the products they sell, from allegedly defective supplements to allegations of defective strollers and toy products.

The firm’s attorneys have worked with a wide range of clients on their retail and premises liability defense needs, from small business to Fortune 50 companies. For clients looking for broad experience in a wide range of backgrounds, the Retail and Premises Liability group at Klinedinst has much to offer.

Employment Litigation

The Klinedinst Employment Litigation group provides its clients with vigorous representation in the place where stakes are the highest: the courtroom.

With a full array of legal services in varied employment topics and issues, our attorneys are experienced representing clients before governmental agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the California Division of Labor Standard’s Labor Commissioner Office, as well as State and Federal courts, including through appeals.

Klinedinst also has extensive experience representing employers in class action lawsuits brought in State and Federal Court.  Because class actions can bring significant risks, our objectives are to quickly analyze potential exposure and develop a strategy with the client to win or to expeditiously resolve claims.

Recognized for their extensive and successful track record defending employers, our attorneys have extensive experience in all facets of employment litigation, including:

• Arbitrations
• Wage and Hour Claims
• Discrimination and Harassment Claims
• Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets
• Whistleblower and Retaliation Claims
• Classification of Employees
• Independent Contractor/Misclassification Counseling and Disputes
• Hiring, Performance Management and Termination
• Leaves of Absences and Disability Assessments and Claims
• Class Actions
• PAGA Claims
• Background Checks and Investigation of Employees
• Fair Credit Reporting Act Claims

Each of Klinedinst’s attorneys is dedicated to building long-standing relationships with every client and becoming a proactive business partner. We invite you to contact our employment team, and discover how our attorneys can solve your employment litigation and counseling needs.