Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP

Law360 named WTO's victory in Stresscon one of the nation's top five insurance cases of 2016.

Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell lawyers have extensive experience representing national commercial insurers and their insureds in diverse matters at trial and on appeal. Our insurance practice focuses on high-exposure litigation, including class actions, wrongful death and serious injury cases, and matters of first impression for America's largest insurance carriers. For example, in 2016, Law360 named Travelers v. Stresscon one of the top five insurance cases of the year.

We have successfully tried and arbitrated claims related to bad faith, reverse bad faith, directors' and officers' liability, contracts, environmental tort claims, estoppel, high-net-worth individuals, insurance coverage, investments, personal injury protection, premises liability, product liability, and professional liability.

Trials & Appeals
WTO lawyers represent insurers such as USAA and Allstate as national and regional trial counsel, respectively. In fact, WTO handles a number of USAA’s Med Pay and PIP trials and class actions nationwide. The firm has successfully represented Allstate in bad faith matters in federal court and, in separate matters, before the Colorado Supreme Court.

Other insurance clients include ACE, AIG, Amica, Berkshire Hathaway Homestate, CNA, Great-West Life, Farmers, GuideOne, ING, Lloyds of London, Medical Protective, MedStar, MetLife, Nationwide, OneBeacon, Shand Morahan, Swiss Re, Titan, Travelers, Universal Health Services, and Westport.

Multidisciplinary Approach
Complex litigation for major insurers often involves the overlap of various niche areas. Our insurance practice includes a multidisciplinary team of lawyers with personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, and insurance coverage experience. As an example, WTO represents a major national excess insurance provider in concussion and traumatic brain injury federal class action litigation involving the National Hockey League, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the United States Soccer Federation.

Class Actions
WTO is home to one of the premier class action defense practices in the nation. Six WTO partners have tried seven certified class action trials to juries, obtaining defense verdicts and favorable mid-trial settlements. Insurers such as Allstate, AXIS, Farmers, and USAA rely on WTO for the defense of class action litigation and trials.

WTO has defended insurers in a range of class action matters, including:

• concussion and traumatic brain injury;
• customer service and quality service pledge programs;
• automobile insurance coverage;
• homeowners’ insurance coverage;
• premium pricing;
• coordination of benefits;
• payment to healthcare providers for treatment of patients;
• pricing of uninsured motorist benefits;
• non-payment of PIP benefits under the Colorado Automobile No-Fault statute; and
• expense charges under life insurance policies.

At Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell, we value the differences in people and believe that diversity enhances our ability to succeed and to serve our clients well. We welcome inquiries from qualified diverse candidates for both lawyer and staff positions.

WTO provides equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. It is the policy of the firm that all employees shall work in an environment free from all forms of discrimination. The firm does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or veteran status in matters of hiring, promoting, disciplining, and rewarding employees.

WTO strives for continuous improvement in recruiting and retaining women and diverse lawyers. Since the firm's inception in 1998, WTO has engaged in multiple efforts to promote diversity within the firm through activities such as:

• Targeted and word-of-mouth recruiting;
• Sponsoring financially and volunteering with the Center for Legal Inclusiveness;
• Serving on the board of directors of the Deans' Diversity Council led by the deans of the University of Colorado and the University of Denver law schools;
• Serving on the Deans' Diversity Council's pipeline and retention committees;
• Sponsoring continuing education programs on diversity issues;
• Sponsoring and participating in diversity career fairs;
• Sponsoring and participating in specialty bar associations;
• Supporting local law schools and alumni law school associations;
• Financially supporting diversity scholarships.

We continue to educate ourselves about the best diversity practices and to undertake new approaches to diversify further.

To retain and to enhance diversity among our lawyers, WTO provides all associates with mentoring, guidance, and on-the-job supervision by experienced partners. In doing so, we take into account the background, experience level, and needs of each associate. We also have a formal professional development program. In addition to actual, hands-on trial work, we offer all attorneys workshops with the firm's senior partners and trial presentation consultants.

We encourage and support our minority and female attorneys' interests in specialty bar associations, programs, and networking.

In addition to our ongoing efforts aimed at increasing and retaining the diversity among our lawyers, WTO is committed to building a pipeline of diverse lawyers and helping them develop professionally.

• WTO partner Mark Clouatre was appointed to a leadership position in the ABA Forum on Franchising for 2013 - 2014. He will assume the role of liaison to the Forum for the American Bar Association's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Commission.
• The firm is a founding sponsor of a National Institute of Trial Advocacy scholarship program for public service lawyers.
• The firm is a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and was a founding sponsor of the MCCA diversity scholarship program.
• The WTO Foundation supports with volunteer time and donations nonprofit organizations such as Denver Urban Debate League and Denver Kids, Inc.,which provide mentoring to underserved youth to encourage them to complete high school and pursue post-secondary education.

For more information, contact Connie Proulx, Executive Director, at (303) 244-1919 or [email protected].