Mr. Lovell devotes a substantial part of his practice to insurance law, in the context of both complex insurance coverage disputes and bad faith actions, and insurance issues associated with tort litigation. He has litigated bad faith and coverage actions spanning a range of issues, typically claims for defense and indemnity under third party liability policies’ bodily injury/property damage and personal injury coverage terms.
Mr. Lovell devotes a substantial part of his practice to insurance law, in the context of both complex insurance coverage disputes and bad faith actions, and insurance issues associated with tort litigation. He has litigated bad faith and coverage actions spanning a range of issues, typically claims for defense and indemnity under third party liability policies’ bodily injury/property damage and personal injury coverage terms.
Mr. Lovell also focuses a significant part of his practice in defending energy, utility, and manufacturing companies in significant personal injury, wrongful death, property damage, and toxic torts cases. He has experience litigating negligence, products liability, premises liability, and groundwater contamination matters. These matters have involved various accident mechanisms, including electrical contact, asbestos and carbon monoxide exposure, automobile impact, and fire.
Mr. Lovell has jury trial experience in personal injury and groundwater contamination cases. From April to June 2005, Mr. Lovell served as a deputy district attorney for Marin County, where he successfully tried misdemeanor cases to verdict and conducted a variety of evidentiary hearings.
Results
In 2010, Mr. Lovell was part of a team that won summary judgment on behalf of a major property-casualty insurer in an action venued in California state court. Sedgwick obtained a ruling that the client’s policies’ personal injury and bodily injury coverage terms did not create a potential for coverage for underlying allegations of conspiracy and fraud arising out of an alleged scheme to underpay uninsured/under-insured motorist benefits.
In 2009, Mr. Lovell represented a heating/ventilation/air conditioning contractor in a lawsuit in which nearly 200 people sought medical monitoring costs. Plaintiffs claimed they were exposed to asbestos and other contaminants during an asbestos abatement/seismic retrofitting project at their workplace. After Mr. Lovell prevailed on a motion for summary adjudication to defeat an express contractual indemnity claim, Sedgwick's client, alone among 17 defendants/cross-defendants, obtained a "pay-nothing" dismissal of all claims against it.
Presentations and Publications
Mr. Lovell’s presentations and publications include:
- Speaker, “A Practical Guide to E-Discovery,” presented to State Fund Insurance Company, May 2010.
- “California Enacts Sweeping E-Discovery Rules,” Sedgwick E-Discovery News Flash, July 2009.
- “Second Thoughts: Do the FDA's Responses to a Fatal Drug Trial Hint at a Shift in Basic FDA Policy?” Food & Drug Law Journal, Vol. 51, No. 2 (June 1996). The article won first prize in the Food & Drug Law Institute's 1995 H. Thomas Austern Memorial Writing Competition.
Memberships & Honors
Mr. Lovell is a member of the Litigation Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Defense Research Institute.