Workers' Compensation Insurance Expert Witnesses

Robert E. Underdown, AINS, SIA, AIC, ARM, CFLC, The Insurance Archaeologist ™, is an Insurance and Risk Management Expert with over 30 years of experience in both private & public risk management. 

Selected Background Experience - Mr. Underdown's past experience includes serving as Director of Risk Management for Rural/Metro Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, where he managed $20 million risk management program and completed due diligence on 60 acquisitions in 48 months. As Assistant Vice President of Imperial Corporation, San Diego, CA, he managed special insurance for a $2 billion loan portfolio and implemented a risk management program for 60 branch offices. Mr. Underdown also served as Risk Management and Employee Benefits Manager for the City of Escondido, CA, where implemented risk management programs and completed self-funded health insurance, saving $750,000. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Underdown is a highly qualified insurance expert witness providing testimony in insurance cases across the United States. His services are available to attorneys representing both Plaintiff and Defense. In the specific area of BAD FAITH, Mr. Underdown has provided expert testimony on many bad faith claims for both Defendants and Plaintiffs. He has provided testimony in a number of cases where the insurance company has successfully eliminated the bad faith count by summary judgement. The key issue is whether the actions of the insurance company were reasonable under the specific circumstances of the case. Some of the recent cases for which he has provided insurance expert testimony include:

Agent / Broker Standards Bad Faith Claims Issues Broker Compensation Claims Handling Coverage Opinions General Liability Policies

Insurance Industry Standards Life Insurance Suitability Opinions Risk Management Standards Third Party Claims Standards Tort Litigation Management Workers’ Compensation

View Robert Underdown's Consulting Profile.

Tommy R. Michaels, CPCU, AIC, ARe, ARM is an Insurance Professional with over 45 years of experience in the Property and Casualty Insurance industry.

Mr. Michaels has worked in the Home Office of a large insurance company determining coverage obligation, providing coverage interpretation, and performing functions of an insurance archaeologist. He has taught insurance courses through Robert Morris College, University of Connecticut, and Society of CPCU, Memphis Chapter.

Mr. Michaels' experience in claims includes direct handling, supervision of adjusters and other supervisors, claim office administration and development of a system that integrated various technologies to eliminate paper within the claim office. He has unparalleled claim expertise in property and casualty claims developed from his years of direct handling and supervising claim handlers. Mr. Michaels has handled claims in several states including Arkansas, Connecticut, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. He also directly handled all Fidelity and Surety claims in the State of Oklahoma.

Litigation Support - Tommy Michaels has had the opportunity to do complex claims analysis and negotiate large settlements totaling more than $250,000,000. He has resolved coverage issues, reconstructed decades old policies, and been involved in coverage litigation throughout the United States.

As an expert witness, Mr. Michaels has provided deposition and trial testimony, prepared expert reports in compliance with FRCP 26(2)(B), and has been used as a Consulting Witness. He has given testimony in over 30 depositions in State and Federal Court cases as well as testimony given at trial.

Areas of Expertise:

Claim Handling Standards Bad Faith Conduct Coverage Interpretation Insurance Carrier Duties Claim Settlement Negotiations

General Liability Insurance Automobile Insurance / Uninsured Motorists Homeowner's Insurance Environmental Liability Insurance Professional Liability Insurance

View Tommy Michaels' Consulting Profile.

Scott Stein, A.R.M., is an Insurance Industry Expert and Property Casualty and Professional Liability Insurance Broker with over 25 years of experience. He has served the last 18 years as an Agency Owner preceded by 7 years at two of the world's largest insurance brokers. Throughout his career, Mr. Stein has been negotiating and placing the broadest and most comprehensive Property Casualty and Professional Liability Insurance with specific emphasis on Legal Malpractice Insurance and Directors and Officers cover; to also include Architects E&O, Accountant Malpractice Insurance, Employment Practice Liability Insurance, Medical Malpractice and Medical Defense coverage, and nearly every other specialty within the Professional Liability Insurance spectrum, as well as Worker's Compensation Insurance. Litigation Support - Mr. Stein provides expert witness services to counsel representing both plaintiff and defendant. He has been engaged in excess of 180 cases as an insurance industry expert in the past 15 years. Never disqualified or challenged as an expert by any Court, Mr. Stein has extensive deposition history and trial testimony experience. His cases involve all areas of Broker and Insurance Carrier Standards of Care and his services include depositions, Written reports, and trial testimony when necessary. Areas of Expertise:

• Agent and Broker Procedures
• Insurance Agent and Broker Liability
• Insurance Errors and Omissions
• Broker and Agency Standards of Care
• Failure to Procure Insurance
• Claims Management and Handling
• Insurance Coverage and Placement Issues
• Insurance Disputes-Sales Practices and Bad Faith
• Risk Management Practices and Procedures
• Insurance Contract Review
• Insurance Proposals- Brokers, Agents, and Agencies
• Umbrella Liability Exposure and Placement
• Insurance Compliance- Brokers and Agents
• Intermediary and Broker Procedures
• Risk Management Analysis
• Insurance Company Claims Management and Processing

David Stegall is the Principal Consultant and Founder of Risk Consulting & Expert Services since January 1, 2007. He has over 40 years of insurance, reinsurance, bond and risk management industry experience. He is a Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter, an Associate in Risk Management, an Associate in Reinsurance and a Registered Professional Adjuster. He has experience as an underwriter, an agent, a broker, a surety bond producer, a reinsurer, a managing general agent, a third-party administrator, a captive manager, a self-insured fund executive, a risk management consultant, an expert witness and has been retained as an arbitrator.

He was President of the Society of Risk Management Consultants in 2017 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. Mr. Stegall is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Alabama Captive Association, a member of the Society of Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters, the American Association of Insurance Management Consultants, the Association of Registered Professional Adjusters, ARIAS-US, Defense Research Institute, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association - Tort Trial and Insurance Section. Mr. Stegall has provided 112 expert opinions, been deposed 53 times testified in five trials and three arbitration hearings. His testimony has been divided between 65 for the Defense and 62 for Plaintiffs.

Daryll W. Martin, JD, MBA has a unique professional experience as a Lawyer, Insurance Broker, and Insurance Brokerage Executive. Mr Martin has over 30 years of insurance experience, serving nearly half of that time as corporate counsel for two international brokers, and the other half of that time as a senior insurance brokerage executive. 

Broad Coverage Experience: Property & Casualty; Employee Benefits / Life & Health (qualified and non-qualified); D&O / Employment Practices Liability / Fiduciary; Property / Business Interruption / Boiler & Machinery / Inland & Ocean Marine; Casualty: General Liability / Professional Liability / Workers Compensation / Umbrella / Excess. 

Broad Brokerage Customer Industry Experience: Construction; Energy; Transportation; Manufacturing; Financial Institutions; Health Care; Public Entity / Not For Profit; and, Technology 

Extensive Insurance Industry Operational Experience: Executive officer of nationally ranked insurance brokers; Managed and handled a variety of international, national, and middle market accounts; Self Insurance / Large Retentions / Alternative Risk Transfer Vehicles; Foreign Placements; Wholesale Brokerage; Insurance Underwriting; Reinsurance; Technical Services / Loss Control / Actuarial/Risk Management Consulting; Actuary Services / Actuary Liability; Insurer Solvency / Market Security; Finance and Accounting; Mergers & Acquisitions; Insurance Sales; Client Service Standards; Technology Infrastructure; Human Resource Management; and, Insurer / Broker Relationship Management. 

Areas of Expertise:

Bad Faith Business / Employment Insurance Insurance Insurance Agency Insurance Agent / Broker

Insurance Customs & Practices Insurance Excess & Surplus Lines Life Insurance Property & Casualty Insurance Risk Management

Olie R. Jolstad, SCLA, FACFEI, has worked in the Insurance Industry for more than 37 years. Over the span of his career, Mr. Jolstad has worked with various types of civil litigation involving coverage disputes, claims handling practices, bad faith, unfair and deceptive practices, duties and standards of care regarding the procurement of insurance. In addition, he has worked on forensic insurance policy reconstruction projects on behalf of policyholders.

Litigation Support - Mr. Jolstad has been providing litigation support services for approximately 20 years. He has been retained as an expert witness in approximately 200 cases and has been qualified to testify in various state and federal courts. He offers services to attorneys representing both Plaintiff and Defense.

Mr. Jolstad has been retained as an expert and consultant where insurance coverage at issue involving:

• General Liability Insurance
• Commercial Property Insurance
• Commercial Property Time Element and Extra Expense Coverage
• Builders Risk / Construction
• Construction Wrap-Up
• Directors & Officers / Employment Practices Liability
• Umbrella and Excess Liability and Duty Triggering Events
• Aviation
• Workers' Compensation

With specific attention focused on:

• Insurance Industry Customs, Practices, and Standards
• Good Faith / Bad Faith Claims Handling Practices
• Insurance Agent and Broker Standard of Care and Duty to Procure Insurance
• Excess and Umbrella Duties / Exhaustion
• Excess and Surplus Lines Coverage and Claims Handling

View Olie Jolstad's Consulting Profile.

Milliman’s Tampa Office provides Health Insurance, Health Care and Employee Benefit Consulting to law firms, insurance companies, hospitals, HMO’s, Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans, employers and government agencies. Our staff is experienced with medical, dental, long-term care, Medicare supplement & critical illness.

We assist clients nationwide with forensic actuarial work, rate filings, regulatory compliance, reserve projections, valuations, employee benefit analysis and design, mergers and acquisitions, demutualizations, claim cost analysis, and utilization management programs.

These health care services are used in litigation relating to:

• Pricing & Underwriting
• Senior Services
• Contract Development and Negotiations
• New Plan Design

Key Coleman, CPA, CFA, CPCU, ARe is Executive Director and Founder of Litigation Economic & Forensic Consulting Group LLC. While his firm is located in Greater Philadelphia, his practice is nationwide. Mr. Coleman focuses on damages analysis and expert testimony in a variety of areas including business breakup, post-acquisition purchase price disputes, employment, lost wages and manufacturing. Mr. Coleman also has a specialty in the Insurance and Reinsurance Industry. Mr. Coleman has over 30 years of experience providing business and financial analysis in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Prior to starting his own firm, he spent the bulk of his career in Chicago where he was a partner at a Big Four accounting firm and subsequently held high-level positions at other nationally recognized accounting and consulting firms. Prior to his consulting career, he spent more than eight years in the insurance and reinsurance industry.

Mr. Coleman is often called upon to perform expert analysis relating to Damages in Insurance or Reinsurance Disputes. He is one of the few experts nationwide who holds both the CPA and the CPCU designations. Mr. Coleman performs expert testimony as an insurance economic damages expert witness both locally and nationwide. In addition, he performs inspections of MGAs, TPAs, ceding companies, and insureds. An abbreviated list of his insurance expert and damages specialties include:

Economic Damages in Commercial Disputes Business Damages Lost Profits / Lost Earnings Business Breakups Post-acquisition purchase price disputes Employment disputes  Lost Wages Analysis Manufacturing Insurance Damages Expert

Damages Analysis in Insurance and Reinsurance Agency, Broker, MGA Disputes Underwriting and Claims Analysis Force Placed Insurance Professional Liability / E&O / D&O Run-off, Insolvency Workers’ Compensation Professional Employment Organizations (PEOs) Accounting, Forenisic Accounting and Investigations

View Key Coleman's Consulting Profile.

Jim Leatzow has 43 of "hands-on" practical, property / casualty insurance agency experience. Leatzow has literally worn "every hat there is to wear in the P/C insurance business. He provides expert & arbitration services nationally & internationally with no charge for travel time. He is articulate, efficient & equally comfortable within the U.S. & in foreign venues. His experience includes:

• 44 years national Property/Casualty insurance industry experience
• 30 years national, Property/Casualty insurance Agency Owner
• 23 years national, Property/Casualty Managing General Agent (MGA)
• 20 years national, Third Party Administrator (TPA) insurance claim adjuster
• 26 years Reinsurance experience & Company Founder/President
• 17 years Certified insurance Arbitrator (U.S. / U.K. / Bermuda) 
• 56 years Licensed Pilot with Commercial, Instrument, Multi & Seaplane Ratings 
• Still licensed in Illinois (44 years) & Wisconsin (37 years) 
• Licensed in all states for 20-25 years until 2005 (agency sold)
• Rule 26 Report specialization on complex cases 
• Bad Faith Expert nationally 
• History of representing plaintiff & defense equally
• No charge for travel time "coast to coast"

Leatzow's specialties include: Agent-Broker-MGA standards of care / Bad Faith / Coverage    / Agent-Broker E&O Claims / Agent-Broker custom & practice / Professional (E&O) Liability / Claims adjusting Standard of Care / Claims-made coverage / Surplus Lines issues / Underwriting / Licensing / Property / General Liability /Aviation Insurance

Mr. Beringer is Principal of Beringer & Associates (B&A) and Liability Program Management (LPM). Mr. Beringer is an approved consultant by the A.M. Best, since 2006, organization for liability and insurance program management, including construction, OCIP, TPA, JPA, Captives, Memorandum of Coverage, and insurance coverage analysis. The Cayman Island Monetary Authority approved Mr. Beringer as a licensed captive owner in 2002 for Segregated Portfolio Company Creative Solutions, SPC.

As B&A, since January of 2000, the firm has provided risk analysis and management services to the insurance, reinsurance, construction and transportation industry. Previous to the formation of B&A, Mr. Beringer worked in the insurance industry for 30 plus years as a Litigation Manager. Since B&A’s formation, he assisted major insurance carriers and served as a consultant to various reinsurance and captive insurance carriers.

Mr. Beringer has participated in over 300 mediation as the primary negotiator and the mediator since 1985. The cases include all types of tort and contractual matters on the behalf of his client.   

B&A also form/operate alternative risk transfer mechanisms for domestic and non-domestic captive programs, including purchasing and risk retention groups; assist with supervision of Third-Party Administrators, and municipal construction programs. Mr. Beringer is an approved consultant by the A.M. Best organization for liability program management.

Donald W. Bendure, MBA, CPCU, RPLU, RF, ACI, is an Insurance Expert with a concentration within the areas of Commercial Liability, Captive Underwriting, Professional Liability, Commercial Automobile, and Property Insurance. He has over 40 years of experience and provides services for clients nationwide.

Litigation Support - Mr. Bendure provides unbiased and impartial expert testimony and litigation support services for both plaintiff and defense attorneys. He has currently completed over 350 engagements. Mr. Bendure serves as a Pre-litigation Consulting Expert, a Policyholder Expert Witness, and an Insurance Defense Expert Witness. Mr. Bendure's particular area of expertise in the areas listed below is within the discipline of Underwriting and Insurance Coverage. He possesses specialized knowledge of Captive Insurance and commercial insurance as they relate to coverage issues, particularly within pollution, environment, construction, oil and gas exploration, risk mitigation, enterprise risk management, self-insured and retention programs, and claims made policy language.

Expertise:

General Liability Automobile Liability Forensic Underwriting Workers' Compensation Umbrella and Excess Liability

Errors and Omissions Liability Professional Liability Directors' and Officers' Liability Reinsurance Captive Insurance

View Donald Bendure's Consulting Profile.

Paul F. Amoruso, CPCU, has more than 45 years of experience working for several major insurance carriers as a Senior Vice President of Claims and Operations. As a licensed insurance agent in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, an New Jersey and licensed public adjuster, he is uniquely qualified to assist either plaintiff or defense attorneys on insurance related issues on local or national issues.

If you are an insurance company, insured, or law firm and need an independent review of an insurance issue regarding litigation, agency or company operations, practices or procedures, he is available to assist.

Mr. Amoruso has served as an Expert Witness in many states in both State and Federal court . Having worked in all operation areas of the insurance industry he is able to testify to the generally observed and accepted industry practices.

Areas of Expertise:

• Insurance Customs and Practices
• Company Policies
• Management Involvement
• Proper Staffing
• Coverage Denial
• Agency and Insurance Company Relationships
• Case Evaluation
• Reserve Policies
• Workers Compensation
• Liability Personal or Commercial
• Commercial and Personal Property Losses
• Authority Level
• Industry Ethics and Norms
• Bad Faith
• Claims Handling Practices
• Insurance Company Operations

Richard Stripp, PhD, is a nationally recognized expert in Toxicology providing services in all aspects of a Clinical and Forensic Toxicology. He has served as an expert consultant in 100’s of cases in the field of toxicology and pharmacology for attorneys, investigators, and physicians involved in forensic and clinical toxicological evaluations associated with ethanol, drugs of abuse, prescription medications and chemical exposure. Dr. Stripp provides unbiased expert case reviews involving drug effect on human performance, toxicity of iatrogenic/ therapeutic agents, lead and other toxic metals, carbon monoxide and environmental/occupational hazards. These services include, impartial evaluations involving drug impairment, overdose, toxic chemical exposure, medical issues associated with drug therapy, poisoning, and the role of drugs, alcohol, or chemical exposure in civil and criminal litigation. This covers a full breath of forensic medical-legal cases including:

• Analytical Toxicology and Laboratory Operations
• Review and Interpretation of Toxicology Reports
• Assessment of Impairment and the Role of Drugs/Alcohol in fatalities, accidental injury, overdose, MVA / DWI / DUI, criminal and civil litigation
• Insurance Claims
• To Serve as an Expert Witness: Experienced in Depositions and Court testimony
  • Forensic Toxicology Case Reviews
  • Litigation Support
  • Workers' Compensation
  • DUI/DWI
  • Drug and Alcohol Effects
  • Pharmacology Evaluations
  • Environmental/Occupational Chemicals & Toxic Chemical Exposure
  • Interpretation of Analytical Results and Drug Testing Cases
  • Continuing Education and Lectures
  • Chemical and Product Safety

Edward J. Priz, CPCU, APA, has worked full-time in the Insurance Industry since 1976. In 1982, he also began consulting on commercial property and casualty insurance, and Workers Compensation insurance premium charges, and in 1987 established his own consulting firm to specialize in those fields, as Advanced Insurance Management. Mr. Priz holds the professional designation Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) from the American Institute of Property and Liability Underwriters, as well as the designation Associate in Premium Auditing, from the Insurance Institute of America. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Priz has been retained by policyholders, insurance agents and brokers, insurance companies, and a premium audit firm as an expert witness in his field, both as a consulting expert and as a testifying expert. He serves as an expert witness to counsel for Plaintiff and Defense and has testified in federal and state courts and arbitrations in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. He is a member of the Forensic Expert Witness Association and currently serves as Vice-President of the Chicago chapter of that organization. He is also a member of the Society of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, and the National Society of Insurance Premium Auditors. Mr. Priz has also consulted on the drafting of legislation pertaining to Workers Compensation insurance in Illinois and has testified on insurance regulation before the Illinois legislature. He is the author of three books on the subject of Workers' Compensation insurance.

 

Edward Priz Expert Witness Services

Areas of Expertise:

Workers Compensation Insurance Premiums Audits Classifications Experience Modification Factors Retrospective Rating Large Deductible Policies Payroll Audits NCCI Manual Rules Insurance Agent / Broker Standards of Care Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance Coverage

NCCI classification Rules Experience Rating NCCI Rules and Procedures Retrospective Rating Large Deductible Policies Workers Compensation Appeals Agent Errors and Omissions Insurance Auditor Duties and Errors NCCI Inspections Independent WC Rating Bureau Rules

View Edward Priz's Consulting Profile.