Workers' Compensation Insurance Expert Witnesses: 10

Michelle Villarreal, AIC, AINS, is a highly accomplished and respected professional with proven success and experience inInsurance and Reinsurance company auditing, operational development, and claim management.

Ms. Villarreal has been a member of the insurance industry for over 30 years. She is the President and CEO of Occupational Accident Risk, Inc, a Third Party Administrator specializing in Texas work injury programs. They have been in the Third Party Administration industry since 2006, offering services in both workers compensation and Texas Non-Subscription. In 2019, Occupational Accident Risk rebranded themselves concentrating solely on the nuances of Texas Non-Subscription programs.

Litigation Support - Ms. Villarreal is articulate and pragmatic in dealing with all levels of insurance company management. She is an approved continuing education ethics provider for the Texas Department of workers compensation. She is available to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant. Services include thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Milliman’s Tampa Office provides a variety of Health Insurance, Health Care services, and Pharma consulting services to law firms, health plans, insurance companies, HMO’s, Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans, hospitals and other providers, employers and government agencies. Stuart Rachlin and other staff are experienced actuaries and related consultants.  

We provide support to our clients with all types of health related services including Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug plans (MAPD), Part D plans (PDP), ACA plans, 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, claim cost analysis, and fee schedule analysis.

These health care services are used in litigation relating to:

• Life care planning
• Contract development and fee schedule analysis
• Pricing & Underwriting
• Senior Services
• New benefit 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. 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.

In addition to his expert work, Mr. Coleman currently teaches Finance and Business full-time at Cabrini University.

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 has performed inspections of MGAs, TPAs, ceding companies, and insureds. An abbreviated list of his insurance expert and damages specialties include:

View Key Coleman's Consulting Profile.

Jim Leatzow has 46 years 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:

• 46 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) 
• 55 years Licensed Pilot with Commercial, Instrument, Multi & Seaplane Ratings 
• Still licensed in Illinois (46 years) & Wisconsin (38 years) 
• Licensed in all states for 20-25 years until 2005 (agency sold)
• Rule 26 Report specialization on complex cases 
• Bad Faith Expert qualified 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

Hayden Burrus, FCAS, MAAA, is an accomplished Casualty Actuary with over 30 years of leadership experience in the Insurance Industry. Former President of Casualty Actuaries of the Southeast, Chief Actuary of publicly traded workers' compensation insurance company, actuarial experience at multiple insurance rating organizations (National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) and Insurance Services Office (ISO)), Mr. Burrus is experienced with all sides of the insurance industry. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Burrus is highly skilled at taking complex insurance and actuarial calculations and decisions and making them easy to understand. For 10 years, he has been offering expert witness services to public and private entities, and attorneys representing plaintiff and defense. Services include thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Past Consulting Experience:

• Opining actuary and Loss Reserve Specialist for a captive reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda.
• Numerous engagements for self – insurers. Clients include governmental and private companies.
• Lines of business include workers’ compensation, general liability and other liability. Jurisdictions include US and Bermuda.
• Deposition regarding the rates and stacking practices of Uninsured Motorist / Auto Liability coverage for a large multistate auto insurer.
• Actuarial valuations of commissions due from an insurance company.
• Retained Chief Actuary services for a growing publicly traded workers’ compensation insurer; charged with building actuarial expertise from the ground up.
• Expert preparation for appeal of NCCI rulings on experience rating modification factor process.
• Opinion Letter to Ohio Department of Insurance on a Regulatory Settlement Agreement.
• Actuarial Expert for Insurer in Receivership.
• Negotiations and sworn statements with Florida Office of Insurance Regulation over excess profits statutes.
• Expert opinion and deposition related to the filed policy forms with a state insurance department.
• Expert Report concerning the cause of the insolvency of a captive insurer.
• Workers’ compensation premium calculations for a premium dispute between insurer and insured.

Scott S. Margraves, CIC, has over 32 years of Commercial Property and Casualty Insurance experience. He is the Principal Consultant and Founder of Gulf Coast Risk Management, LLC (GCRM). GCRM provides research, analysis and advice to commerce, industry, government and individuals. 

GCRM operates COIs R Us, a certificate of insurance (COI) compliance and tracking company. COIs R Us compares the contractual obligations of a lease agreement with the COI. COIs R Us processes thousands of COIs for landlords and general contractors for compliance annually.

Litigation Support - Mr. Margraves has been designated as an expert witness in 19 case assignments: 16 State cases and 3 Federal cases. Case assignments are divided between 10 for Defense and 9 for Plaintiff, including Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. Services include standard of care review, deposition question preparation, document review, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Background Experience - GCRM provides consulting services to attorneys, property managers, and general contractors regarding insurance placement, interpretation, and recommended contractual insurance requirements while explaining the relationship and alignment with indemnity and insurance provisions.

Mr. Margraves is well-versed in the placement of insurance policies from an insured's perspective. As a front-line producer, he weathered forty three (five major) hurricanes, three “five-hundred-year" floods and multiple catastrophic fire claims. Agency roles include insurance broker, claims supervisor, agency partner, and risk manager. He is Past President of the Independent Insurance Agents of Houston, Past Vice chairman of IIAT IMPACT Region 10, Member of Insurance Academy, and Lifetime Committeemen for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Mr. Margraves started his second career as a full-time consultant in 2020. He is an insurance industry expert that brings extensive experience in all aspects of property casualty insurance interpretation, policy forms, claims, safety programs, HR coordination and contract integration.

View GCRM's Consulting Profile.

Garson M. Caruso, MD, MPH, PA, is a board certified Occupational Physician in private consulting practice with extensive clinical and administrative experience in emergency and occupational medicine, including:

• Case Review, Analysis, and Management
• Impairment Determination and Disability Rating
• Medical Direction
• Industrial Illness and Injury Care
• Medical Review Officer functions

Dr. Caruso has performed occupational health services and consulting for organizations including Lockheed Martin, Bechtel Aberdeen, PepsiCo, Dean Foods, The New York Transit Authority, and multiple Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He has very broad and in-depth case management and file review experience involving complex disability and workers’ compensation claims. 

Dr. Caruso is a Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) and International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators (IAIME); a Certified Independent Medical Examiner (CIME; 2009-2014); and a Certified Medical Review Officer. He has also held numerous leadership roles in ACOEM, and both published and presented at national, state, and local conferences in his areas of expertise. Dr. Caruso's primary professional interests are worker disability prevention and management, with a particular focus on the psychosocial aspects of occupational medicine and workers compensation, and prevention or minimization of unnecessary work disability. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Caruso's expertise is available to counsel representing both plaintiff and defendant. His services include Independent Medical Evaluations, written reports, depositions, and trial testimony as needed. Dr. Caruso is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Louisiana, and North Carolina. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Dr. Caruso's Consulting Profile.

Mr. Beringer is the Principal of Beringer & Associates (B&A) and Liability Program Management (LPM). He is an approved consultant by the A.M. Best organization, since 2006, for claims, liability, and insurance program management, including matters involving 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.

Mr. Beringer holds an LPCS, RPA; is a founding member of CLM, a published author in various publications, and presenter at the CIMA, CPA, A.M. Best, and other conferences.

Mr. Beringer, as B&A, has provided expert services for risk analysis and management services to the insurance, reinsurance, construction, and transportation industry since 2000. Previous to the formation of B&A, he worked in the insurance industry for 30 plus years as a region Litigation Manager with Automobile Club, Industrial Indemnity, Great American, and The Hartford's Speciality Risk Service. Since B&A’s formation, Mr. Beringer assisted Reliance, AIG, Swiss Reinsurance, and Sterling Insurance for review of their insurance programs, analysis, and performance of claims systems and operations.

Mr. Beringer has participated in over 300 mediations, managed handling of over 30,000 cases in federal, state, and local venues on behalf of clients, and provided expert services to plaintiff and defense counsel.

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

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:

View Edward Priz's Consulting Profile.