Michael M. Pollak

Born Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 25, 1953.
Admitted to bar, 1979, California, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and U.S. District Court, Central, Southern, and Eastern Districts of California.

University of California at Santa Barbara (B.A., with honors, 1976)
University of California at Davis (J.D., 1979)
Neumiller Honors Moot Court, Participant and Board member.

"Remedies for Insurance Fraud", July 20, 2000 Los Angeles Daily Journal;
"Third Party Judgment Creditors' Rights Against Insurance Carriers", August 14, 2000 Los Angeles Daily Journal;
"Damages for Breach of an Insurance Contract", August 2002 edition of Verdict, The Association of Southern California Defense Counsel;
"The Admissibility of an Insured's Prior Insurance Claims", January 17, 2002, Los Angeles Daily Journal;
"An Excess Verdict Program Can Save The Day ", March 2002 edition of Verdict;
"Fraud on One Part of Insurance Claim Will Void the Whole Claim", August 9, 2002, Los Angeles Daily Journal;
"Enforceability of Third-Party Liens", June 23, 2003, Los Angeles Daily Journal;
"Don't Pile on Causes of Action for Bad Faith Insurance Suits", April 15, 2004, Los Angeles Daily Journal.

State Bar of California, Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, American Bar Association, Lawyers in Mensa, and Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Mr. Pollak has tried 42 cases in superior court and in federal court. He has tried insurance bad faith cases in the areas of property, questionable theft, arson, earthquake, misrepresentation, accidental fire, uninsured motorist, concurrent causation, failure to defend, auto, boat sinking, vandalism, and title insurance. Mr. Pollak also has tried cases concerning insurance coverage, bodily injury, declaratory relief, insurance contribution and indemnity, insurance "reverse bad faith," property damage, employment discrimination, commercial bad faith, breach of contract, landlord/tenant, fraud, real property, subrogation, and contractual indemnity. He has extensive experience in the area of insurance coverage. Mr. Pollak has argued before the California Supreme Court and California District Courts of Appeal. He has spoken to Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters (CPCU), the Society of Claim Law Associates (SCLA), the Combined Claims Conference, and other insurance groups on insurance claim handling practices, responding to policy limit demands, and the firm's Excess Verdict Program.

Published appeals include Martinez v. Traubner (1982) 32 Cal.3d 755 (California Supreme Court interpreted the statute of repose for latent construction defects; client eventually obtained summary judgment); Austin v. Allstate (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 1812 (insureds cannot obtain costs in an uninsured or underinsured motorist arbitration); Utley v. Allstate (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 815 (court of appeal set forth objective standards for determining residence in a liability claim on a homeowners policy); Monteleone v. Allstate (1996) 51 Cal.App.4th 509 (a carrier’s actions taken after an accident cannot serve as an estoppel or other basis for coverage); and Mercado v. Allstate (9th Cir. 2003) 340 F.3d 824 (stipulated judgment not binding on carrier that defended its insured).