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Charlie litigates and advises clients regarding coverage disputes arising out of first and third-party claims. His experience ranges from representing insurers in multi-party disputes in environmental and mass tort insurance coverage to providing advice in disputes with individual insureds under homeowners and automobile policies.

Charlie has co-authored chapters of the LexisNexis Practice Guide: Washington Insurance Litigation regarding property insurance and the rescission of insurance policies based on misrepresentations made by the policyholder in obtaining a policy.

In 2017, Charlie spent an extended period of time on secondment with a London Market Insurance Company in which he worked directly with leading claims personnel in the handling of asbestos, environmental, and health hazard claims for assureds throughout the United States

  • Represented insurers who issued policies with combined liability limits in excess of $50 million in multiparty contribution lawsuit regarding potential coverage for over 1,000 toxic tort claims and environmental claims arising out of polluted sites across the country. A seven week jury trial resulted in a partial defense verdict, with the jury concluding that the pollution exclusions in various policies precluded coverage for the environmental claims.
  • Obtained very favorable settlement in dispute involving parallel lawsuits in two states regarding insurance coverage for insured’s alleged liability (claimed to be in excess of $100 million) at several polluted sites around the country.
  • Represented insurers who issued policies with combined liability limits in excess of $100 million in a lawsuit regarding a nine figure pollution liability at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site and several other environmental sites.
  • Represented insurer in lawsuit regarding potential coverage for wrongful death claim; obtained summary judgment dismissal based on policy exclusion for liability arising out of injury caused by intentional acts of the policyholder.
  • Represented insurance carrier in dispute regarding UIM coverage, obtained favorable result in arbitration.


  • Washington State Bar Association
  • King County Bar Association
  • Co-author: Chapter of the LexisNexis Practice Guide: Washington Insurance Litigation regarding the rescission of insurance policies based on misrepresentations made by the policyholder in obtaining a policy; “The Insurance Application and the Insurer’s Remedies for Misrepresentation,” November 2014
  • J.D., UCLA School of Law, 2007
  • B.A., Cornell University, 2003
  • State of Washington
  • State of Oregon
  • United States District Court, Western District of Washington
  • United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
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