Karyne T. Ghantous is a California licensed attorney with over 25 years of litigation and insurance defense experience successfully negotiating the resolution of, and trying cases in State and Federal court, Contra Costa County, Alameda County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara County, Sacramento County, Solano County and Monterey County.
We would welcome the opportunity to earn your trust and deliver aggressive, yet cost-effective results allowing you to focus on your company’s business objectives instead of costly litigation. Contact us at [email protected] or [email protected] or call us at 925-242-2431.
Ghantous Law Corporation is a women-owned business, women-owned law firm. DUNS #012089013.
We provide insurance defense advice and counsel to businesses and individuals in disputes between policyholders, additional insureds named under a policy of insurance or in actions between insureds and their insurers. When a business is sued, insurance policies often dictate who will pay for the cost of the litigation. The insurers generally have the right to control the defense and will appoint insurance defense counsel to defend the insurer in the event of a claim covered under an insurance policy– most frequently involving property damage and bodily injury claims either covered or potentially covered by a commercial general liability policy, professional liability policy or pollution policy.
Just about every case where a company is sued implicates an insurance policy which in turn could trigger an insurance defense obligation. The first step in managing any litigation is to determine who will pay for the cost of the defense, i.e. attorneys’ fees and costs. If your business is faced with a lawsuit, there must be consideration of tendering the defense to the company’s insurers or the insurers of any entity potentially owing indemnity to the business by contract. For this reason, it is critical to have the company’s contracts and insurance policies fully evaluated in the event of a lawsuit. An understanding of insurance law matters is critical to successfully defending the litigation or shifting the cost of the litigation to someone other than your company.
The duty to defend and indemnify found in a contract or insurance policy are separately interpreted by the courts in a body of law that is constantly evolving. Failing to tender a claim to the appropriate insurance carrier, within the policy period, can result in the loss of thousands of dollars, or even worse, waiver of the insurance coverage. If your business has been sued, it is important to retain an experienced insurance defense attorney to successfully defend the litigation or shift the cost to the litigation to others.
With over 20 years of insurance defense experience, our understanding of insurance and litigation will assist your business in a multitude of ways. For example, we can tender the defense of the lawsuit on your behalf, follow through on coverage investigations, assist with any additional insured disputes and will pursue contractual indemnity obligations– all while defending the lawsuit and providing a strategic defense towards the successful resolution of the case. Most frequently, insurers will allow our firm to maintain representation of the business, as appointed insurance defense counsel, so you don’t have to deal with a messy transition of attorneys once coverage by the carrier is accepted.
We regularly represent insureds who have successfully tendered the cost of the defense to their insurers or indemnitors and know what carriers need to make a proper coverage determination. As exception counsel for the top business insurers in the United States, we comply with all individual litigation management guidelines required by these insurers so that there is no interruption to a proactive defense of the lawsuit while the firm attempts to shift the cost of the defense to someone other than the company.