A trial attorney with the law firm of Shernoff Bidart Darras Echeverria LLP; Ricardo Echeverria handles liability, property, and HMO cases within the firm's HMO Litigation & Property/Casualty department. Mr. Echeverria has litigated a diverse variety of cases, including construction defect, earthquake, bad faith, wrongful death, personal injury and professional negligence against an insurance agent. Mr. Echeverria has been named to the Los Angeles Daily Journal's $10 Million Rainmaker list in both 2006 and 2007.
Mr. Echeverria's trial record is distinguished by impressive victories including a $7.2 million jury verdict against an insurance company for its failure to settle a claim within policy limits on behalf of its insured in Minnesota Federal District Court (George Martin Co. v. Royal Insurance); a $5.1 million jury verdict against an insurance company for low-balling victims of the October 2003 California Wildfires (Stone v. Fidelity National); a $3.6 million dollar jury verdict against an insurance company for failure to pay a $75,000 water loss claim on a homeowner's insurance policy (Colombero v. USAA); a $1.8 jury million jury verdict for a computer software developer (Nunn v. Cigna); $1.8 million verdict against the State of California in a wrongful death action (Musharbash v. State of California); a $1.9 million verdict on behalf of the City of Long Beach against its insurers in a coverage dispute (City of Long Beach v. AIG); and a $500,000 jury verdict in a personal injury and premises liability action (Smith v. Margaritaville, Inc.).
Mr. Echeverria has been nominated for the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles Trial Lawyer of the Year Award in both 2006 and 2007. He was also a finalist for the Consumer Attorney of California's Consumer Lawyer of the Year in 2007.
A frequent lecturer on insurance bad faith and managed care liability, Mr. Echeverria has been a featured speaker for the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), Consumer Attorney Association of Los Angeles, Consumer Attorneys of California, National Health Lawyers Association, Montana Trial Lawyers Association, Whittier Law School, Santa Clara University School of Law, the University of La Verne College of Law, Practicing Bar Institute, American Conference Institute, and Mealey's. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, Consumer Attorneys Association of California, and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, where he is a member of the Board of Governors for Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.
He has co-authored numerous articles, including "Litigating an HMO Bad Faith Case from the Plaintiff's Perspective," "The Erosion of ERISA Preemption of Bad Faith Liability Actions," "Punitive Damages in Insurance Bad Faith Cases," "HMOs: Delay of Treatment" and "Holocaust Insurance Claims: Getting Justice 50 years Later." Mr. Echeverria has also written several articles for Mealey's Publications, including "Goodrich v. Aetna: A $120.5 million Commentary."
Mr. Echeverria received his B.S., magna cum laude, from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1990, and his J.D. from Santa Clara University in 1993.