Biography

Tyler Gerking helps policyholders maximize their insurance assets. He works with them and their insurance brokers in negotiating favorable terms to address their unique risks. He also pursues insurance claims, shepherding policyholders through the claim process, and if necessary, pursuing breach of contract and bad faith claims against insurers in litigation and arbitration settings.  He works frequently with cyber, errors & omissions liability (E&O), directors & officers liability (D&O), general liability (CGL), employment practices liability (EPL), crime and property insurance.

  • He won an arbitration before a three-arbitrator panel, preventing an insurer from recovering a settlement payment it made under a CGL policy.
  • He obtained a favorable recovery after settling litigation pending in California state and federal courts, the federal courts in Washington D.C. and London under a tower of professional malpractice insurance policies.
  • He won a bench trial in California state court against a D&O insurer that breached its duty to defend a securities class action lawsuit, and then successfully defended the result in the California Court of Appeal.
  • He won summary judgment in U.S. District Court for a technology company against its insurer for breach of the duty to defend, establishing that the breach prevented the insurer from compelling arbitration of a billing rate dispute under Cal. Civ. Code section 2860.
  • He has persuaded courts to stay insurer-initiated declaratory relief actions while the underlying lawsuits proceed, protecting his clients from having to fight “two-front wars.”

He was a judicial extern for Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. 

Distinctions

  • Chambers USA: Insurance Policyholder - California, Band 3 (2014-2023)
  • The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Insurance Law (2018-2024)
  • Benchmark LitigationFuture Star (California 2018-2023)
  • Northern California Super Lawyers in Business Litigation since (2010–2023)

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Fellow, American College of Coverage Counsel
  • Co-Chair of the Bad Faith Subcommittee of the ABA’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee
  • Board Member, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (2015-present)
  • Board of Directors, Boalt Hall Alumni Association (2011–present)
  • Co-Chair, Berkeley Law Partners in Leadership Campaign (2011–2012, 2014-2015, 2015-present)
  • Member, Edward J. McFetridge American Inn of Court (2011–present)
  • Financial Crisis Hot Topic Website Editor, Insurance Coverage Litigation Section of the ABA (2008–2012)
  • Secretary, Board of Directors, Leap: Arts in Education (2010 – 2012)

Firm Highlights

Publication

Insurance Market Crushes Wineries and Wine Country Homeowners

We keep hearing about how difficult it is for winery and vineyard owners to get property insurance these days, both for their homes and their wine businesses in California’s wildfire-prone areas. Those who have...

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Publication

Employment Law Update for Nonprofits With Holly Sutton

Welcome to  EO Radio Show - Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . Charities, foundations, and their founders often request help addressing employment practices and compliance questions. In this episode, host Cynthia Rowland is joined by Holly...

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Publication

Corporate Transparency Act: State of the Law and Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements

Key Points: Despite ongoing legal challenges, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) generally remains in effect and enforceable. Clients should continue to abide by its regulations. Initial reports for entities formed in 2024 are due within...

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News

JPMorgan Chase Accuses TransUnion of Stealing 'Trade Secrets'

Intellectual property practice chair Eugene Mar provided expert commentary to American Banker for the article "JPMorgan Chase Accuses TransUnion of Stealing 'Trade Secrets'." In the article, he said: "By filing this as a trade...

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News

North Coast Industry Insiders Weigh In on Why California Cannabis Tax Revenue Slipped in 2023

Jeff Hamilton spoke to Susan Wood with the North Bay Business Journal for the article "North Coast Industry Insiders Weigh In on Why California Cannabis Tax Revenue Slipped in 2023." Read the article with Jeff's...

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Publication

Corporate Transparency Act: A Guide on Beneficial Ownership for Nonprofit Executives

The Corporate Transparency Act, enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, represents a significant shift in regulatory requirements for entities across the United States. This act, set to...

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News

Scraping Battles: Meta Loses Legal Effort to Halt Harvesting of Personal Profiles

Alex Reese spoke to Matt Fleischer-Black of  Cybersecurity Law Report about the Meta v. Bright Data decision and its impact on U.S. scraping case law. Read the article here (paywall or trial).

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News

Farella Braun + Martel Earns San Francisco Green Business Recertification

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News

Farella Announces 2024 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Pathfinders: Taylor Rottjakob and John Ugai

Farella Braun + Martel is proud to announce that senior associates  Taylor E. Rottjakob and John M. Ugai have been named 2024 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Pathfinders. Pathfinders have been identified as...

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Publication

Nonprofit Quick Tip: State Filings in North Carolina and South Carolina

Welcome to  EO Radio Show - Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . Episode 75 is the tenth in a series of Quick Tip episodes focusing on the details of state registration of nonprofit corporations. With...

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