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 (2014-2024)
  • The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Insurance Law, Litigation-Insurance (2018-2025)
  • Benchmark LitigationFuture Star (California 2018-2023)
  • Northern California Super Lawyers in Business Litigation since (2010–2024)

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)