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Nancy Sher Cohen
Partner

Insurance Recovery & Counseling
Product Liability & Consumer Litigation

t: 310.284.5655

f: 310.557.2193

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Biography

Press Room

Nancy Sher Cohen is co-head of the Insurance Recovery & Counseling Group. She practices in the area of insurance coverage, mass tort, toxic torts, class actions, product liability and general commercial litigation. Her insurance practice includes prosecuting insurance coverage cases, providing counsel to clients with regard to designing insurance coverage strategies, conducting policy review, advising on policy implications resulting from a merger or acquisition, and other insurance related issues.

Nancy has been lead counsel in the prosecution of many insurance coverage lawsuits related to life insurance claims and environmental and product liabilities, resulting in recoveries in excess of $1 billion. Her extensive insurance coverage practice has included first-party claims involving business interruption, third-party claims involving reimbursement for environmental liabilities and prosecution of claims by Holocaust survivors against insurance carriers that failed to pay life insurance benefits. She was lead counsel for the lender on the World Trade Center in prosecuting claims for insurance coverage for the towers. She is also trial counsel for an international bank on prosecuting coverage claims involving life insurance policies.

In addition, Nancy has extensive experience, including pre-trial and trial, in state and federal courts handling mass tort and complex multijurisdiction tort actions and as lead counsel in toxic tort cases. She has represented aerospace companies and chemical suppliers in actions brought by individuals for personal injuries allegedly resulting from exposure to toxic chemicals in the workplace. She has also represented a consumer electronics company in class action litigation nationwide.

Nancy advises, counsels, and litigates cases for biotechnology companies in product liability and insurance matters arising from clinical trials of investigational new drugs. She also has represented talent in entertainment litigation, including representation of Clint Eastwood in the trial of Locke v. Eastwood and David E. Kelley in copyright litigation.

Her clients have included Fortune 500 and similar companies such as Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Aerojet, Alpha Therapeutic, ARCO, Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, BP, GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Heinz, Capmark, McDonald's, Teledyne, PinnOak Resources, Sony Electronics, Inc. and Meggitt Corporation.

Nancy is regularly listed as a leading insurance coverage attorney in Chambers USA, which described her as “exceptional” and “highly experienced.” She is frequently featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, which has named her one of the top women litigators and most influential lawyers in California. Nancy also has been featured in numerous articles in the legal and business press, including The Recorder, California Law Business, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Francisco Examiner. She was Deputy General Counsel for the Rampart Independent Review Panel, which was charged by the Los Angeles Police Commission with performing a review of the Los Angeles Police Department and was the Deputy General Counsel for the Los Angeles County Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence.

A dedicated community leader, Nancy currently serves on the board of directors or as an active member of the following organizations: Jewish Federation; previous Chairman, Valley Beth Shalom Board of Directors; International Academy of Trial Lawyers (Board Member, 2006-present); Loyola Law School Board of Overseers (Board Member, 2000-present); California Women’s Law Center (1999-2005); Chancery Club (1997-present); Western Union for Justice (2010-11); BetTzedek Legal Services (former President 1998).

Nancy is an accomplished trial lawyer and is a fellow and member of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.

Nancy was previously the managing shareholder of Heller Ehrman LLP’s Los Angeles office, where she also served as the former co-chair of that firm’s Insurance Recovery and Product Liability Practice Groups.

Representative Engagements

Insurance:

Lead counsel for the institutional lender in prosecuting claims for property and business interruption coverage for World Trade Center Buildings 1, 2, 4 and 5. SR Int’l Business Ins. Co. Ltd. v. World Trade Center Properties LLC, et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Lead trial counsel for a West Virginia coal mining company in successfully prosecuting property and business interruption claims. PinnOak Resources v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyds of London, Wyoming County Circuit Court, West Virginia
Lead counsel for a pharmaceutical company in successful prosecution of nine-figure claims for mass tort suits arising out of alleged HIV- and HCV-tainted blood clotting medicines. Alpha Therapeutic Corp v. Steadfast Insurance Co., et al., Los Angeles Superior Court
Lead counsel for a major oil company in successfully prosecuting nine-figure insurance claims under comprehensive general liability policies for environmental cleanup costs at sites across the country. Arco v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co, Los Angeles Superior Court
Lead counsel for a major oil company in successfully prosecuting nine-figure insurance claims under business interruption policies arising from the Olympic pipeline explosion. Arco v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyds of London, Washington State Court
Lead counsel for a Los Angeles-based conglomerate in successfully prosecuting eight-figure insurance claims under comprehensive general liability policies for environmental clean up costs. Teledyne Inc. v. Continental Casualty, et al., San Francisco Superior Court
Lead counsel for Holocaust survivors and their heirs in worldwide class actions against European insurance companies alleged to have denied benefits wrongfully under life insurance policies issued from the 1920s to the 1940s. Smetana v. Assicurazioni Generali S.P.A., et al., San Francisco Superior Court; In re Holocaust Insurance Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Lead counsel for medical device manufacturer in securing defense and indemnity under product liability policies for worldwide personal injury claims involving intraocular lenses

Product Liability, Toxic Tort & Environmental:

National Coordinating Counsel for biopharmaceutical company faced with personal injury claims arising out of clinical trial for monoclonal antibody medicine. Breaux v. Medarex, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana; Krantz v. Medarex, U.S. District Court, Utah Central Division; Janssen v. Medarex, Florida State Court
Lead counsel for a defense contractor in toxic tort lawsuits arising out of alleged groundwater contamination or air pollution near ordnance assembly and testing, R&D and rocketry facilities in Northern and Southern California. Baier, Kerr, Taylor and Yeh v. Aerojet-General Corp., U.S. District Court, Central District of California; Gatter v. Aerojet-General Corp., Los Angeles Superior Court; Haynes v. Aerojet-General Corp., Sacramento Superior Court; Caldwell v. Aerojet-General Corp., Sacramento Superior Court
Lead counsel for global US-based food company in defense of litigation brought by the California Attorney General under Proposition 65. People of the State of California v. Frito-Lay, Inc., et al.
Lead counsel for a major electronics manufacturer in defense of alleged product liability class actions. Beaver v. Sony Electronics, Circuit Court, Third Judicial Circuit, Madison County, Illinois; Niemeier v. Sony Electronics, Missouri Circuit Court, Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit Court; Graham v. Sony Electronics, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Atlantic County; Vargo v. Sony Electronics, Court of Common Please, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Ameen v. Sony Electronics, U.S. District Court, Tennessee; Ziegler v. Sony Electronics, Connecticut State Court
Lead counsel for a major oil company in defense of mass tort and property damage suits arising out of claims related to the Stringfellow and McColl disposal sites. Stringfellow, Riverside Superior Court, State of California; McColl, Orange County Superior Court
Lead counsel for a major oil company in defense of claims brought by an environmental group alleging that issuance and extension of permit by the Army of Corps of Engineers allowing construction of addition to oil refinery dock violated Magnuson Amendment to Marine Mammal Protection Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Ocean Advocates v. BP West Coast Products, LLC, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington
Advise and counsel major internet drugstore company on insurance coverage and product liability issues
Lead counsel in defense of biotechnology company in personal injury claims arising from a clinical trial. Hogan v. Medicinova, in the 13th Judicial District, Navarro County, Texas
Counsel for asbestos mining company in defense of numerous asbestos personal injury claims
Lead counsel in defense of coordinated tort actions brought on behalf of relatives and friends of decedents allegedly improperly cremated, including documentation of a mandatory non-opt out class action settlement. Harbor Lawn Cremation Litigation, Orange County Superior Court
Representation in series of personal injury and products liability cases brought in connection with consumption of soft drink products
Defense of major component manufacturer of aerospace products in multiple actions arising out of the Mexico City air crash

Complex Commercial Litigation:

Counsel for institutional lender in a lawsuit against Silverstein Properties and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for claims arising out of the loan on World Trade Center buildings 1, 2, 4 and 5. GMAC Commercial Mortgage v. 1 World Trade Center, LLC, et al., Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York
Lead counsel in defense of franchisor in a lawsuit alleging breach of franchise agreements. Johnson v. McDonald’s Corp., U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Trial counsel for national church entity in a five month jury trial defending client in a multimillion dollar class action growing out of the financial collapse of multistate retirement facilities. Pacific Home Litigation, San Diego Superior Court
Counsel for national health care company in trademark, trade secret, and contract litigation against breakaway franchisees. Bradley Medical, Inc. v. Home Americair of California and Parkman-Merritt, Inc., Home Americair of California, Orange County Superior Court
Lead counsel in defense of class action lawsuit involving financial difficulties at a retirement facility in Ojai, California. Grey Gables v. American Association of Retired Persons, Ventura Superior Court

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