ERISA Litigation in 2019 and Beyond

Robert M. Forni, Jr. is a partner in Ropers Majeski’s San Francisco office.  With two decades of litigation experience and expertise in ERISA, insurance coverage and bad faith litigation involving commercial and personal lines of insurance, Mr. Forni specializes in the representation of insurers, employers, employee welfare benefit plans and their fiduciaries in all phases of litigation, in state and federal court. Mr. Forni has also provided services as insurer-selected counsel for insureds, and independent representation of insureds as Cumis counsel. Mr. Forni is experienced in preparing comprehensive coverage opinions, counseling insurers and employee welfare plans throughout the claims and litigation process, and developing practical and efficient solutions for clients that achieve their business and legal objectives. Mr. Forni’s expertise extends to commercial and personal lines of insurance, including disability, health, commercial general liability, commercial property, homeowners and automobile.

David R. Johanson is Partner-in-Charge of the Napa office of Hawkins Parnell & Young, LLP. He also has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York to cover his national practice.

Mr. Johanson assists clients in general corporate matters and in employee ownership, benefit, ERISA, and related business matters, with an emphasis on executive compensation, equity incentive plans, non-qualified deferred compensation, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), ESOP transactions, mergers and acquisitions (and related tax planning), and business succession and estate planning. Mr. Johanson has served as outside general counsel to numerous corporate clients over the past 32 years. Mr. Johanson also frequently appears on behalf of clients in business and employment-oriented defense litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country, before regulatory agencies (e.g., U.S. Department of Labor, California Labor Commissioner, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), in tax controversies before the Internal Revenue Service and comparable state regulatory agencies, against felony criminal indictments in U.S. Federal Court, and in dispute resolutions of various kinds. Mr. Johanson represents corporations in shareholder and non-competition disputes. Mr. Johanson is a member of the Southern California Mediation Association and a frequent Lecturer for the University of Southern California Mediation Clinic. Mr. Johanson has actively served as a Temporary Judge on a pro bono basis for the Los Angeles County Superior Courts since October of 2009.