Douglas M. Carasso

Douglas M. Carasso is a Senior Attorney specializing in insurance bad faith and coverage issues, as well as complex business litigation. AV Rated in Martindale-Hubbell, Mr. Carasso has been named one of Orange County's Top Lawyers in 2009 and 2010 by O.C. Metro Magazine. He is an experienced civil litigator who practiced for seven years at his prior firm, Shernoff Bidart & Darras, where his cases concerned homeowners' insurance, HMO bad faith, liability insurance, Holocaust-era insurance, automobile insurance, catastrophic illness and injury, wrongful death, and professional negligence.

As a trial attorney, Mr. Carasso obtained a $700,000 jury verdict in a 2008 personal-injury case, a $1.3 million judgment, and a significant bad-faith jury verdict. He has also litigated various other insurance-bad-faith cases to substantial settlement amounts. He has taken and defended countless lay-witness and expert-witness depositions nationwide. He also has extensive law & motion experience, having prepared, opposed, and orally argued numerous motions and other legal briefs in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Mr. Carasso has authored numerous published articles on various legal topics that include recovering punitive damages after the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Campbell, business-interruption coverage following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, how to prevail on motions for summary judgment, MICRA, how to take depositions, negligent infliction of emotional distress, how companies can avoid litigation, how companies can select law-firm representation, and liability in drunk-driving accidents. These articles have appeared in various publications including the Los Angeles Daily Journal, New York Law Journal, Business Insurance, Consumer Attorneys of California's Forum, The Advocate Magazine, Orange County Lawyer, The Trial Lawyer, and Healthcare Perspectives Newsletter.

He has been a featured speaker on diverse litigation topics including Depositions (Orange County Bar Association), Torts (Chapman Law School), Insurance Bad Faith (Lexis/Nexis and Mealey's), Punitive Damages (Orange County Bar Association), and The Art of Legal Writing in California (Lorman Education Services).

Mr. Carasso is a member of the State Bar of California, American Association, American Bar Association, Orange County Bar Association (Insurance and Business Litigation Sections), and Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles.

A New York City native, Mr. Carasso received his J.D. from USC Law School in 1990, where he provided pro bono representation in a criminal appeal proceeding at Lompoc Prison. He was graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa from UCLA in 1987 as a Classics Department Scholar, Golden Key National Honor Society member, and film critic and interviewer for The Daily Bruin.