The Ralph Nader Radio Hour

Live Taping with the Father of Bad Faith Insurance Law

On this week’s episode, Ralph welcomes trailblazing attorney William Shernoff to discuss predatory insurance practices and how consumers can protect themselves. This special episode was co-presented by The American Museum of Tort Law and was recorded in front of a live virtual audience.

William Shernoff is the founding partner of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, a law firm specializing in insurance bad faith litigation. A longtime consumer advocate, he has made a career of representing insurance consumers against insurance companies. Often called the “father” of bad faith insurance law, in 1979, Mr. Shernoff persuaded the California Supreme Court to establish new case law that permits plaintiffs to sue insurance companies for bad faith, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages when they unreasonably handle a policyholder’s claim (Egan v. Mutual of Omaha).

A frequent lecturer and writer, Mr. Shernoff co-authored the legal textbook Insurance Bad Faith Litigation, which has become the field’s definitive treatise, as well as How to Make Insurance Companies Pay Your Claims and What To Do If They Don’t, Fight Back and Win: How To Make Your HMO Pay Up, and Payment Refused.