Michele L. Levinson is a partner with Colman Perkins Law Group. She handles a wide variety of insurance defense and insurance coverage matters, both litigated and non-litigated. This includes but is not limited to rendering coverage opinions, first party property and automobile claims, conducting examinations under oath, and managing insurance defense litigation, including personal injury actions, factually suspicious first and third party insurance claims, and insurance bad faith litigation.
In addition, Michele has handled a variety of insurance defense, insurance coverage, general tort, subrogation, labor/employment, business, probate, and civil rights cases, including litigated and non-litigated contract matters. She has experience in both public / municipal law and private sector litigation. Michele has tried several matters to verdict, including both jury and bench trials in state and federal court. Michele is admitted to practice law in California and before the United States District Court, Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts and has argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prior to and during law school, Michele worked in the insurance industry as a senior claims examiner for Safeco Insurance Company (now Liberty Mutual) and a claims examiner for 21st Century Insurance Company (now Farmers Insurance). Her experience as an adjuster and since becoming an attorney includes handling subrogation, products liability, property, automobile, premises liability and general liability bodily injury claims.
Additionally, both as an adjuster and as attorney she has gained substantial skill in handling both insured and uninsured suspect automobile accident claims. Michele is familiar with commercial and residential SIU-related first party property claims, including arson, theft and vandalism, as well as general liability claims with varying levels of exposure. She has developed expertise with a variety of commercial and personal lines insurance policies.
Michele has served on the Board of Directors for the Southern California Chapter of the International Association of Special Investigative Units, as an arbitration forums panelist for Inter-company Arbitration, Inc., and on the Board of Governor’s for the Long Beach Bar Association. She has also completed the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s Advanced Course.