Consulting Services and Expert Testimony

In insurance cases, especially those involving claims of bad faith, the parties often consider retaining experts in insurance claims settlement practices to testify concerning the manner in which the defendant insurer handled the claim at issue in the case. One should think the matter through carefully before retaining such an expert, for expert witnesses are expensive, the process of reviewing a claim file in a complex case is time-consuming, the admissibility of expert testimony on claims handling practices is limited, and the probative value of expert testimony on this subject is debatable. Unless one’s adversary intends to call an expert witness on claims handling practices, one should consider whether retaining an insurance claims expert really makes sense.

Nevertheless, there are a number of insurance claims consultants who testify as expert witnesses in bad faith cases, and their testimony, unfortunately, is sometimes focused less on giving the jury an objective view of the case than on misleading the jury. In these situations, it makes sense to retain an expert witness to rebut the misinformation coming from the other side’s expert.

Stephen S. Ashley provides consulting services and expert testimony in insurance cases, usually in the capacity of a rebuttal witness. After graduating from Stanford University, he attended Hastings College of the Law, during which time he served as an extern to the late Justice Raymond Sullivan. After graduating in 1976, Mr. Ashley clerked for a year at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then attended the University of Oxford (Wadham College), where he earned a B.C.L. (Bachelor of Civil Law) degree. He spent the next five years as an associate at the Cooley Godward law firm in San Francisco. In 1984, he wrote a treatise on the subject of insurance bad faith, Bad Faith Actions: Liability and Damages, published by the West Group. The second edition appeared in 1997. In 1985, Mr. Ashley and his wife founded the Stratton Press and published the Bad Faith Law Report through 2000. Mr. Ashley taught Insurance Law at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall) for 12 years.

Mr. Ashley has served as an expert witness in over 60 bad faith cases, scattered across the nation. He has testified in state and federal courts in California, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Illinois. He has worked on bad faith cases, both first-party and third-party, involving automobile, homeowners, comprehensive general liability, commercial property, professional malpractice, and directors and officers liability insurance. He has been retained by both plaintiffs and defendants. He has rebutted expert testimony by Clinton E. Miller, Gary Fye, David J. Gadbois, Robert Westin, Richard E. Stewart, Peter Evans, and Jordan S. Stanzler, among others.

His consulting activities have involved a wide variety of matters, including advising insureds whether they have viable bad faith claims and how best they should pursue them. He has consulted for insurers on how best to respond to claims so as to minimize their exposure to the risk of liability for bad faith and for insurance defense counsel on defenses that they could raise on behalf of their clients.

Mr. Ashley’s résumé and contact information are available here.