Profile

Can you appeal? Should you? Can you take a writ? Must you? Are the prospects of success for either avenue worth the costs? If the other side is appealing your win, how is that likely to turn out? And how can you best prepare for all this during trial, and before trial? Is this case a candidate to make new law in your industry? Can you choose a better case, jurisdiction, or moment for that? Will other parties push positions that you would not, so that the best you can do is get control of the process with strong counsel?

Laurie Hepler helps clients and their trial lawyers address these issues objectively and strategically, with years of litigation and trial experience backing up her appellate expertise.

Certified Appellate Specialist

Ms. Hepler is one of fewer than 100 members of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. She is also certified as an Appellate Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

For 20 years, Ms. Hepler has helped clients and their other counsel develop trial strategies, analyze potential liabilities, assess prospects on appeal, and weigh the strategic costs and benefits of appellate litigation.

She regularly briefs and argues civil appeals and petitions for extraordinary relief in appellate courts throughout California, as well as in other state and federal courts around the United States. Her clients' appeal and writ matters span a wide range of subject areas, including product liability, insurance coverage, contract disputes, wrongful termination, the Anti-SLAPP statutes, broker errors and omissions, and unfair competition.

Dispositive Trial Court Work

Ms. Hepler has significant trial experience (a rarity in the appellate world), and has won several judgments for her clients as lead trial counsel. She also partners with other trial counsel on strategies to best position a case for appeal, and prepares and argues high-stakes motions.

Reported Cases

In O'Neil v. Crane Co. and Warren Pumps (2012) 53 Cal.4th 335, 266 P.3d 987, won a ruling foreclosing strict liability and negligence liability (in most circumstances) for a manufacturer that did not make or sell an injury-causing product foreseeably used with its own.

In California Correctional Peace Officers Association v. Virga (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 30, established that a federal Civil Rights Act claim against state employees is not a “civil proceeding under the California Tort Claims Act,” and therefore not subject to fee-shifting under Code of Civil Procedure section 1038.

In RLI Ins. Co. v. CNA Casualty of Calif. (2006) 141 Cal.App.4th 75, persuaded the Second District to reject its precedent on point and hold that an excess insurer cannot sue a primary carrier in subrogation for bad-faith refusal to settle an underlying tort claim, where that claim was not tried and the insured suffered no excess judgment.

In Boyer v. Jensen (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 62, established precedent that an employee cannot waive his employer’s statute of limitations defense to a third-party tort claim, even where the sole theory against the employer is respondeat superior.

In White v. Davis (2003) 30 Cal.4th 528, established protections for public employees during a state budget impasse, selecting and briefing the only issues on which any appellant prevailed.

In PLCM Group v. Drexler (2000) 22 Cal.4th 1084, established the law that corporations represented by in-house counsel can recover contractual attorney fees, and that fees are calculated at reasonable market rates.

Presentations and Publications

Current edition of Appellate Success In California

"Should We Appeal?," presented to the National Forum for Environmental and Toxic Tort Issues (October 2011).

Consultant, Civil Writ Practice (Cont. Ed. Bar 4th ed. 2008).

“The Seven Deadly Sins in a Case Headed for Appeal,” presented annually for bar associations throughout California.

Protecting Your Trial Record for Appeal, published in California Lawyer (January 2006).

Beyond the Envelope: Discovery Sanctions in State and Federal Courts (co-author), published in California Litigation (September 2005).

Open to Interpretation: Supreme Court to Unravel Knot of Rulings on Constitutionality of Amended CCP §1008, published in The Recorder (October 2004).

Testing the Limits: Why "Non-Products" Coverage Is Unavailable for Asbestos Bodily Injury Claims, published for the American Bar Association’s 2003 Insurance Coverage Litigation CLE Seminar (March 2003).

Supreme Court Reviews Budget Impasse Payments to State Workers, published in California Public Employee Relations Journal (December 2002).