Sara M. Thorpe has been with the firm since 1990 and a partner with the firm since 1993. Ms. Thorpe was Managing Partner of Gordon & Rees’ San Francisco office from 2003-2008.
Ms. Thorpe’s practice focuses on insurance coverage litigation and advice, including on claims arising in the areas of liability and property (e.g., environmental, products, directors and officers, technology, commercial disputes, construction, employment, mold), life insurance, and bad faith.
Accomplishments include obtaining a defense jury verdict in an environmental coverage/bad faith case for an insurer sued by a property management company for multiple millions in defense costs, “Brandt” fees, and punitive damages. The California Daily Journal noted this result as one of the top ten defense verdicts of 2002. Also among her accomplishments, Ms. Thorpe obtained a jury verdict and multi-million dollar judgment on behalf of an insurer against an insured based on insurance fraud, combined with a criminal restitution order against the same insured.
In addition, Ms. Thorpe drafts insurance policy language, reviews insurance-related legislation, and assists clients with questions about and interactions with the California Department of Insurance.
Ms. Thorpe has handled appeals and argued before the California Court of Appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Idaho Court of Appeals.
On a regular basis, Ms. Thorpe provides seminars for clients on insurance-related topics. She has published numerous articles and speaks on a regular basis at national conventions on issues of interest to insurance claims personnel. She has spoken on a number of occasions on behalf of the Defense Research Institute (DRI), Property Risk Bureau (PLRB), and the Northern California Association of Defense Counsel. She was Co-Program Chair, as well as a speaker, for the DRI’s National Mold and Related Toxin Litigation and Claims Handling Seminars, the annual Insurance Coverage Symposium, and the annual Insurance Claims and Coverage Institute (ICCI). She is also a member of the DRI Insurance Group’s Steering Committee and a contributor to DRI’s compendiums on bad faith and state insurance regulations.
Ms. Thorpe hails from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Communications Studies in 1979. She received her J.D. degree, cum laude, from the University of San Francisco in 1984. During law school, Ms. Thorpe clerked for Judge Harold Ryan (now deceased) of the United States District Court in Boise, Idaho.
On “National Insurance Law Forum” (www.insurancelawforum.com), Ms. Thorpe maintains a blog with four other prominent insurance coverage lawyers.
Ms. Thorpe is a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the California Bar Association, the Idaho Bar Association, and the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section. For five consecutive years, Ms. Thorpe has been named as one of Northern California’s “Super Lawyers” in the field of insurance coverage. These top 5% of lawyers are selected by their peers in polling conducted by Law & Politics. The San Francisco Business Times named Sara Thorpe as one of the Top Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business for 2006 and 2008, an honor shared with noted leaders from the corporate arena, government agencies, and non-profit sector.
In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Thorpe serves on the Board of Directors for First Graduate (formerly known as b.a.y.fund), a non-profit organization which tutors and mentors students to finish high school and become the first in their families to graduate from college. She also supports many charitable efforts, including the fight against breast cancer. Ms. Thorpe climbed Mt. Shasta in July 2004 with the Breast Cancer Fund’s “Climb Against the Odds” expedition, and participated in the Susan B. Komen 3-day Breast Cancer Walk in San Diego in October 2005.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES
? Global Warming Insurance Implications, LexisNexis podcast at law.lexisnexis.com/practiceareas/insurance, May 2008.
? “Learning to Live with Independent Counsel,” co-authored with Leslie Crary, Esq./Gordon & Rees at DRI ICCI Conference, April 2008.
? “I Want My Money Back!” (Insurer Reimbursement Claims), co-author, ABA TIPS, Tucson, March 2007.
? “Construction Coverage Conundrums: When Is it A 'Completed Operation'," coauthored with Jason Nelson, Esq./Gordon & Rees, for DRI ICCI Conference, May 2006.
? “The Pollution Exclusion Moves Indoors: Does it Preclude Coverage for Injury Caused by Carbon Monoxide?,” co-authored with Matt Foy, Esq./Gordon & Rees, in DRI’s “For the Defense,” May 2003.
? “Just ‘Cause . . . Update on First Party Property Causation Issues,” co-authored with Laura Geist, Esq./Gordon & Rees, April 2003.
? “Property Coverage: Policy-Based Decision Making,” for PLRB/LIRB 2003 Claims Conference, Orlando, Florida, April 2003.
? “Taking the Mystery and Misery Out of Mold Claims,” co-authored with Laura Geist, Esq./Gordon & Rees, for the Property Claims Forum of Northern California, October 2002.
? “Duty or Not To Mitigate: The Insured’s Burden,” co-authored with Laura Geist, Esq./Gordon & Rees for Columns on Mold, October 2002.
? “Attack of the ‘Killer Mold’: Defending Against the Bodily Injury Claim and Identifying Insurance Coverage Issues,” co-authored with Sandy Hanson, Esq. and other attorneys at Gordon & Rees, for West Coast Casualty’s annual convention in Anaheim, California, May 2002.
? “First Party Mold Claims: Where There’s Mold, There’s Water,” co-authored with Laura Geist, Esq./Gordon & Rees, for DRI Annual Mold and Related Toxin Litigation and Claims Handling, March 2002, San Diego, California.
? “Proving Causation: The Missing Link? The Application of “Daubert” in Subrogation Actions,” for PLRB Annual Convention, March 2002.
