Guttman Buschner LLP

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GBB Partners will join Emory Law faculty for annual trial techniques advocacy program

Reuben Guttman and Traci Buschner of Guttman, Buschner, PLLC will join the 2016 faculty of Emory University School of Law’s Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program to be held April 30 through May 6.

GB partners join an elite group of more than 120 jurists, practitioners, and legal scholars from across the United States and foreign jurisdictions, including Mexico, to teach in the prominent program which, over the course of three decades, has launched some of the nation’s leading trial lawyers and judges.

“We are very selective in choosing faculty,” said Emory Law professor, and Emory Law Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution director, Paul Zwier. “The group of faculty that will convene in Atlanta this year includes people who are at the top of their game – and who also have the teaching skills to train the next generation of trial advocates.”

When founded in 1982, the program was modeled after the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s program for teaching practicing lawyers. Emory Law’s program is the largest in the country and is recognized as one of the nation’s finest. The American College of Trial Lawyers has twice conferred on Emory’s program the Emil Gumpert Award for excellence in the teaching of trial advocacy.

“Emory Law has been one of the nation’s leading producer of trial lawyers, and this program – along with our course offerings in advocacy – is a big part of that,” said Zwier.

The program’s teaching methodology focuses on integrating the second-year law student’s knowledge of substantive evidence with practical trial skills through a “learn-by-doing” format. Trial experience is supplemented by a textbook, lectures, and discussions. During two sessions in the spring semester, students develop theories for particular witness examinations, decide on appropriate approaches to bring out the facts consistent with their theories, prepare witnesses, and conduct direct and cross-examinations using current courtroom technology in the use of exhibits. This is followed by an seven-day intensive learn-by-doing class in which participants will engage in a “Daubert” hearing to determine whether an expert witness will testify at trial. Two days later, students will conduct a jury trial with high school students from the Atlanta area serving as jurors. By the end of eight days, more than 290 students will have collectively tried more than 70 jury trials and participated in more than 70 Daubert hearings.

Founded in 1916, Emory University School of Law is an American Bar Association (ABA) nationally accredited law school. Consistently ranked as one of the premier law schools in the United States, Emory Law offers exceptional doctrinal and practical legal education with signature programs in advocacy, transactional law, technology and IP law, law and religion, and vulnerability studies.

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Traci L. Buschner

Traci L Buschner
Founding Partner

(202) 800-3003
tbuschner@gbblegal.com

Practice Areas

Government Experience

State Prosecutor

Education

University of Louisville

Miami University

Admissions

The District of Columbia

The Commonwealth of Kentucky

The U.S. District Court for the
– District of Columbia
– District of Maryland

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Boards/Memberships

Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., President (2024-2025)

Miami University Alumni Pre-Law Advisory Board (Chair, 2022-2024)

American Bar Foundation, Fellow

American Association for Justice (AAJ), member

Fellow of the American Bar Foundation

 

American Bar Association Fellows
 

Traci L. Buschner 

Rated by Super Lawyers 

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Dr. Caroline Poplin

caroline_poplinDr. Caroline Poplin
Of Counsel & Medical Director

cpoplin@gbblegal.com

Practice Areas
Whistleblower and False Claims
High Impact Litigation

Government Experience
United States Food and Drug Administration
Senior United States Environmental Protection Agency
Atomic Energy Commission

Education
Georgetown University Hospital Internal Medicine residency program (1994)
University of Rochester School of Medicine (M.D., 1991)
Yale Law School (J.D., 1975)
Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude with Honors  (1969)

Admissions
District of Columbia

Medical Licenses
Maryland
Virginia

Boards/Memberships
Fellow, American College of Physicians
Member, AMA
Member, National Academy of Social Insurance
NIH Institutional Review Board (NINDS, Eye Institute) 2006-2013

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Elizabeth H. Shofner

eshofnerElizabeth H. Shofner
Of Counsel

(202) 800-3001
lshofner@gbblegal.com

Practice Areas
Whistleblower and False Claims
High Impact Litigation
Corporate Governance

Government Experience
Law Clerk, Hon. John M. Walker, Jr., Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals

Education
New York University School of Law, New York (J.D. magna cum laude, 1997)
Hunter College, New York (Masters, Psychology, 1988)
Washington University, St. Louis (A.B., English Literature & Psychology, 1984)

Admissions
New York, SDNY, EDNY, Fourth Circuit

Boards/Memberships
Article Editor, New York University Law Review

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DE SUPREME COURT RULES ON STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR BAD FAITH CLAIMS AGAINST INSURANCE COMPANY

Delaware Supreme Court rules the three-year statute of limitations for an insurance bad-faith claim accrues when an excess judgment becomes final and is no longer appealable. 

OVERVIEW
On March 4, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court addressed when bad-faith-failure-to-settle claims accrue in the case of Connelly v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insur. Co., Del. Supr., No. 426, 2015 (Mar. 4. 2016). In a decision authored by Chief Justice Leo Strine, the Court held that the three-year SOL accrues when an excess judgment becomes final and no longer appealable.

REASONING 
The Court began its analysis with basic principles. It first applied the condition of “good faith and fair dealing” imposed upon all Delaware contracts. The Court explained that in the insurance context, the implied covenant historically “included a duty to settle claims within policy limits where recovery in excess of those limits is substantially likely.” The Court also drew upon reasoning from jurisprudence in the area of indemnification of directors and officers. In that context, indemnity claims do not accrue until there is a final judgment. The Court reasoned that insurance claims are also a type of indemnity because the obligation to cover an indemnified party’s costs only arises if and when a final and non-appealable excess judgment to a third-party claim arises. Applying Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) Section 145, the Court determined that in non-advancement indemnity claims, the “corporation’s obligation to indemnify its fiduciary, employee, or agent, is also conditioned on that party meeting the standard of conduct.” It further held that similarities between insurance and traditional D&O indemnity claims warrant application of the same policies of “litigative efficiency and preventing waste of judicial resources that have led Delaware courts to determine that an indemnity claim accrues when there is a final judgment.”

IMPLICATIONS 
The case is particularly interesting for its application of director and officer indemnity jurisprudence outside its typical context and because many litigators will benefit from knowing when the SOL begins to run for a claim against an insurance company for bad faith failure to settle within policy limits. Although arguing for a different rule, State Farm accepted the decision “as fair,” telling the Delaware Law Weekly through counsel that “[i]t’s fine, as long as we know what it is.” The decision does provide sound guidance and needed certainty moving forward and establishes precedent for other jurisdictions to adopt.

GB will be opening its Delaware office on April 1, 2016 to better serve institutional investors and corporate clients.