Richard J. Doren is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Los Angeles office.  Mr. Doren joined the firm in 1986 and has extensive experience in complex civil litigation and he has tried civil jury and non-jury cases in state and federal courts.

Currently, Mr. Doren is lead counsel for Lexington Insurance Company in a series of class actions pending in state and federal courts in Louisiana related to insurance coverage claims arising from Hurricane Katrina.  These cases potentially involved thousands of individual claims totaling tens of millions of dollars.  On June 6, 2007, Mr. Doren argued on behalf of all defendants in an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding the application of certain policy exclusions to post-Katrina flooding. 

From 1999 until mid-2003, Mr. Doren was one of the lead defense lawyers in two sets of national class actions pending against ten large managed care companies in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

• Mr. Doren made the oral argument on behalf of all defendants in opposition to certification of a putative national class of tens of millions of health plan members.  Plaintiffs' case was presented by David Boies and Richard Scruggs.  The motion was defeated, and the cases, through which plaintiffs sought billions of dollars in damages, were settled for a few thousand dollars each.
• When his client announced a landmark settlement of the other set of class actions, which involved a putative class of physicians, the Miami Herald reported that "attorney Richard Doren was frequently a leader in the insurers' courtroom battles, and some court observers believe the other insurers are likely now to settle rather than risk a trial later this year or next."  The case has now been resolved in its entirety.

Trial Experience

Some of the trials and evidentiary hearings in which Mr. Doren has been involved include:

• King v. Cessna Aircraft Co. – This was a multi-day evidentiary hearing in Federal Court in Miami in which Mr. Doren was co-lead counsel for the defense.  The case involved 69 consolidated lawsuits brought by family members of individuals killed in an aircraft accident in Milan, Italy.  Plaintiffs collectively sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.  The purpose of the hearing was to address issues of Italian law and defendant's motion for dismissal under the doctrine of forum non conveniens.  Mr. Doren cross-examined plaintiffs' Italian law expert over the course of two days and at the completion of the hearing, and after supplemental briefing, the Court granted Cessna's motion and dismissed the lawsuits two weeks before trial.
• Admiral v. Aetna — This was a three-week jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in which Mr. Doren was lead counsel for the defense.  The case involved an insurance coverage dispute related to environmental exposures, bad faith claims, and a prayer for punitive damages, with claims for millions of dollars in damages.  The result was a defense verdict on duty to indemnify and on punitive damages, and a plaintiff's verdict on the duty to defend and bad faith, with total damages in the amount of $71,000.  The case involved testimony from a variety of expert witnesses for both sides.
• Alexander v. Rockwell International Corporation — This was a two-week wrongful termination jury trial in Federal Court in which Mr. Doren acted as co-lead counsel in the presentation of Rockwell's case.  The jury returned a defense verdict.
• Dahn v. Rockwell International Corporation — This was a three-week wrongful termination jury trial in which Mr. Doren had second-chair responsibilities, including examination of over half of the witnesses involved.  The trial ended with a plaintiff's verdict, but with damages awarded for an amount substantially less than the plaintiff's last settlement offer.
• Failla v. Larson — This was a bench trial in which Mr. Doren served as lead counsel for the plaintiff.  The trial ended with a judgment in favor of and damages awarded to plaintiff.
• Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Associated International Insurance Company — This was a two-week bench trial of a reinsurance dispute.  Mr. Doren had primary responsibilities for the presentation of plaintiff's case.  The case concluded with a judgment in favor of plaintiff as ordered by the Ninth Circuit.
• Wachtell v. Leonard Green & Partners — This was a two-week bench trial involving a partnership dispute; Mr. Doren had second-chair responsibilities for this trial, in support of Dean Kitchens of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Mr. Doren examined numerous witnesses and argued a variety of issues to the Court.

Mr. Doren graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1982 and received his law degree from the University of San Diego in 1986, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review and graduated cum laude.