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Happy New Year to You All
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 Here we are already welcoming in another year that we hope is full of promise for each of you.
Like many, we make resolutions and commitments each new year, such as fulfilling our continuing promise to deliver to you the highest quality legal representation in a cost-efficient manner. We want to take this opportunity to reaffirm that commitment to you.
In recent years, we have endeavored to provide breadth to our ability to serve you. 2014 was no exception. The addition of Timothy M. Thornton, Jr.as a Partner in our Encino office added depth to our niche in the insurance industry. Tim has more than 25 years’ experience in insurance-related matters, including mass torts, toxic torts and exposures, environmental contamination and insurance coverage of intellectual property and entertainment matters. He is an immense asset to our clients.
This year, we will again focus on expanding our cost-effective practice. We are eagerly anticipating a family team who will be joining our Redwood City office in March. Attorney George Camerlengo and his daughter, Katie Camerlengo, will expand our labor and employment practice.
We are again proud to reflect on a few of the accomplishments of our team in 2014. Below, we have highlighted several representative results.
Our attorneys are committed to staying at the forefront of emerging issues affecting our clients. They have authored a number of articles for our clients in 2014, including:
As we have for over 30 years, we will continue our efforts to deliver the quality of legal representation you deserve, hopefully exceeding your expectations as we do so. Thank you again for entrusting us with your legal issues. We wish you and yours all the best in 2015.
Sincerely,
Managing Partner, Gray·Duffy, LLP
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The Best Defense Against Errors & Omission Claims
Written by: Michael Eisenbaum
Published: Risk Management
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Professionals who provide services to clients are routinely exposed to potential errors and omissions (E&O) claims in the course of everyday operations. Unhappy customers can quickly become claimants when they feel that their expectations have not been met. When a claim does arise, how well the professional has documented communications will play a major role in determining the outcome.
The ultimate goal with E&O is prevention, but a claim can be made or a lawsuit filed even when good defenses are in place and the professional has done everything that can reasonably be expected, or more. Thus, the real task becomes minimizing risk, which includes both preventing and successfully defending against E&O claims.
Read full article.
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Timothy Thornton Participates in American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Program
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Partner Timothy Thornton will serve as one of the Toolbox Coordinators at the 23rd Annual American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Midyear Program at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix on February 19-21, 2015. As a Toolbox Coordinator, Mr. Thornton will organize speakers and presentations on a number of emerging topics from all areas of the insurance coverage industry.
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“Gray·Duffy, LLP has a strong working knowledge of our industry and how the various participants in insurance relate to each other, both in a business and in a legal sense. Mike Eisenbaum is very easy to communicate with and very helpful in the work he’s done for us, especially in a business that doesn’t know a time clock; he’s always made himself available. I am very impressed with the results I received from Gray·Duffy. This is an effective law firm that we found has efficiently helped us through a myriad of problems.”
-Sam Alexander, Managing Director and Risk Manager, Brown & Riding Insurance
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So You Think You Know The Law?
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True or False?
As a professional (legal, insurance, real estate, etc.), fully documenting your conversations during a transaction will prevent a lawsuit for professional negligence.
True or False?
The most common reason why an E&O claim occurs is due to the unmet expectations of the customer/client.
True or False?
For a professional, less documentation is necessary where there is a long, historical and trusted course of dealing with the customer/client.
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IRS Issues Short Sale Tax Clarification
The IRS has issued a clarification letter concerning short sales and taxes on the forgiven debt. The new IRS letter indicates that forgiven short sale debt is not subject to cancellation of debt (COD) income only if it is non-recourse at its inception.
In their new April 29, 2014 letter, the IRS states that in order for a debt to be non-recourse at the time of the short sale, the original debt must be used to purchase or build a 1-4 principal residence or a refinance of such debt. As in the prior letter, the IRS affirms that a lender’s forgiveness of such debt in a short sale will not result in COD income, but instead will be treated as capital gains.
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