Sander Alvarez is a Senior Counsel in Freeman Mathis & Gary’s Los Angeles – Downtown office. He focuses his practice on complex insurance coverage and bad faith litigation involving first and third-party insurance policies, including commercial general liability, commercial and residential property, professional liability, and products liability, among others.

Mr. Alvarez has represented insurer clients on claim handling, compliance, underwriting, and policy drafting issues. He has particular expertise in the areas of environmental coverage litigation, including suits for declaratory relief, breach of contract, equitable contribution between insurers, and bad faith defense. For more than 14 years, he worked as an in-house coverage litigator for two different insurers, and previously served as national coverage counsel for Japanese insurer NipponKoa Insurance Company, Ltd. He also has experience handling general tort litigation matters, as well as actions involving products liability, construction defect, breach of contract, and business torts.

Mr. Alvarez is a Los Angeles native who graduated from Loyola High School before heading to Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he received his B.A. in 1992. There, he played running back on the Amherst football team and served as president of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He received his J.D. in 1996 from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he served as Articles Editor for the Hastings Journal of Environmental Law and was a judicial extern for the Hon. William J. Rea of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. He is admitted to the California State Bar, all federal district courts in California, and has been admitted pro hac vice in New Mexico and federal district courts in Montana and Missouri. He is an active alumni of his law school serving on its Board of Governors and its LEOP Admissions Committee. 

California

• Since October 2020, Mr. Alvarez has successfully moved for summary judgment and/or summary adjudication on behalf of clients 9 of 10 times. Two of Mr. Alvarez’s MSJ wins were appealed, and both were successfully defended and affirmed. These matters include:
• Shah, et al. v. Mid-Century Ins. Co., et al. (Los Angeles): (First-party property case involving theft of jewelry, etc. and vandalism of home.) Case dismissed in face of pending MSJ based on the failure to establish the existence of any covered damages suffered.
• Michail v. Foremost Ins. Co., et al. (Los Angeles): (Third-party liability case involving underlying habitability claims.) MSJ win in June 2021 – plaintiff failed to establish a covered occurrence.
• Kling and Cliffwood, LLC v. Fire Ins. Exch. (Los Angeles): (First-party property case involving damage from tree that fell and allegedly caused structural damage to home.) MSJ win in August 2021 – plaintiffs failed to establish a covered occurrence and/or the existence of covered property damage.
• Ostapenko v. 21st Century Ins. Co. (Los Angeles): (First-party medical payments case.) MSA win in August 2021 – no bad faith as a matter of law based on the genuine dispute doctrine.
• Grebow, et al. v. Farmers Ins. Exch. (Los Angeles): (First-party property case involving theft of jewelry, etc. and vandalism of home.) MSJ win in February 2022 – plaintiffs failed to establish the non-payment of any covered property. (Successfully defeated plaintiffs’ MSJ in 2022.)
• 1424 Bentley, LLC v. Farmers Ins. Exch. (Los Angeles): (First-party property case involving back-up sewer damage and coverage therefore.) MSJ win in June 2022 – plaintiff failed to establish any coverage under the policy at issue.
• Mehrabi and Mehrabi, Inc. v. Farmers Ins. Exch. (Los Angeles): (First-party property case involving water damage and substantial claim of business interruption losses.) MSJ win in April 2023 – no coverage because plaintiff breached the duty to cooperate.
• Kling and Cliffwood, LLC v. Fire Ins. Exch. (Los Angeles): Successfully defended MSJ win on appeal; MSJ affirmed April 2023 (see above).
• Rancho Oaks Investments, LLC, et al. v. Mid-Century Ins. Co., et al. (Ventura): (Third-party liability claim involving underlying breach of contract and business tort claims.) MSJ win in May 2023 – no coverage because plaintiffs failed to establish a covered occurrence.
• Gazmararian, et al. v. Chatsworth Melody HOA, et al. (Los Angeles): (Third-party liability claim involving underlying claims/cross-claims between HOA board members and homeowners.) MSJ win in Dember 2023 on behalf of Farmers Insurance Exchange – plaintiffs failed to establish breach of the duty to defend.
• Rancho Oaks Investments, LLC, et al. v. Mid-Century Ins. Co., et al. (Los Angeles): Successfully defended MSJ win on appeal; MSJ affirmed August 2024 (see above).