John
K.
Wittwer
Biography
Mr. Wittwer works for the firm as a member. In his practice, Mr. Wittwer primarily concentrates on the analysis and litigation of complicated cases involving insurance coverage, bad faith claims handling and punitive damages, professional liability, and cybersecurity. With regard to both personal lines and commercial lines, Mr. Wittwer has handled a wide range of complex insurance matters, including cyber insurance, general liability, automobile, property, life, disability, homeowners, workers' compensation, professional liability, directors and officers, surplus lines, and excess/umbrella coverages.
From 2013 to 2017, Mr. Wittwer was selected for inclusion in the Southwest Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. He is a member of the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel's board of directors. Mr. Wittwer is the 2017-2018 Chair of the Arizona State Bar's Technology Advisory Group, where he instructs and educates other attorneys on best practices for e-discovery, cloud computing, cyber insurance, and data security and privacy. Mr. Wittwer held a position as a software engineer before starting law school. Mr. Wittwer is a talented musician in his leisure time, and he likes to travel with his wife and daughter.
Education
- Arizona State University, College of Law, Tempe, Arizona
- J.D. - 2006
- Honors: cum laude
- Brigham Young University
- B.A. - 1997
- Honors: magna cum laude
- Major: Economics
Bar Admissions
- Arizona, 2006
Honors
- Southwest Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2013 – present
- The Best Lawyers in America – Litigation – Insurance, 2022 – present
- PHOENIX Magazine Top Lawyer in Intellectual Property Technology, 2022
Professional Associations
- Claims & Litigation Management (CLM) Alliance, Certified Litigation Management Professional
- Board of Directors, Arizona Association of Defense Counsel (AADC)
- Southwest Chapter Steering Committee, Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
- Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Committee, Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Chair, Arizona State Bar Technology Advisory Group
- U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, District of Arizona
Representative Cases
- Carlson v. Independent Order of the Foresters Ins. Co., 2017 WL 957283 (D. Ariz Mar. 13, 2017)
- Krieg v. Schwartz, 2015 WL 12669893 (D. Ariz. Aug. 19, 2015)
- Ingram v. Great American Ins. Co., 112 F. Supp. 3d 934 (D. Ariz. June 30, 2015)
- Mt. Hawley Ins. Co., v. Slayton ex rel. County of Coconino, 1 CA-SA 12-0298, 2013 WL 708535 (Ariz. App. Feb. 26, 2013)
- Progressive Cas. Ins. Co. v. Estate of Palomera-Ruiz, 224 Ariz. 380, 231 P.3d 384 (App. 2010), review denied (Oct. 26, 2010), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 2874 (May 2, 2011)
- Rause v. Paperchine, Inc., 743 F. Supp. 2d 1114 (D. Ariz. 2010)
- Forbes v. 21st Century Ins. Co., 258 F.R.D. 335 (D. Ariz. 2009)
Examples of complex insurance matters Mr. Wittwer has recently handled are:
- workers’ compensation bad faith claim seeking eight-figure award for carrier’s alleged delay in authorizing surgery and permanent disability and loss of earning capacity allegedly resulting therefrom;
- excess commercial liability coverage claims arising out of notices of claims totaling $44.75 million against sheriff and other county officials for alleged civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983;
- professional liability coverage claims arising out of cardiologist’s alleged sexual abuse of eight different patients;
- excess commercial liability coverage claims arising from one of the annual top ten verdicts in Arizona in the amount of $7 million, resulting from severe motorcycle-vehicle accident;
- claims under directors and officers, all-risk, and umbrella coverage for putative class action against electric utility co-op and its board members alleging excessive compensation, wasteful spending, and punitive damages;
- representation of two insurers in suit alleging that agents who sold hundreds of millions of dollars of annuity products to Arizona residents engaged in a systematic and deceptive effort to replace large numbers of those annuity contracts in order to generate commissions;
- employee dishonesty coverage claims arising from bookkeeper’s alleged embezzlement of more than half a million dollars from law firm over a period of seven years;
- bad faith and punitive damage lawsuit alleging automobile insurer’s alleged corporate pattern and practice of low-balling collision damage estimates and alleged refusal to “total” vehicles in order to save money;
- property damage and business interruption/extra expense coverage claims in excess of half a million dollars arising from structure fire to business involved in construction of underground utilities.
Languages
- Finnish