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GENERAL OVERVIEW
Gary Spencer has 35 years of
litigation experience involving Construction, Insurance, Business and
Partnership disputes representing both Plaintiff and Defense. He has been
Plaintiff’s Counsel for individual homeowners and Homeowner Associations in
multi million dollar construction litigation and has been lead counsel for
developers, architects, engineers and subcontractors in complex construction
litigation, both residential and commercial. During the past 11 years he has
mediated over 75 complex cases involving not only complex construction and
insurance matters, but real estate purchase and sale disputes, loan foreclosure
and anti deficiency matters, insurance broker issues and trademark disputes.
Gary Spencer brings a broad perspective to the table to assist parties in
resolving many complex issues. His early career involved Plaintiff bodily injury
litigation and criminal defense, including product liability plaintiff and
defense work. His involvement with Construction (apart from working as a “ditch
shader” for sewer lines during his summer vacations), started in 1978
representing Homeowners in the initial phases of what is today a huge
construction defect industry. After completing several successful Plaintiff
cases for homeowners, he worked for 25 years representing Developers, General
Engineering contractors, Architects, and Civil and Structural Engineers, as well
as CGL Coverage analysis for several insurance companies. In 1996 he was
requested to mediate a complex commercial construction problem, and after
successfully resolving that matter, although he maintained an active litigation
practice, he has continued to mediate at the special request of the parties. He
fully understands the needs, concerns and positions of all parties and works for
a fair and equitable solution to each matter.
EDUCATION
Gary received his B.A in Economics from the University of Southern California in
1966 and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in
1969. In 1996 he attended Pepperdine University’s extended formal mediation
training course, “Mediating the Litigated Case”, and received his Certificate.
Business, Construction, and Insurance Related Work
1. Business Issues.
Initially, Gary litigated Plaintiff bodily injury cases, criminal defense
matters and business contract disputes, divorce cases and child custody cases.
One of his initial custody cases was decided by the California Supreme Court
(In. Re. B.G., 1976). Plaintiff bodily injury claims mostly involved auto
accident and defective design and manufacture issues, including seat belt
design; Product liability defense work involved such cases as asphalt and guard
rail design and installation for a top fuel dragster race track. He has acted as
plaintiff and defense counsel sin minority shareholder suits, as well as in
specific performance litigation involving real estate purchase contracts. He has
acted as defense counsel in real estate judicial foreclosure actions and
deficiency claims. He has been on the management committee of a large law firm
and understands partnership accounting and employment issues.
With respect to intellectual property, he has acted as counsel for a major
clothing designer for 30 years and negotiated their domestic and international
trademark agreements.
2. Construction, Insurance, and Mediation
Gary’s experience in the Construction industry really started when he was a
ditch digger for sewer and water lines for a homebuilder during summer
vacations. During his initial work in Product Liability Defense he worked on
design and manufacturing defect issues involving asphalt and guard rail design
for a race track. Subsequently he was lead counsel representing homeowners and
HOA’s with respect to defective condominium construction involving grading,
concrete, framing, and most other issues, including significant insurance
coverage problems. He has represented several insurance companies with respect
to coverage under CGL policies involving landslides, additional insured issues,
multi occurrence issues, excess/primary coverage issues, and exhaustion
problems. Following conclusion of significant plaintiff litigation, he
represented real estate developers for the past 20 years in complex construction
cases.
In 1996 he was requested by parties to a complex commercial litigation case
involving a shopping center and significant pavement, drainage and wall
construction issues to mediate the matter. After successful settlement of the
case, Gary has continued to mediate such matters at the special request of the
parties while primarily focusing on his litigation practice. In 2005, Gary
retired from his litigation practice, trained for the bicycle Race Across
America, and completed the race in June, 2006. He is now back at Mediation full
time.
Personal Interests and Community Involvement
Gary is an avid fly fisherman and has fished all over the world. He ties his own
flies and builds his own fly rods. He found that he needed something to do while
“waiting for the hatch”, so he took up watercolor painting, and now paints all
of the wonderful scenery and fishermen that he observes. He says painting forces
one to look at each element of the subject and the light as it exposes that
element; such a careful inspection is similar to how one must listen to each
litigant in a mediated case; there is always some hint or reflection in the
story that allows one to weave a settlement together.
He has been a Rotarian since 1970 and will be President of the Monarch Beach
Sunrise Rotary for 2007-2008. He looks forward to serving his community with
positive service, helping students with scholarships, the seniors with their
special needs, and all others in between.
