Ivan Mnatzaganian's practice has focused on insurance bad faith, product liability, and business and legal malpractice litigation. His quick wit and legal acumen help him obtain excellent results for his clients. He has defended a major manufacturer for over ten years on a variety of product liability and other claims, achieving efficient, sensible resolution of the cases. He regularly defends bad faith cases in which the underlying action has resulted in a finding against the insured in excess of the policy limits, or outside of the coverage provided under the policy. Many of the legal malpractice actions he handles arise out of products liability and insurance coverage matters.

Favorite cases

Ivan's pretrial work and role as co-chair at trial led to the defense of a product claim made against a manufacturer acquired by a Fortune 500 company, which had assumed liability for previously-produced products. The large industrial machine was a tad shy on safety devices and had no guarding for the spinning pipe processed by the equipment. A factory employee, with braided waist long hair, ducked under the spinning pipe which caught the braid. He suffered multiple internal injuries, was scalped and lived for two years after the accident as a quadriplegic. The employer paid millions for medical expenses and disability payments and sought reimbursement from the manufacturer. The jury found that all responsibility for the accident rested with the employer and the employee. Credit for this result must also be given to Melody Rose, the Robie & Matthai paralegal whose skill in locating information is legendary. She obtained deposition testimony given in other actions by the plaintiff's expert, which directly contradicted his opinions in our case. She discovered that the "professional" expert had given a seminar on how to "trick" a jury, subsequently denying that he had made the statements he had made. Melody not only obtained the contradictory statements, but also located a tape recording of the original seminar given several years before the trial.

A most favorable settlement resulted from Ivan's detailed work on a malpractice claim arising from a complex products liability action. Robie & Matthai's client had represented a family who owned the manufacturer of a component part which allegedly caused a catastrophic accident, seriously injuring two marines. The law firm had drafted the agreements by which the family sold the company (after the part was manufactured, but before the crash) to a Fortune 500 company, which defended the products case and then asserted that the liability for the unfortunate result rested with the family under the terms of the sales agreement. The family claimed that its lawyers not only failed to protect them in drafting the agreement, but also failed to properly monitor the products case. There were concurrent disputes over the availability of insurance coverage for the liability arising from the crash. A global settlement was reached which enabled the law firm to avoid exposure far in excess of its policy limits.

Ivan's dispositive motions resulted in the dismissal of a multi-million dollar claim made by an entertainer against a prominent business management company. The entertainer alleged that her manager had failed to protect her interests and mishandled payments made on her behalf. The result was affirmed on appeal.

Ivan obtained terminating sanctions in an action in which the plaintiff alleged that his counsel had failed to name many of the potentially culpable defendants in an asbestos case. Ivan's persistent and determined pursuit of full and complete discovery responses, through a series of motions, ultimately resulted in the terminating sanctions in an action in which the plaintiff had claimed millions.

Ivan successfully defended, at trial, an action in which the plaintiff alleged extraordinary damages as a result of a fall caused by leakage from refrigeration equipment in a commercial premises. Although liability was admitted, the jury awarded no damages in the face of plaintiff's $380,000 claim, finding that the plaintiff suffered no compensable injury as a result of the fall.

Distinctions

• Listed, Super Lawyers Southern California Rising Stars, 2005-2006, 2010

Memberships

• Los Angeles County Bar Association
• State Bar of California
• Armenian Bar Association
• Association of Southern California Defense Counsel

Education

• Loyola Law School, J.D., 1999
• California State University, Northridge, B.A., cum laude, 1996

Admissions

• California Courts 2000
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2000