William M. Slaughter

William M. Slaughter graduated with honors from Humboldt University in Arcata, California, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1979. He then attended the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law receiving his Juris Doctorate degree in June of 1982. While attending McGeorge, he received the American Jurisprudence Award in Criminal Law. He was a member and the Associate Articles Editor for the Pacific Law Journal of the McGeorge School of Law. Mr. Slaughter has focused his practice on insurance defense since 1985. He specializes in complex litigation matters involving mold injury, insurance bad faith, earth movement and construction defect litigation.A related focus of Mr. Slaughter’s practice involves cases in which reservations of rights are asserted by insurance companies as to both defense and indemnity. Many of the cases handled by Mr. Slaughter involve issues as to insurance company obligations to defend and indemnify insureds. As a result, he has adopted specific procedures to ensure his clients’ rights are fully protected. Mr. Slaughter also specializes in defending homeowners’ associations and providing general counsel advice. He has represented hundreds of homeowners’ associations over the course of his career. He has tried, arbitrated and/or settled claims involving everything from alleged violations of the Davis-Stirling Act to personal injury matters. Mr. Slaughter is directly responsible for supervising eight attorneys who are involved in defending clients of the firm. In addition, he has an active trial practice, having arbitrated and tried dozens of cases to conclusion. Mr. Slaughter is also a graduate of the Pepperdine University Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution. On occasion he serves as a mediator, however, he primarily relies upon the training received at Pepperdine to assist mediators upon whom the firm relies in bringing litigated matters to early resolution.   Mr. Slaughter’s published cases are Geffecken v. D’Andrea (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 1298 and Ostayan v. Nordhoff T ownhomes Asociations, Inc. (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 120. Mr. Slaughter’s memberships include Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association.