Royal Oakes

Royal F. Oakes has extensive trial and appellate practice in the fields of insurance, employment and general business law. He has litigated hundreds of cases in the areas of bad faith law and unfair business practices.

Mr. Oakes is a well-known television and radio legal commentator. Nationally, he is an ABC News legal analyst, regularly appears on the television program “Inside Edition” and fills in as guest host for “The Dennis Miller Radio Program,” nationally syndicated by Westwood One. In Los Angeles he is legal analyst for NBC4 television and KNX all-news radio, and fills in as guest host on KABC Radio.

Mr. Oakes became a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in October 2014 as a result of the merger of Hinshaw and the Los Angeles-based firm of Barger & Wolen LLP.

Professional Affiliations :

• Lawyers’ Mutual Insurance Company, Member, Board of Directors, 2014
• Radio & Television News Association, General Counsel, 1 1996 – Present
• Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Member, Board of Directors, 2003 – 2005
• Conference of Insurance Counsel, President, 2001 – 2002

Representative Matters :

Mr. Oakes has extensive experience in the employment law field, and in recent years has achieved numerous victories regarding the classification of independent contractors and employees. Mr. Oakes was lead counsel for the prevailing party on this issue at the appellate level in the case of Beaumont-Jacques v. Farmers Group, Inc., 217 Cal. App. 4th 1138 (2013), and at the trial court level in the case of Pexa v. Farmers Group, Inc. (Sacramento Superior Court, 2012).

Mr. Oakes’ trial experience includes victories both in the field of life-health litigation, as well as property-casualty litigation. Among his wins include prevailing in :

• A bench trial involving a $1.5 million life insurance claim submitted by the heirs of an insured murder victim
• A jury trial involving a putative class action that alleged an automobile insurer’s “direct repair program” violated the rights of policyholders
• A jury trial against a disability claimant  who claimed his fear of AIDS rendered him unable to provide professional services to patients.

Education :

• J.D., University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, 1977
• B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 1974

Admissions :

• California
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California