Todd Padnos

Todd L. Padnos is a partner in the Business Trial and Finance & Bankruptcy Practice Groups in the firm’s San Francisco office.  For over twenty-five years, Mr. Padnos has represented clients in regulatory, litigation and restructuring matters throughout the country. Mr. Padnos devotes much of his practice toward the representation of insurance companies operating in markets across the United States.

He counsels insurers on a broad range of compliance matters, including rate regulation, pricing, product formation, underwriting, claims handling, operations, premium tax, reinsurance, corporate governance, licensing, market conduct and financial examinations, consumer complaints and deceptive practice claims, and internal and regulatory investigations, as well as legislative and rulemaking matters.

In addition, Mr. Padnos regularly represents insurers before state insurance departments, administrative tribunals and state and federal courts across the country on a wide variety of matters, including ratemaking, compliance, and restructurings.

Mr. Padnos devotes the balance of his practice toward the representation of distressed companies, creditors and asset purchasers in workouts, restructurings and bankruptcy cases. Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin, Mr. Padnos was a partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Experience:

• Allstate Insurance Company, in the industry’s first effort to utilize the Fama-French derivation of the capital asset pricing model to calculate its cost of capital when developing its rates.
• Allstate Insurance Company, in the industry’s first challenge to the application of California’s new prior approval ratemaking regulations.
• Allstate Insurance Company, in the industry’s first effort to have a Florida private passenger insurance automobile rate application adjudicated by an arbitration panel.
• Fidelity National Financial, Inc., in challenges to regulations proposed by departments of insurance across the country, including California, Florida, New York, New Mexico and Texas.
• Zurich American Insurance Company, in California’s regulatory enforcement test case seeking to invalidate all large deductible workers’ compensation collateral agreements.
• CompWest Insurance Company, in various claims handling and employee-classification disputes.
• Represented various insurers in internal investigations and negotiation of non-prosecution agreements with regulators.
• In re Fretter, Inc., prosecution of a multimillion-dollar fraud lawsuit against the liquidating consumer electronics retail chain and certain of its officers and directors.
• Shareholders of a state-chartered bank, in a post-sale lawsuit brought by the purchaser for breach of representations and warranties.
• Murray Energy Corporation, the country’s largest privately held coal mining company, in its out-of-court restructuring.
• Foxwoods Resort Casino, representing Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas in the out-of-court restructuring of the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribal Nation-owned casino.
• Pacesetter Industries, Inc., representing Fleet Business Credit as the senior secured lender in the chapter 11 restructuring of one of the country’s largest manufacturers of modular commercial buildings.
• Representation of Swords to Plowshares in a matter threatening the operation of one of its largest supported housing programs.

Education:

• J.D., Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 1992
• B.A., Emory University, 1989

Admissions:

• California
• Illinois
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central Districts of California