Ian Fusselman
USC Gould School of Law

 Ian Fusselman spent the first 20 years of his career as a litigator in state and federal court and is now a full-time mediator with ADR Services.

Fusselman began his career as a civil defense attorney, working for six years at the law firms of Belcher, Henzie & Biegenzahn, and Murchison & Cumming. He then joined the San Diego plaintiff’s law firm of Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire in 2004 and was elevated to partner in 2012. His work over his entire career focused on catastrophic personal injury cases, aviation crashes, insurance bad faith litigation, construction litigation, landslide and flood litigation, employment law, real estate litigation, mass torts and other complex litigation.

As a defense attorney, his clients included Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Robinsons May, Cessna Aircraft Company and Progressive Insurance. Notably, he represented the target defendant in the litigation arising from the folk singer John Denver’s fatal plane crash. As a plaintiff’s attorney, he helped to recover more than $185 million in verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients.

Fusselman has received several recognitions, including as a “San Diego Top Attorney” by the San Diego Daily Transcript in 2013, “Best of the Bar” by the San Diego Business Journal in 2014 and as a “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters, 2014-2019. In 2016, he was listed in Top Verdict as having one of the top 50 personal injury settlements in California.

He has written extensively on issues relating to California evidence law and has a particular interest in the ongoing debate over changes to the mediation privilege.

Fusselman began serving as a mediator in 2014 and is a member of the San Diego County Superior Court Civil Mediation Panel and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing Volunteer Mediator Panel. He is a graduate of the USC Gould School of Law, earning his JD in 1998.  

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

PolitiFact
July 21, 2021
Re: Franita Tolson

Franita Tolson was interviewed about restrictive voting laws. "We no longer live in the time of poll taxes and literacy tests," she said. "It's way more subtle now."

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Gregory Keating
May, 2021

“Form and Substance in the 'Private Law' of Torts,” 14 Journal of Tort Law 45 (2021).

Robin Craig
May, 2021

Robin Craig accepted the invitation of the Environmental Law Institute (Washington. D.C.) to participate in its new project on Communicating the Science of Sea Level Rise. The project will involve a webinar and a conference in late 2021, with Craig slated to speak on property, water law, and constitutional issues arising from adaptation to sea level rise.

Robin Craig
May, 2021

Robin Craig accepted an invitation to join the Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Water Policy.