Matthews, Richard Franklin

Maria Wusinich worked for two prominent insurance law firms in Los Angeles prior to joining Hiepler & Hiepler. Her experience includes the defense of personal injury matters on behalf of small and large businesses as well as the litigation of complex insurance coverage disputes relating to commercial liability policies.

Maria graduated with honors from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she received her B.A. degree. After graduating from JMU, Maria was selected to serve as a Governor's fellow, participating in former Virginia Governor James Gilmore's Governor's Fellowship program.

Maria received her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law. At Pepperdine, Maria served on the editorial board of the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal. She also received the American Jurisprudence award in a Constitutional Law – First Amendment course. Prior to attending law school, Maria worked in the United States Senate for three years as a Legislative Correspondent, dealing with national policy issues relating to agriculture, energy and the environment.

Maria's published works include Compulsory Pre-dispute Arbitration Clauses in the Employment Context after EEOC v. Luce, Forward, Hamilton and Scripps, 5 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 57. She also assisted in researching and writing an article entitled Privacy and the First Amendment, published in the State Bar of California’s California Litigation.

Maria works on the firm’s wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and insurance bad faith cases. She recently served as co-counsel in a trial in Santa Maria involving the wrongful death of a retired CHP officer. Maria helped obtain for the surviving family members a jury verdict that was $300,000 in excess of the defendant's policy limits. Maria is currently involved in representing twelve victims of the tragic September 12, 2008 Chatsworth-Metrolink train collision and is honored to be serving with Mr. Hiepler on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, which consists of a small group of nationally recognized firms appointed by the court to develop the liability aspect of the cases for all of the accident victims.