SAN DIEGO (July 15, 2021) – Leading insurance and civil litigation defense firm Tyson & Mendes LLP announced today the launch of TM HALO®, a new high-stakes trial firm that uses value billing when parachuting in to defend corporations, insurance companies, and insureds in major civil jury trials.

TM HALO®, a subsidiary of Tyson & Mendes, is an acronym for “Tyson & Mendes High Altitude Low Opening,” and is derived from “HALO,” a high-risk maneuver employed by special military forces. HALO troops parachute into hostile combat zones from extreme altitudes, opening their chutes when they are low to the ground to avoid detection and get the job done. HALO is an extremely dangerous maneuver for a paratrooper, performed by only the most elite jumpers in the most challenging situations.

Similarly, TM HALO® is made up of highly trained lawyers, experienced with defending corporations, insurance companies, and insureds in their cases with the highest risk for Nuclear Verdicts®. This innovative firm is the right fit for cases when the financial stakes are high and the margin for legal error is low.

“It is time for a trial firm devoted to stopping Nuclear Verdicts®.  A firm whose singular focus is winning the biggest jury trials in America, nothing else. It is time to change the business model too, so all defense interests are aligned to win, just like the plaintiffs’ side,” said Managing Partner Robert Tyson. “The typical insurance industry – defense firm relationship works over 99% of the time.  But to stop the 1% of cases that go to trial and end in unjust Nuclear Verdicts®, it is time to do something different. If we have any hope of stemming the tide of Nuclear Verdicts® in this country, defendants must make winning large jury trials a behavior that is measured and rewarded.”

TM HALO® consists of Tyson & Mendes’ most decorated veteran trial attorneys:

• Robert Tyson, Managing Partner: Based out of the firm’s San Diego headquarters, Tyson has been trying the highest profile cases in the West for over 30 years. His proven methodology for combating Nuclear Verdicts® — jury verdicts in excess of $10 million and keeping down damages, comes from years of trying complex products liability, catastrophic injury and wrongful death, employment and other matters. He is especially known for his award-winning handling of Howell v. Hamilton Meats, a case he argued and won before the California Supreme Court, resulting in an estimated $10 billion dollar savings for the insurance industry each year.
• Damian Fletcher, Partner: Leading Tyson & Mendes’ Florida office, Fletcher is an accomplished trial lawyer with over 20 years’ experience defending tort claims involving industrial accidents, contaminated drugs, products liability, environmental contamination, medical malpractice, trucking and other vehicular accidents, negligent security, and discrimination. He has favorably resolved over 200 cases in state and federal courts across the country.
• Margaret Holm, Partner: Holm serves as Chair of Tyson & Mendes’ Healthcare Practice Group. Resident in the firm’s Orange County office, she has spent the last 40 years becoming one of one of the country’s leading trial and appellate litigators for large health care entities in complex civil disputes. This ABOTA member boasts an outstanding record of obtaining defense verdicts, early dismissals, and favorable settlements in over 200 civil jury trials and arbitrations with a success record of over 95% in jury verdict cases.
• Edward Leonard, Partner: ABOTA attorney, Leonard has spent his entire 42-year career as a trial lawyer, focusing on general liability matters with a long-term emphasis on transportation cases involving the trucking industry and logistics. Based in Orange County, he has tried over 95 civil cases to verdict throughout the State of California.
• Mina Miserlis, Partner: Miserlis is a brain injury specialist who has successfully tried numerous multimillion-dollar cases. Based in San Diego, she brings over 20 years of litigation and trial experience in complex personal injury matters to TM HALO® and consistently obtains highly favorable defense verdicts involving complicated medical and scientific issues, such as traumatic brain injury, complex regional pain syndrome, quadriplegia, and loss of limbs and life.
• Kara Pape, Partner: Pape is a trial lawyer undaunted by any case or lawyer, having experienced a “judicial hellhole” many times in her career. From her office in Los Angeles, she has built her career by beating some of the most famous plaintiff lawyers in the country. Pape is an experienced first-chair trial lawyer who is not afraid to fight for what is right and just, even in the face of the most intimidating lawyers.  She is on the frontline of the latest trial tactics employed by plaintiff lawyers around the country and is well-versed in methods to tear those tactics down.

“Paying for value, not hours spent, is a radical idea in our industry. For the handful of big trials our clients are worried about each year, we think it is time for radical change. Something has to be done to take back justice in our country and after years of educating and sharing our ideas with the defense industry, TM HALO® is the natural progression of our fight for justice!” explained Tyson.

Each engagement for TM HALO® will use Value Billing, consisting of a reduced flat fee that is determined by the complexity of the case and the anticipated length of engagement, plus a success fee based upon the amount of savings TM HALO® achieves for its clients. The “savings” is the difference between the last settlement demand before TM HALO® entered the case and the ultimate jury verdict or settlement. The firm is only entitled to the success fee if TM HALO® obtains a result less than plaintiff’s last settlement demand.

Born from the firm’s winning litigation record, TM HALO® is an evolution of Tyson & Mendes’ Complex Trial Team, which is often called upon by insurance companies to “parachute in” shortly before trial to successfully litigate the most challenging, high-risk cases.

For more information and to view career opportunities, visit www.tysonmendes.com.

About Tyson & Mendes LLP

Tyson & Mendes LLP is a nationwide, AV-rated litigation firm specializing in insurance defense. Founded in 2002, firm principals and seasoned trial attorneys Robert Tyson and Patrick Mendes have grown the firm to 200 attorneys defending corporations, insurance companies, and their clients in civil litigation matters throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. The firm is most widely recognized for winning the landmark Howell v. Hamilton Meats California Supreme Court case, which forever changed the state’s litigation landscape by significantly impacting the damages a plaintiff may recover. Robert Tyson is also the author of the Amazon Bestseller Nuclear Verdicts®: Defending Justice for All, the first playbook for the defense on how to avoid runaway jury verdicts. For more information, visit www.tysonmendes.com.

Media Contact:
Ashley Bendas, J. Walcher Communications
ashley@jwalcher.com, 619-295-7140