EDUCATION

DAVID UTLEY graduated from Whittier College in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Western State University College of Law in 1977, and has been a member of the California Bar since 1978.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Utley has forty-seven years of personal injury and workers’ compensation litigation and trial experience in California and Federal court venues. He has expertise in the litigation of claims arising under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, Defense Base Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Nonappropriated Funds Instrumentalities Act, and the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. He has additional subrogation experience with respect to personal injury claims in multiple forums.

Mr. Utley served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court-appointed Mediator in personal injury lawsuits from 1999 to 2014 and prior to that time served upon the Superior Court’s Arbitration and Settlement Conference volunteer panel. He has been an invited speaker at the 2009 Northwest Longshore Claims Administrators Seminar, 2010 Longshore Claims Association Seminar, 2012 Chartis Defense Base Act Seminar, 2013 Signal/LCA Maritime Conference, 2014 Annual Loyola Longshore Conference, 2016 Advance Consulting Inc. DBA Conference, and Longshore Claims Association seminars in 2019, 2022 and 2025.  He is available to serve as a Mediator in Longshore and Defense Base Act claims in association with Longshore-DBA Mediators, Inc.

Mr. Utley has been recognized by his peers with an “AV- Preeminent 5.0 out of 5″ Martindale-Hubble Peer Review Rating for the past 27 years. Following a 32-year career representing injured workers, he was invited to come to Samuelsen, Gonzalez, Valenzuela & Brown, LLP in 2011 where his focus is upon the defense of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, Defense Base Act claims, and the representation of the subrogation interests of employers and carriers.