Attorneys

A native of Staten Island, New York, Bob Tyson is a Founding Partner and strategic managing partner of the firm. Mr. Tyson is a trial lawyer. He specializes in arguing damages in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and high exposure jury trials. He is especially known for his groundbreaking work on Howell v. Hamilton Meats, a case he argued and won before the California Supreme Court. Howell has since been hailed as the most significant insurance decision to come down in over 40 years – altering the way California interprets the collateral source rule and impacting the damages a plaintiff may recover. Mr. Tyson successfully argued an injured plaintiff may only recover the much lower amount that is paid for medical expenses, not the full medical bills, as past medical damages. This difference between what is billed versus paid saves insurance companies and defendants over $10 billion dollars every year. The victory earned Mr. Tyson the California Lawyer of the Year (CLAY) award from the California Bar Magazine, among other awards.

A San Diego native, Pat Mendes is a Founding Partner of Tyson & Mendes and works from the firm’s San Diego headquarters. Previously a partner with Gordon & Rees – where he served as director of the construction and insurance groups – he joined forces with Robert Tyson in 2002 to form Tyson & Mendes, which has since evolved into one of the region’s leading defense firms with offices throughout the nation.

Lynn Allen is the Managing Partner of Tyson & Mendes’ Phoenix office. Ms. Allen is an experienced trial lawyer who represents her clients in a wide variety of complex cases, including insurance coverage disputes, insurance bad faith, defense of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits, intellectual property, employment law, and appeals. Ms. Allen has extensive appellate experience in both the Arizona state and federal courts. She has been lead counsel in many successful jury trials, arbitrations, summary judgment motions, and appeals. She is a frequent lecturer on insurance bad faith and coverage issues in Arizona.

Heather Bean is the Managing Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Los Angeles office.  Her practice focuses on general liability, personal injury, premises liability and products liability claims.  As a leader in the firm’s Retail, Restaurant, and Hospitality practice group, Ms. Bean also advises clients on risk management and strategy issues. 

Levi Bendele is a Partner at Tyson & Mendes’ Seattle office. Mr. Bendele has developed significant construction injury and defect, premises liability (from single-family homes to Fortune 500 retailers), HOA litigation, professional liability, directors and officers liability, coverage litigation, and insurance bad faith and IFCA experience since first handling auto claims as a claims representative for a major national automobile insurance company in the late 1990s. Since 2000, he has worked as an attorney and been a partner for private insurance defense firms.

Kristi Blackwell is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office and leads the firm’s Retail, Restaurant, and Hospitality practice group. Her practice focuses primarily on general liability, professional liability, personal injury, premises liability, coverage, and complex litigation. Ms. Blackwell has wide-ranging litigation experience representing a diverse group of individuals and businesses in California state and federal district courts.

Patricia Conway is a Partner at Tyson & Mendes’ Northern California office and leads a multi-attorney litigation team. Ms. Conway has practiced civil litigation in the Bay Area since 1996, advancing from associate to partner in 2001.  Ms. Conway has represented manufacturer and contractor defendants in construction, toxic tort, environmental, and premises liability actions.  She has served as “outside general counsel” to contractor clients assisting them with a variety of issues.  She currently serves as National Coordinating Counsel for a corporate client overseeing their nationwide asbestos litigation.

Dan Fallon is a Partner in the firm’s San Diego office. Mr. Fallon leads a group of litigators specializing in professional liability, personal injury, general commercial liability, and business litigation. Admitted to practice in all California state and federal courts, Mr. Fallon has significant experience developing and executing litigation strategies to the benefit of his individual and corporate clients.

Jacob Felderman is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Denver offices. Mr. Felderman has in-depth experience in a number of practice areas, including: general negligence, professional liability, premises liability, product liability, personal injury, and commercial & general civil litigation in California and Colorado.

Damian M. Fletcher is the Managing Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Florida office. Mr. Fletcher has over 20 years’ experience proactively managing liability risks and investigating accidents resulting in catastrophic losses in state and federal courts across the country. He regularly defends tort claims involving industrial accidents, contaminated drugs, products liability, environmental contamination, medical malpractice, trucking and other vehicular accidents, negligent security and discrimination.

Jessica Heppenstall is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office. Her practice focuses on general liability maters, including premises liability, automobile liability, and personal injury matters. Her representation of individuals and businesses includes high-exposure matters involving alleged catastrophic injury and wrongful death.

Cayce E. Lynch is the firm’s Administrative Partner based in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office. In this capacity, she wears multiple hats – directing Tyson & Mendes’ administrative, marketing, and business development activities, and has taken the firm through a period of unprecedented growth.

Thomas McGrath is the Managing Partner of Tyson & Mendes’ Las Vegas office. He handles a wide variety of litigation cases and specializes in general liability, third-party bodily injury, first party uninsured/underinsured bad-faith and coverage litigation, and HOA litigation. Mr. McGrath is licensed to practice in all Nevada and California federal and state courts. He has devoted his practice to Nevada for the last 15 years.

James Mendel is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Seattle office. Mr. Mendel began his career handling personal injury claims for five years in New York before moving to Washington state, where he has been litigating cases for the last 17 years. He handles about 5-7 jury trials a year and balances a heavy arbitration calendar. James has developed significant expertise in litigating first-party (PIP, UIM) and third-party (liability) cases involving automobile personal injury, premises liability, homeowner liability, HOA litigation, construction injury, business liability, and general liability.

Mina Miserlis is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office with over 20 years of litigation and trial experience. She leads the firm’s multi-attorney Complex Trial Team, focusing on complex personal injury matters.

Susan Oliver is a Partner at Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office and leads a multi-attorney team. Her practice focuses on catastrophic personal injury defense, the defense of entity defendants where sexual torts are alleged, including sexual assault and child sexual abuse, and medical malpractice defense.

Kevin Place is a Partner at Tyson & Mendes’ Los Angeles office, where he leads the Complex Trial Team. Mr. Place is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He handles a complex insurance defense practice and has taken in excess of 20 cases to jury trial. He has practiced exclusively as an insurance defense attorney, specializing in wrongful death, vehicle accidents, construction accidents, premises liability, toxic torts, habitability claims, unfair business practices, and products liability. Mr. Place’s first six years of practice were spent as a trial attorney with Nationwide Insurance Company’s Trial Division. He was also a managing attorney for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company’s staff counsel and a Partner with Archer Norris for 11 years.

Jim Sell is the Managing Partner of Tyson & Mendes’ Northern California office and leads a multi-attorney litigation team. Mr. Sell has practiced law in the Bay Area since his admission to the California Bar in 1988. He is a trial attorney with a long history of success in all types of jury trials. Mr. Sell has extensive experience in construction, public works, products liability, catastrophic injury, personal injury, wrongful death, and professional liability litigation. He also serves as “general counsel” to a number of Bay Area contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in hundreds of construction matters and disputes.

Robert Taitz is a Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Northern California office. His practice focuses primarily on general liability and commercial litigation. Mr. Taitz has extensive litigation experience, including representing individuals and businesses in California state and federal district courts.