Donald Scaramastra

Representative Experience

• Insurance Recovery Plus

  • Client v. Travelers Casualty & Surety Co., et al. – Recovered over $30 million in insurance for cleanup related costs at the Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats federal Superfund site.

  • Portland Harbor Superfund Site – Helped multiple policyholder clients obtain insurance coverage for environmental cleanup costs.

  • N. Am. Elite Ins. Co. v. Space Needle, LLC, 200 A.D.3d 425, 159 N.Y.S.3d 396 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2021). – Secured a U.S. New York trial and appellate court rulings preventing insurer from forcing a Washington policyholder to litigate an insurance coverage dispute in New York.

  • Kitsap County v. Allstate Insurance Co., 136 Wash. 2d 567, 964 P.2d 1173 (Wash. 1998)– Prevailed on insurance coverage issues before the Washington State Supreme Court, followed by recovery of millions of dollars in environmental response costs for multiple historical waste-disposal sites.*

  • Advaiya Solutions, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co., No. C23-0685-KKE, slip op. (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2024) – Secured cyber-liability insurance coverage for ransomware-related losses, including incident-response and business-interruption costs.

  • Markel Insurance Co. v. Secret Harbor – Obtained application of the “continuous damage” trigger, activating multiple policy years and insurers for long-tail abuse claims in a high-value coverage dispute.

  • Global Media Company v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. – Secured a multimillion-dollar recovery under a multimedia liability policy.*

  • Client v. Starr Indemnity & Liability Co. – Obtained a multimillion-dollar recovery under a D&O policy resolving shareholder litigation.*

  • Client v. Liberty Surplus Lines Insurance Co. – Resolved coverage litigation through mediation, securing full compensation for defense and indemnity costs from a product-defect lawsuit.

  • Client v. Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Co. – Secured a ruling granting full recovery under a product recall policy.*

  • Client v. ACE American Insurance Co. – Secured $6 million in insurance coverage for Superfund cleanup costs at the Lower Duwamish Waterway.

  • Client v. Navigators Insurance Co., et al. – Secured $4 million policy limits under marine builder’s risk insurance.

  • Client v. Endurance American Insurance Co., et al. – Secured a ruling resulting in $4.6 million recovery in marine general liability policy for supplier of general marine services.

  • Alakayak v. All Alaskan Seafoods – Served as co-counsel in the defense of antitrust price-fixing claims arising from the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon industry.*

  • Jaynes v. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard – Week-long trial resulting recovery of six years of hazard pay for 74 shipwrights, totaling roughly $4 million.*

• Appellate Plus

  • Skarbo v. Skarbo Scandinavian Furniture Import, Inc. – Trial and appellate victories compelling a shareholder buyout due to corporate deadlock.*

  • Taliesen Corp. v. Razore Land Co. – Judgment and attorneys’ fees following a six-week trial involving environmental cleanup claims.*

  • Estate of Rabinowitz – Successful defense of a will contest at trial and on appeal.*

  • Estate of Rhodehamel – Successful defense of a will contest on appeal.*

• Pro Bono Plus

  • Braam ex rel. Braam v. State, 150 Wash. 2d 689, 81 P.3d 851 (2003). – Landmark Washington Supreme Court decision that transformed how Washington treats children in foster care, affirming the State’s constitutional duty to protect foster children from harm while in state custody and authorizing courts to require long‑term, systemic reform when those obligations are not met.*

  • Best v. Grant County – Class action resulting in court‑supervised reform of felony public defense system after demonstrating that chronic underfunding and excessive caseloads deprived defendants of their constitutional right to effective counsel.*

  • Pierce v. Washington State Department of Licensing – Constitutional challenge ending driver’s license suspensions based solely on inability to pay traffic fines, prompting statewide reform and restoring mobility for some low‑income residents.*

  • Sacks v. Office of Foreign Assets Control – Obtained a court order, upheld by the Ninth Circuit, stopping the federal government from imposing penalties on humanitarian shipments to Iraq and setting clear limits on the government’s power to enforce economic sanctions against lawful aid efforts.*

* Denotes experience prior to joining Miller Nash LLP