Helping employers, insurance carriers, third-party administrators and self-insured groups navigate workers’ compensation defense.

Helping employers, insurance carriers, third-party administrators and self-insured groups navigate workers’ compensation defense.

Matthew Sassano

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Certified Legal Specialties:

  • Workers Compensation, California Board of Legal Specialization, 1991

Biography

Matthew Sassano is the managing and founding partner in the Lafayette office of Sassano and Fleischer. His practice involves complex workers compensation litigation, with an exclusive emphasis on defense over the past 38 years. He currently represents numerous self insured companies, third party administrators and public entities, including the State of California Courts in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties and the Self Insurers' Security Fund as well as insurance carriers and large retention insured corporations. He has also represented numerous companies in 132a and S&W litigation. He has litigated cases in all offices of the Workers Compensation Appeals Board throughout the State of California, primarily appearing in Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Salinas, Sacramento and Stockton over the last 25 years. Routinely, he has been a guest lecturer on workers compensation developments, particularly on each workers compensation reform legislation since 1989. Mr. Sassano received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1976, and a law degree from Southwestern University in Los Angeles in 1982. Mr. Sassano is a member of the California and New York bars and is certified as a specialist in Workers Compensation Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He is an AV Rated attorney and selected as a Super Lawyer in 2005.

Current Employment Position

  • Managing Partner

Past Positions

  • Laughlin Falbo Levy and Moresi, Partner, 1990 to 1996

Practice Areas:

  • Workers Compensation Defense 100%
  • Defense of Asbestos claims

Education

  • Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles, California
    • J.D.
  • State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
    • B.A.
    • Major: Political Science/Economics

Bar Admissions

  • California, 1983
  • New York, 1991

Honors

  • AV Rating Martindale Hubbell
  • Super Lawyer

Classes & Seminars

  • Analysis of SB 899, CWCDAA, 2007 to Present
  • Tips and Advice for New Lawyers & Client Relations, CWCDAA, 2011 to Present
  • Subrogation in Workers Compensation Claims, 2021 to Present

Pro-Bono Activities

  • Legal Counsel to Lamorinda Soccer Club, 1997 to Present

Representative Clients

  • Broadspire
  • Sedgwick Claims Management
  • Insperity
  • Charles Taylor
  • Self Insurers' Security Fund

Representative Cases

  • California Insurance Guaranty Association v. WCAB (Argonaut Insurance Co.), 70 Cal. Comp. Cas 551 , 2005, Court of Appeal

Professional Associations

  • California Workers Compensation Defense Attorneys Association, 1985 to Present

*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer-review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.