Robert Gianelli Receives a 2015 Clay Award under the Disability Rights Category

California Lawyer magazine is a prestigious and trusted legal publication in California. Every year, the magazine publishes a list of the “California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year,” also known as the CLAY Awards. The awards recognize 27 achievements in 17 areas of legal practice, honoring lawyers throughout the state whose achievements had a significant impact in 2014. Attorney Rob Gianelli received one of these awards for his work in two disability rights cases.

Mr. Gianelli was lead counsel in two class action lawsuits, one against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and the other against Blue Cross of California, contesting their wrongful denial of treatment for thousands of children with autism spectrum disorders. Mr. Gianelli was successful in securing class certification. The health plans later agreed to pay millions of dollars in settlement to reimburse families who paid monies for treatment. These groundbreaking lawsuits set the stage for legislation requiring all health plans to cover certain treatments for autism spectrum disorders.

Gianelli & Morris has successfully prosecuted other class actions against health plans arising out their denial of treatment of various illnesses.