OAKLAND, Calif., April 20, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Following a nationwide search conducted for several months, attorney/mediator Randall Wulff has been chosen to serve as chief umpire on a three person appraisal panel to determine the amount of loss resulting from the destruction of the World Trade Center complex on September 11, 2001. The selection was made by the Hon. Michael Mukasey, the Chief Judge in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. Hearings are expected to begin later this year, addressing issues of reconstruction costs as well as rental value/business interruption damages.
Wulff is a principal in Wulff, Quinby & Sochynsky, based in Oakland, California. A former trial lawyer, Wulff spent 27 years with Farella, Braun and Martel in San Francisco before starting a new firm with two other neutrals, William Quinby and Yaroslav Sochynsky. He actively litigated complex commercial disputes for 20 years before becoming a full time "neutral."
Well known as a mediator, Wulff has helped settle roughly 2,000 cases over the last fifteen years. He recently mediated the California class action against Microsoft, resulting in a settlement that made up to $1.1 billion available to class members. Wulff also helped resolve the monetary disputes arising from the construction of the Seattle Mariners' new Safeco Field, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Bank One Ballpark, Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the Oakland Coliseum Arena. He has mediated claims on a number of Las Vegas hotels and casinos, including the Venetian, the Aladdin, the new Ritz Carlton, the Regent, and others.
Wulff was named "Outstanding Mediator" by the American Arbitration Association in San Francisco and was chosen among the Top Ten mediators by the Northern California legal newspaper, The Recorder, in a survey of its readers last year.