Christina A. Rankin

Practice Areas: Litigation of insurance bad faith and coverage issues, personal injury defense, wrongful death, products liability, automobile negligence, uninsured and underinsured motorists, premises liability, and commercial litigation.

Admitted: Alaska 2003; New York 2004.

Law School: Syracuse University, College of Law, J.D., cum laude 2002.

College: University of Rochester, B.A., 1999.

Member: Anchorage Bar Association; Alaska Bar Association; New York Bar Association; Defense Counsel of Alaska; Defense Research Institute; Executive Board, Syracuse Law Review, 2000-2002; Member, Board of Directors, Alaska Children's Service.

Professional Experience: Law Clerk to Judge Dale O. Curda, Alaska Superior Court, 2002-2003; Guess & Rudd, Anchorage, Alaska from 2003 to present.

Lunney v. Atwood Industries (tried to a jury in 2007) -- this was a product liability action tried to a jury in Anchorage. Mr. Lunney claimed that he suffered permanently disabling full-thickness burn injuries to both of his lower legs as a result of the defective design of a motor home furnace manufactured by Atwood Industries and installed in a Fleetwood motor home which was being used as part of a Toys For Tots charity drive near Christmas. Mr. Lunney was working as a disc jockey for a radio station promoting the event and sat for long stretches of time with his lower legs in close proximity to the heat vent directly located under the dinette table in the motor home. Due to Mr. Lunney's chronic diabetes, he had long suffered from severe peripheral neuropathy, such that he had no feeling in his lower extremities and was unable to feel the heat emanating from the vent. The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Atwood, concluding that the furnace was properly designed and manufactured to meet or exceed all industry standards.

Allstate Insurance Co. v. Herron (tried to a jury in 2008) -- this was an insurance bad faith action tried to a jury in Anchorage federal court. Allstate initiated the action as a declaratory judgment action and had the burden of proof on the critical issue of whether it had, through the actions of its adjuster, acted reasonably in response to a policy limits demand communicated to the adjuster by counsel for two individuals asserting personal injury claims as a consequence of a single vehicle accident in Bethel, Alaska, caused by Allstate's insured. The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Allstate, confirming that it had acted reasonably in response to the policy limit demand. Combined with prior admissions by Herron that he had committed a material breach of his contractual obligation to Allstate by entering into a consent judgment and by assigning his claims against Allstate to the two claimants (which breach would only have been excused if Allstate had committed a prior breach of its duty of good faith and fair dealing) and the court's rulings on summary judgment, the jury's verdict served as vindication of Allstate's conduct.

Born: Beacon, New York, May 13, 1978.

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