John E. Fagan

is a trial lawyer. He focuses his practice on the defense of serious and catastrophic injury cases against the operators of resorts, ski areas and golf courses in premises liability suits. He also has represented a variety of sports product manufacturers, including manufacturers of bicycles, helmets, climbing equipment, water sports equipment, boats and personal watercraft. Through representation of resort operators and sports product manufacturers, he and members of his firm have helped develop case law on implied and express assumption of risk. He regularly is retained to provide advice to clients in the sports and recreation industries on risk management and corporate matters. He has acted as national coordinating counsel for many sports clients, including those in the ski industry, the bicycle industry, the helmet industry and many sporting goods retailers. He works closely with and is regularly engaged to speak before the California Ski Industry Association and the Water Sports Industry Association.

Mr. Fagan is special counsel to the National Ski Areas Association. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Association of Ski Defense Attorneys, the American Society for Testing and Materials, and the Defense Research Institute. He has published many articles on sports and recreation liability issues.

Mr. Fagan is a 1982 graduate, with distinction, of the University of Michigan Law School and a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Honors and Awards

•AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Board Memberships

•California Ski Industry Association
•Coalition of Americans to Protect Sports (Subsidiary of Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association)

•California Ski Industry Association
•Coalition of Americans to Protect Sports (Subsidiary of Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association)

Publications and Speaking Engagements

Selected Publications

•Co-Author, Counseling Clients in Extreme Sports and High-Risk Activities, Entertainment and Media Law Client Strategies: Leading Lawyers on Case Strategies, Exceeding Client Expectations, and Negotiating Deals (Inside the Minds), Aspatore Books, October 2007
•Co-Author, Counseling Clients in Extreme Sports and High-Risk Activities, chapter in Inside the Minds: Leading Lawyers on Case Strategies, Exceeding Client Expectations, and Negotiating Deals, Aspatore Books, October 2007
• Avalanche Control: Negligence Over Strict Liability, United States Federal Law Review, 1986
• Ski Area Liability for Downhill Injuries, Insurance Counsel Journal, January, 1982

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Legal Issues in Live Entertainment III: Legal Liability Issues-Lessons Learned from Spiderman, Survivor, Sheffield and Stow, ABA's Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 8, 2016
• Recent Trends in Wage-and-Hour and Civil Rights Class Actions in California, Duane Morris Employment Law Seminar, Truckee, California, September 30, 2010
•California Ski Industry Association Maintenance and Operations Seminar, Heavenly Ski Resort, May 17-18, 2001
• Issues and Considerations in Defending Lift Accident Cases, Association of Ski Defense Attorneys, March 11, 2001
• The Van Dyke v. Bear Mt. trial: How competitors cooperated to obtain a defense verdict in a multimillion dollar case, NSAA Annual Mid-Winter Meetings, Vail, Colorado, January 31, 2001