Kalon LAW FIRM RESUME

We Listen. We Counsel. We Advocate.

 

Litigation Defense in Connecticut

The Kalon Law Firm, LLC is a new insurance defense law firm based in Hartford, Connecticut, the insurance capital of the world. Our vision is to serve our clients as a leading-edge law firm, built on a lean-business and intrinsic-motivation model. Our mission is to serve the interests of our clients by addressing their legal challenges and opportunities so they can achieve their objectives.


We’ve often heard people say a client hires the lawyer, not the firm. Not so at Kalon. We follow firm protocols and best practices, pair on cases, and have a core skills program to ensure we handle our clients’ cases at the same high level of competence no matter what lawyer has the case. Our clients get more than the lawyer; they get the firm.

Legal Services in New Ways

Our Approach: The Kalon Way. At Kalon, we identify your problem, develop a strategy with you to solve your problem, and follow through (including timely, to-the-point communication) at a reasonable fee. Our focus begins with what you want. We have delivery systems (our people and our tech) to meet your needs, and we adhere to quality standards (such as checklists, a diary system, set procedures, an ethics officer, and surveys when a case resolves) to ensure best practices. We pair attorneys and round-table our cases so you benefit from our experience and from second perspectives.

A Model for Better Client Focus

Our innovative approach to practicing law allows us to fulfill our method better than traditional approaches. Because we are digital, we have access to our files at depositions, in court, and anywhere else we have an internet connection, allowing us to produce any necessary document (and documents never get lost). Because our file management software is mobile-friendly, we always have access to our schedules, diaries, and contacts. Because we are distributed, our people work where they are most efficient. And because we have no annual billable-hour goal, our people are not distracted by an irrelevant measure of their legal services to you. Instead, our model is based on intrinsic motivators, encouraging our attorneys to pursue cases with a sense of purpose, mastery, and autonomy within the team.

We maintain a “core skills” program to guide professional team members in communicating effectively, getting things done, and applying emotional intelligence for effective decision making.

Attorney Kriesen has studied Decision Quality (a logic and fact-based method of decision making) at Stanford University and applies this to advise clients and their insurers on risk management.

A Law Firm Like No Other

Kalon is a Greek word for an ideal as defined by ancient Greek philosophers. We decided to name our firm for an ideal to reflect our progressive thinking and to signal that the firm is about our team, rather than just the partners.


primary practice areas

Commercial General Liability
Our firm handles premises and motor vehicle claims, as well as more complex issues such as insurance coverage.

Professional Liability
We are able to defend claims against insurance agents, real estate agents, attorneys, and dentists. Every effort is made to protect our client’s reputation. We can also provide preventative consulting to educate insureds on risk management techniques designed to avoid the majority of E&O claims.

Public Entity Defense
Our attorneys have experience defending the wide spectrum of civil claims brought against public entities, officials, and employees in Connecticut. In state, federal, or tribal court, we represent public officials, towns, cities, police officers, emergency response personnel, teachers, school boards, and other public employees.

Coverage
Our attorneys have a fluent understanding of the Connecticut Insurance Regulations, the standard language of policies, and the case law interpreting both. We are able to analyze and opine whether a policy covers a particular claim.

Trucking and Transportation
We are able to defend motor carriers, private carriers, shippers, brokers, logistics companies, and insurers in property damage or personal injury claims. Members of the firm understand FMCSA safety rules, including hours of service, drug and alcohol testing, and hazardous materials.

Automobile Liability
We have extensive experience defending municipalities, insurers, and their insureds in auto liability cases involving uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, bodily injury, property damage, and comprehensive coverage claims. Members of the firm can also assist insurers with coverage litigation and declaratory judgment actions.

Premises Liability
We handle general premises liability claims, usually brought against homeowners, raising defenses of duty, notice, and comparative negligence.

Appellate Practice
We handle civil appeals in state and federal courts, including the Connecticut Appellate Court and the Connecticut Supreme Court. We are experienced in drafting persuasive appellate briefs and in presenting oral arguments. The firm can advise clients regarding the preservation of issues for appeal, as well as complex coverage matters.

Additional Practice Areas

Employment Practices Liability
If an insured has a claim or suit brought pursuant to federal or state employment laws that results in an employment practices matter involving discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, disability, leave, a hostile work environment, or retaliation, we are able to provide a defense. We can also provide consulting to prevent claims and suits.

Connecticut Tribal Defense
There are two sovereign Native American tribes in Connecticut, each with their own court and body of law. Attorney Ronald Houde is admitted to practice before the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court and the Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court. He has defended tribe members, property owners, and visitors to the casinos in personal injury actions and contract disputes.

Admiralty and Maritime
We are experienced in matters involving personal injury, wrongful death, cargo loss or damage, and marine insurance coverage. Workers’ compensation capabilities include matters involving the Jones Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.


Representative Cases*

Essex Ins. Co. v. William Kramer & Associates, LLC, District Court of Connecticut. 3:2013cv01537 (2016). Attorney Kriesen
prevailed on a renewed motion for judgment in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff insurer claimed the defendant independent adjuster negligently failed to name a mortgagee on a property settlement check, resulting in a $1 million damages payment by the plaintiff insurer to the mortgagee. Attorney Kriesen moved for judgment on the ground the claim was time-barred, but the court held there were issues of fact, and the case asserting there was no equitable tolling of the statute of limitations under the facts at trial and that the claim was time-barred. The trial court agreed, vacated the verdict, and entered judgment in favor of the defendant.

Horrigan v. Town of Washington, 144 Conn.App. 536, cert. denied, 310 Conn. 939 (2013). Attorney Kriesen successfully defended an appeal brought by one of the premier plaintiff’s personal injury firms in Connecticut. At trial, the plaintiff claimed, pursuant to the highway defect statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 13a-149, that an open storm drain was a defect and the sole proximate cause of the death of the minor decedent. After the jury returned a verdict for the defendant and the trial court denied the plaintiff’s motion to set aside the verdict, the plaintiff appealed. The case was transferred to Attorney Kriesen to defend the appeal. The primary claim on appeal was that the jury’s finding was clearly erroneous, requiring a review of the entire trial record. The court unanimously agreed with Attorney Kriesen’s argument that certain evidence supported a jury reasonably finding the open drain was not a defect, concluded that finding was dispositive, and did not address the plaintiff’s secondary claims. The Supreme Court denied review.

Sports Domain v. Max Specialty Group, et al., NNH-CV09-5025291-S (2011). Attorney Kriesen won a defendant’s verdict
for his client (James River Insurance Company) on a coverage claim tried to the court. The parties stipulated to the value of damages ($400,000). The plaintiff suffered a property loss to its sports dome following a snowstorm, a deflation of the dome, and a reinflation, followed by a full-length rip in the dome. The events occurred during the end of one policy period and the beginning of another. Attorney Kriesen successfully argued that, given the evidence and the language of the policies, the loss was not covered by his client’s policy.

Giglio v. American Economy Ins. Co., 278 Conn. 794 (2006). Attorney Kriesen successfully defended an appeal challenging the validity of an exclusion in a uninsured motorist policy.

Attorney Kriesen has multiple Defendants’ verdicts in state court in personal injury claims involving motor vehicle accidents and a slip and fall claim (representing a snow contractor).

* Disclaimer: Every case is different. Results will vary.


OUR TEAM

 

Christopher P. Kriesen

Founder and Principal

Christopher P. Kriesen is the founder and principal of the Kalon Law Firm, LLC. He formed the firm in 2017 to fulfill his vision of a better way to practice law. He leads the firm and serves as the ethics officer.

Mr. Kriesen concentrates his insurance defense practice in the areas of municipal liability, professional liability, products liability, uninsured / underinsured motorist liability, premises liability, motor vehicle liability, coverage, land use, and negligent security.

Mr. Kriesen tries cases in state and federal court, and has argued appeals before Connecticut’s Appellate and Supreme Courts.

He served as an arbitrator of the Connecticut Superior Court, has taught advocacy to students at the University of Connecticut School of Law, and has been invited several times to speak at legal seminars.

Mr. Kriesen is active in his community. He volunteers at Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford (where he has taught basic literacy and English as a second language) and Hartford Youth Scholars (where he has advised on interviewing and career advancement).

Prior to founding The Kalon Law Firm, he was a partner at an insurance defense firm in Hartford, where he headed the insurance defense practice. He has practiced law for more than 20 years.

Selected Published Decisions*
Giglio v. American Economy Ins. Co., 278 Conn. 794 (2006)
Horrigan v. Town of Washington, 144 Conn. App. 536 (2013)

Professional Associations
Connecticut Bar Association
Connecticut Bar Foundation
Defense Research Institute
Oliver Ellsworth American Inn of Court

Education
Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Executive Education, LEAD (Learn. Engage, Accelerate. Disrupt.) Certificate,
Corporate Innovation, 2017
Stanford University, Center for Professional Development: Strategic Decision and Risk Management Certificate, 2016
Trinity College, M.A., with Distinction, Writing, Rhetoric, and Media Arts, 2013
University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., 1993
Villanova University, B.Sc., cum laude, 1988

Admissions
Connecticut, 1993
U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, 2008

*Disclaimer: Every case is different. Results will vary

 

Ronald J. Houde, Jr.

Attorney

Ronald J. Houde, Jr. is a trial and appellate lawyer practicing in the areas of municipal liability, premises liability, insurance coverage, Connecticut tribal law, personal and commercial auto, and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. He is a member of The Kalon Law Firm’s founding team.

Prior to joining The Kalon Law Firm, Mr. Houde was an associate at an insurance defense firm in Hartford. He also served as a clerk to the Honorable Judges of the Hartford Superior Court.

Representative Cases*
Traylor v. Gambrell, Superior Court, judicial district of Stamford-Norwalk, Docket No. X08-FST-CV-14-5015414-S (Sept. 2, 2016) (summary judgment granted in favor of municipality on doctrine of res judicata).

Weed v. State of Connecticut, Superior Court, judicial district of New London, Docket No. KNL-CV-15-6024544-S (March 21, 2017) (motion to strike all counts against municipality granted based on doctrine of governmental immunity).

Freiman-Mills v. Town of Windsor Locks, Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Docket No. HHD-CV-14-6054005-S (March 30, 2017) (partial summary judgment granted in favor of municipality under doctrine of governmental immunity).

Hines v. Metropolitan, Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Docket No. HHD-CV-15-6059947-S (May 22, 2017) (summary judgment granted in favor of insurer holding interpretation of policy exclusion was valid and substantially congruent with regulatory language).

Professional Associations
Connecticut Bar Association
Hartford County Bar Association
Oliver Ellsworth American Inn of Court

Education
Western New England University School of Law, J.D., 2015
University of Connecticut, B.A. Economics, 2010

Admissions
Connecticut, 2015
U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, 2016
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court, 2016
Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court, 2017

*Disclaimer: Every case is different. Results will vary

 

Demetra A. Turi

Office Manager

Demetra Turi manages business operations at The Kalon Law Firm. Prior to joining the firm, she gained more than 27 years of experience at an insurance defense firm in Hartford. Her many roles there included legal assistant, IT manager, bookkeeper, and billing manager. She is a member of The Kalon Law Firm’s founding team.

Education
Goodwin College, Certificate Program, Finance and Bookkeeping, East Hartford, CT, 2014
Manchester Community College, Associate’s Degree, Legal Assistant, Manchester, CT, 1990


About OUR Business operations

 

Billing Rates

The Kalon Law Firm offers competitive rates for the Connecticut market. Our attorneys are driven by client service guidelines, rather than annual billable hour goals. This gives us flexibility to focus on mutually beneficial performance metrics.

Billing and Reporting Systems

The Clio software suite, a secure cloud-based solution, is used for invoicing and legal matter management. The Kalon Law Firm is able to generate invoices and case management reports in a manner consistent with client litigation guidelines.

Ethics and Professional Liability

The Kalon Law Firm practices only in the area of insurance defense. The firm does not bring claims against insureds or their insurers. The firm has an ethics officer to ensure compliance with the rules of professional conduct. Neither the firm, nor any of its attorneys, has been subject to any disciplinary action by a court of law or state bar association.

The firm maintains a professional liability policy through CNA in the amount of $5 million.

References

Provided upon request.

Firm Contact Information

Christopher P. Kriesen, Esq.
Founder and Principal
860.249.0979, Ext. 700
ckriesen@kalonlawfirm.com

Ronald J. Houde, Jr.
Attorney
860-249-0979, Ext. 701
rhoude@kalonlawfirm.com

Demetra A. Turi
Office Manager
860-249-0979, Ext. 702
dturi@kalonlawfirm.com

Disclaimer

The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation. We invite you to contact us and welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send any confidential information to us until such time as an attorney-client relationship has been established.

Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies to information collected online from users of this website. In this policy, you can learn what kind of information we collect, when and how we might use that information, how we protect the information, and the choices you have with respect to your personal information.

What personal information is collected through this website and how is it used?

We collect information about our users in three ways: directly from the user, from our Web server logs and through cookies. We use the information primarily to provide you with a personalized Internet experience that delivers the information, resources, and services that are most relevant and helpful to you. We don’t share any of the information you provide with others, unless we say so in this Privacy Policy, or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.

User-supplied information: If you fill out the “contact” form on this website, we will ask you to provide some personal information (such as e-mail address, name, phone number and state). We only require that you provide an e-mail address on the contact form. Further, if chat is available through this site, you may be asked to provide information if you participate in an online chat. Please do not submit any confidential, proprietary or sensitive personally identifiable information (e.g. Social Security Number; date of birth; drivers license number; or credit card, bank account or other financial information) (collectively, “Sensitive Information”). If you submit any Sensitive Information, you do so at your own risk and we will not be liable to you or responsible for consequences of your submission.

Information that you provide to us through the contact form or an online chat will be used so that we may respond to your inquiry. We may also use information you provide to us to communicate with you in the future. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you may opt out (unsubscribe) as described below.

Web server logs: When you visit our website, we may track information about your visit and store that information in web server logs, which are records of the activities on our sites. The servers automatically capture and save the information electronically. Examples of the information we may collect include:

The information we collect in web server logs helps us administer the site, analyze its usage, protect the website and its content from inappropriate use and improve the user’s experience.

Cookies: In order to offer and provide a customized and personal service, our websites and applications may use cookies and similar technologies to store and help track information about you. Cookies are simply small pieces of data that are sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. We use cookies to help remind us who you are and to help you navigate our sites during your visits. Cookies also can tell us where visitors go on a website and allow us to save preferences for you so you won’t have to re-enter them each time you visit. The use of cookies is relatively standard. Most Internet browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can use your browser to either notify you when you receive a cookie or to disable cookies.

If you wish to disable cookies from this site, you can do so using your browser. You should understand that some features of many sites may not function properly if you don’t accept cookies. For more information about using browsers to manage cookies, please see All About Cookies. You can also refuse to accept Flash cookies from this website using Adobe’s Flash management tools. You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ad Settings.

By visiting this website, you consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

Third-party Services: We may use services hosted by third parties, including Adobe Site Catalyst, to assist in providing our services and to help us understand the use of our site by our visitors. These services may collect information sent by your browser as part of a web page request, including your IP address or cookies. If these third-party services collect information, they do so anonymously and in the aggregate to provide information helpful to us such as website trends, without identifying individual visitors.

In addition, we may use services provided by third parties to display relevant content, products, services and advertising to you. These third parties may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to collect or receive information from this website and elsewhere on the internet. They may then use that information to provide measurement services so we can understand your interests and retarget advertisements based on your previous visits to this website. Please keep in mind that we do not share your personal information with any third-party advertiser, ad server or ad network.

You may be able to opt-out of the collection and use of information for ad targeting by some third parties by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices. You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ad Settings. You can visit this page to opt out of AdRoll’s and their partners’ targeted advertising. Please see “Cookies” in the section above for more information on how you can control the use of cookies on your computer.

California Do Not Track: Our web services do not alter, change, or respond upon receiving Do Not Track (DNT) requests or signals in browsers. As described in more detail above, we track user activity using web server logs, cookies and similar technologies. Information collected in web server logs helps us analyze website usage and improve the user’s experience. Cookies allow us to offer you a customized experience and present relevant advertising to you.

How is personal information protected?

We take certain appropriate security measures to help protect your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized persons will always be unable to defeat our security measures.

Who has access to the information?

We will not sell, rent, or lease mailing lists or other user data to others, and we will not make your personal information available to any unaffiliated parties, except as follows:

How can I correct, amend or delete my personal information and/or opt out of future communications?

You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. Contact us via the phone number, contact form or mailing address on our website at any time to:

If you have any additional questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please contact us via the phone number, contact form or mailing address listed on this website. If our information practices change in a significant way, we will post the policy changes here.

Effective September 14, 2015

Hartford Square Office

GOOGLE MAP »
Directions for Hartford Square

From the North

Take Route 91 South to the “Capitol Area” Exit 29A. You will be on the Whitehead Highway. The first exit is Columbus Boulevard. Take this exit and turn Left at the light. Go over the bridge. Our building is the 10 floor Silver building on the Left. The Garage entrance is at the beginning of the building.

From the South

Take Route 91 North to the “Capitol Area” Exit 29A and follow the directions above.

From the West

Take Route 84 East to Route 91 South. Take your first exit on Route 91, the “Capitol Area” Exit 29A. and follow the directions above.

From the East

Take Route 84 West to the “Downtown Hartford” Exit. You will cross the Connecticut River on the Founders Bridge (stay in the Left Lane) and come to a traffic light with the downtown area directly in from of you. Turn Left at the light on Columbus Boulevard. Pass the Convention Center and go over the bridge. Our building is the 10 floor Silver building. The Garage entrance is at the beginning of the building.

Parking

The parking garage is located underground. Go up the stairs to the lobby and check in at the security desk. You must exchange your parking ticket for a token in order to leave the garage.

KALON