Janelle E. Sharer

Janelle E. Sharer is an experienced commercial litigator. She represents businesses and individuals in a wide range of disputes, including complex commercial litigation, product liability, and insurance coverage and bad faith. She is licensed in California and Louisiana where she has successfully litigated matters in federal and state courts.

Her experience includes high-stakes insurance coverage and bad faith cases, business litigation, and complex products liability litigation, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products. Additionally, Janelle is an advocate in fintech matters and has successfully resolved fintech claims on behalf of businesses in arbitration and litigation.

Janelle has worked on trial teams in products liability cases, securities arbitrations, and regularly handles state and federal appeals. She has prepared numerous experts for deposition and trial testimony, taken and defended depositions, drafted and argued critical motions, and successfully defended judgments on appeal. She has been peer-selected for her commercial litigation, insurance, employment, products liability, and appellate work among "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch."

Before joining the firm, Janelle served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as a law clerk to the Honorable Eldon E. Fallon of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. 

Janelle received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles and her Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School magna cum laude.  While in law school, she served as an Editor for the Tulane Law Review.  After graduation, Janelle was appointed to serve as a junior member of the Louisiana State Law Institute.  Prior to law school, she taught fourth grade in New Orleans through the Teach For America program.

• Leading role in defending cryptocurrency exchange in dozens of consumer claims, obtaining favorable results in state court and arbitration.
• Leading role in representing insurance company and its employees in breach of contract and wrongful termination claims brought by former agent and agency, obtaining a dismissal of a majority of claims at the pleadings stage and a full dismissal of all claims on summary judgment.
• Lead attorney in defending real estate investors in RICO and breach of contract action, resulting in a full dismissal with prejudice on a motion to dismiss.
• Lead attorney defending products manufacturer in California state court, obtaining favorable judgments and obtaining full contractual indemnity from codefendants.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of national insurance company on claims for breach of contract and bad faith arising out of Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
• Defended broker-dealer in wrongful termination dispute with a former advisor, resulting in a complete defense verdict.
• Obtained full dismissal of claims against insurance client in commercial property insurance claim by corporate conglomerate, seeking more than $600 million in damages.
• Successful summary judgment dismissing corporate conglomerate’s bad faith claims against the insurance market, including successful defense of judgment against appellate challenge.
• Successfully defended challenges to favorable trial court rulings in the Louisiana Third and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal, the New Jersey Appellate Division, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Represented manufacturers in products liability and mass torts litigation in the pharmaceutical and consumer products industries.
• Obtained favorable results on behalf of insurers in COVID-19 business interruption claims across the country, litigating cases in California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, and elsewhere. 
• Member of team that tried two multi-week jury trials on behalf of medical device manufacturer in state consolidated proceeding. Each matter settled before verdict.

Janelle serves as an adjunct professor at Tulane University Law School, where she is currently teaching a class on deposition practice and procedure.

Publications

• Case Note, "When a Vendetta is Not Vindictive: The Fifth Circuit Narrowly Defines Prosecutorial Vindictiveness in Jordan v. Epps," 89 Tulane Law Review (April 2015)

Presentations

• “Complex Commercial Insurance: Considerations and Contradictions,” Insurance Law in Louisiana, April 17, 2024 in New Orleans, LA