Deborah Etlinger

Deborah Etlinger practices in the areas of insurance defense and insurance coverage. She has 35 years of legal experience. Deborah’s clients are insurance companies seeking legal services to address complex matters and high stakes litigation. Matters include construction defect, toxic tort, employment, and defense of institutional clients in sexual molestation cases.

In a multi-million-dollar construction defect case, Deborah implemented a strategy of conducting limited discovery on behalf of her contractor client to set the stage for prevailing on a summary judgment motion. She successfully defended institutional clients including schools and municipalities in lawsuit alleging claims of sexual molestation. In her employment defense practice, she defends non-profit and other organizations in both administrative proceedings and in State and Federal Court.

Most recently, Deborah and her fellow NPM colleague, Attorney Erin Canalia, won a Motion for Summary Judgement based on the defense of governmental immunity while defending a town and its Board of Education against a claim of sexual abuse by an elementary school teacher. The court agreed with the defendants’ position and held that a plaintiff cannot aggregate the knowledge of various school employees to create a duty to report suspected abuse. The court further held that the board’s supervision duty was a discretionary function as to which governmental immunity applied. It rejected that the identifiable victim in danger of imminent harm exception applied based upon the facts in this case. As to the town, the court granted summary judgment in its favor finding that any potential liability was vicarious. The court held that because the board had no liability, neither did the town. Deborah has extensive experience defending institutional clients in these types of cases.

Deborah develops and implements creative and cost-effective strategies for her clients, defending companies and individuals in high stakes litigation. Deborah directs a knowledgeable and confident team of attorneys and legal staff, all working toward the client’s end goal. She knows that her clients want the best result performed cost-effectively and concluded as quickly as possible. Deborah works diligently to obtain early, favorable resolution of her clients’ cases. However, when such an early resolution is not possible, Deborah has a proven track record of successful verdicts.

Deborah was a contributing author to the Law and Practice of Insurance Coverage Litigation, published by the West Group. She has also served as Co-chair of Mealy’s Lead Litigation Conference. She has been appointed to serve on the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch’s Civil Commission. Deborah received her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, and her juris doctorate from the Western New England College School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Connecticut and Massachusetts.