Miyagi, Melvyn M.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner, since 2008

Lawyer Overview

Melvyn M. Miyagi joined Watanabe Ing LLP in 2008 as a partner to head the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Miyagi was a partner at Miyagi Myhre & Tsuchida, where he represented clients in claims for personal injury, wrongful death, product defect, toxic tort, insurance coverage and bad faith claims, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination. He also practiced law at Reid Richards & Miyagi and Davis Playdon Reid & Richards.

Mr. Miyagi has tried thirty-five cases to jury verdict and settled numerous others to a successful conclusion. Of note, in the lawsuits filed over the contamination of the milk supply by heptachlor on Oahu, he represented Greenfeed Co-Operative, the company which harvested the pineapple plant material which was the source of the contamination.  Both the claims of the dairy farmers for their damages and the class action filed on behalf of the consumers of the contaminated milk were settled.

Mr. Miyagi is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and has served as faculty for continuing legal education seminars presented by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), the ABOTA Masters in Trial Program, Hawaii State Judiciary and Hawaii State Bar Association relating to trial and tort litigation matters.  Additionally, he is an Arbitrator for Court Annexed Arbitration Program, State of Hawaii and co-author of Hawaii Motor Vehicle Collision Manual, Defense Theories of Liability, Hawaii State Bar Association, 2 Edition, 1999.

Early in his career, Mr. Miyagi worked as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Hawaii and served as a law clerk for Circuit Court Judge Hiroshi Kato.

Mr. Miyagi is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before all of the state and federal courts of the state of Hawaii, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Areas of Practice

• Civil Trial Practice
• Construction Litigation
• Insurance
• Insurance Defense
• Personal Injury Defense
• Product Liability

West Practice Categories

Construction Law, Insurance Law, Litigation & Appeals, Personal Injury -- Defense, Products Liability Law

Bar Admissions

• Hawaii, 1975
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
• Supreme Court of the United States of America

Past Employment Positions

• State of Hawaii, Deputy Attorney General
• Circuit Court Judge Hiroshi Kato, Law Clerk
• Miyagi Myhre & Tsuchida, Partner

Education

• Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Clara, California, 1975
  J.D.
• University of Hawaii, 1971
  B.A.
  Major: Political Science

Address

First Hawaiian Center
999 Bishop Street
23rd Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813

Phones

(808) 544-8300

Faxes

(808) 544-8399

Emails

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Websites

http://www.wik.com