Monty L. Barnett was born in Rawlins, Wyoming and grew up in a rural Wyoming community.
He began his employment with White and Steele in 1991 as a law clerk and became associated with the firm in 1992 after graduation and admission to the bars. He currently oversees the firm’s Wyoming practice group.
Monty holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV rating, the highest peer rating given to attorneys. He has also been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America since 2013 in the area of personal injury litigation. Monty has tried numerous cases to verdict in state and federal courts in Wyoming and Colorado. His practice focuses on litigation, including the direct representation of a number of insurance companies as well as the defense of those companies’ insureds who have been sued by third parties. He defends a wide variety of liability claims, including medical malpractice, product liability, construction liability, automobile and trucking accidents, premises liability, and a variety of recreational injury cases. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of topics, including bad faith, personal injury defense, automobile law, wrongful death, and liability associated with sports and recreational activities.
Monty has served on the legislative committee of the Defense Lawyers Association of Wyoming, as well as a liaison between the Wyoming State Bar and the University of Wyoming College of Law. He is currently serving as a member of the University of Wyoming College of Law Dean’s Advisory Board, and he has also been appointed by the Wyoming Supreme Court to serve on the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee for the Wyoming State Bar.
John P. Craver has been a shareholder at White and Steele since 1987 and was president of White and Steele from 2009-2017. His trial experience covers numerous areas of civil litigation, and he has tried approximately 60 jury trials. He began his practice primarily as a workers’ compensation lawyer defending employers and insurance companies. During the past twenty years, John has focused his practice in the area of insurance bad faith.
John has frequently lectured and also testified as an expert witness in coverage and extra-contractual claims. John has demonstrated an ability to control damages in catastrophic cases. In the last few years, John has successfully defended cases involving death, paralysis, drunk driving, and insurance bad faith. He has spoken for continuing legal education programs in Colorado, Wyoming, and nationally on claim handling. He has advised insurance companies in regard to claims practices and handling. In recent years, John has litigated several multi-million-dollar exposure cases on behalf of large personal and commercial line carriers. He has also been involved with several high public profile cases.
John also offers services as a neutral mediator or arbitrator.
In June of 2005, John was honored as one of three finalists to the Best of the Bar, Personal Injury Defense by the Denver Business Journal and Denver Bar Association. He has also been recognized as a Colorado Super Lawyer for the past 17 years and 5280 Magazine for the past 7 as a top injury defense lawyer.
Michael J. Daugherty was born in Arcadia, California.
Mike joined White and Steele in 1987 and became a shareholder in 1996. His practice focuses on representation of individuals and businesses in both risk management and litigation in Colorado state and federal courts. His broad litigation experience includes the defense of both insureds and self-insured businesses in all types of casualty claims including wrongful death claims, automobile litigation, premises liability, UM/UIM claims, matters related to the hospitality and food and beverage industry, liquor liability, and sports and recreation.
Keith R. Olivera became associated with White and Steele in January 1995 and was named a shareholder in December 2003. He is currently one of the managing shareholders of the firm. His practice involves insurance defense litigation, including claims/cases involving uninsured/underinsured coverage, statutory delay, bad faith, auto liability, homeowners´ liability, commercial liability disputes and ski litigation. As both lead counsel and local counsel, Keith has defended numerous class action cases involving automobile insurance coverage issues and Colorado law.
Keith provides in-house seminars to insurance carriers regarding major changes in Colorado law affecting automobile insurance carriers.
He has been involved in a number of cases defending ski areas, ski area employees and individual skiers as defendants. Keith has been a member of the volunteer ski patrol at Winter Park Resort for over 30 years and has also received a National Appointment from the National Ski Patrol.
