About John Polak

John Polak has practiced law for over 40 years, and over the past three decades has focused his practice on insurance issues, including cases involving coverage disputes, claims handling, excess verdicts and allegations of bad faith. John has represented both insurers and insureds in these types of cases including individuals, corporations, small businesses, non-profit organizations and local government entities. This dual-sided experience makes him especially interested and qualified to represent people who need help with complex legal issues today. John is committed to understanding the client's legal issues from the outset of the relationship.

He has extensive experience in both the state and federal court system on the trial and appellate level and has been involved as counsel in several significant West Virginia decisions which govern the interpretation of the Commercial General Liability policy. John also has an extensive background in litigating employee-benefits and ERISA-governed health and welfare benefit claims, having represented claimants, insurers, self-funded plans, and employers. He also has experience in complex litigation, including asbestos property-damage litigation, tobacco litigation, pharmaceutical litigation, construction litigation and other products liability and commercial tort cases.

John is a 1982 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. He is admitted to the bar in West Virginia, the U.S. District Court Northern District of West Virginia, the U.S. District Court Southern District of West Virginia, the U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He previously served as an Assistant Attorney General for West Virginia.

Proven verdicts and settlements at Atkinson & Frampton, PLLC

These results are credited to Atkinson & Frampton, PLLC. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.

$4.5 millionSettlementTop 10 in West Virginia · #6

A 14-year-old high school freshman was riding home from a soccer match with her father on Interstate 79 when their vehicle struck the rear of a flatbed semi hauling lumber uphill at 21 mph in the dark. The plaintiffs' case was that the truck should never have been on that road: overloaded by more than 11,000 pounds, inadequately lit, and driven by a man not properly licensed for it.

Circuit Court of Putnam County, WV · 2025Truck AccidentsRead the full story →
$1 millionSettlement

Edmond Exline, 45, a paranoid schizophrenic apparently in the middle of a mental-health episode, was walking beside Interstate 81 near Martinsburg when three State Police troopers detained him. Tasers were deployed multiple times. He became unresponsive and was pronounced dead. The State Police settled for $1 million.

Circuit Court of Kanawha County, WV · 2024Civil RightsRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

West Virginia University College of Law
J.D., 1982
Wheeling College
Undergraduate, 1979

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of West Virginia

Other attorneys at Atkinson & Frampton, PLLC

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Charleston firms

Powell & Majestro, PLLC
Powell & Majestro, PLLC
$5.42 Million Verdict for Worker Who Lost a Leg When Forklift Reversed and Dragged Pipe Onto His Foot
Segal & Amos, PLLC
Segal & Amos, PLLC
$15 Million Verdict for Widow of Worker Killed When a Bleach Dryer Exploded Like Two Tons of TNT
Warner Law Offices, PLLC
Warner Law Offices, PLLC
$1.34 Million Verdict for Pharmacy Fall on Clear Liquid That Led to Seizure and Cerebellar Stroke

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.