Clifford Hirsch
Shareholder
Walnut Creek Office
Clifford Hirsch has more than thirty years of experience related to insurance and landslide litigation. He has provided coverage advice and litigation services to numerous property owners, construction professionals, insurers, claims professionals, brokers, and government agencies in complex coverage and catastrophic loss cases, including those arising from the recent California landslides, the Coalinga, Gilroy, Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes, the recent California fires, as well as the prior Oakland and Santa Barbara firestorms, the San Diego and San Bernardino wildfires, the Linda Levee Break and the Love Creek and La Honda mudslides.
Clifford Hirsch
Shareholder
Walnut Creek Office
Clifford Hirsch has more than thirty years of experience related to insurance and landslide litigation. He has provided coverage advice and litigation services to numerous property owners, construction professionals, insurers, claims professionals, brokers, and government agencies in complex coverage and catastrophic loss cases, including those arising from the recent California landslides, the Coalinga, Gilroy, Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes, the recent California fires, as well as the prior Oakland and Santa Barbara firestorms, the San Diego and San Bernardino wildfires, the Linda Levee Break and the Love Creek and La Honda mudslides.
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Mr. Hirsch has also represented numerous construction and design professionals in litigation and disciplinary matters. Mr. Hirsch has extensive experience counseling insurance carriers on all aspects of insurance policy interpretation and coverage evaluation under standard-ISO form and manuscript form contracts, including primary, excess and surplus lines insurers. He has also provided counsel to public agencies regarding their own self-insurance programs. In addition to defending and prosecuting complex insurance bad faith lawsuits, Mr. Hirsch also has experience in the investigation of suspected fraudulent claims including arson and theft. He represents carriers and insureds for Examinations Under Oath and policy appraisals.
Mr. Hirsch’s recent landslide cases have been reported in local media, He has appeared on the CBS network’s national news, spoken about and published articles regarding insurance coverage and bad faith, and had a significant role on behalf of Plaintiffs in the Bikram Choudry litigation featured on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He has conducted training seminars on claims handling, insurance coverage, and compliance with insurance regulations for both insurance trade organizations and the Consumer Attorneys of California. He has had an AV® Rating with Martindale-Hubbell for 25 years and is a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum ®.
Since 2016, Mr. Hirsch has been selected to the Northern California List of Super Lawyers for Insurance Coverage.
Education
University of California, San Diego, B.A., magna cum laude, 1976
Syracuse University, J.D., M.B.A., 1980
Admitted
State Bar of California, 1981
U.S. Districts Courts of California (Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit)
Reported Cases
Paterno v. State of Calif. (2003) 113 Cal.App.4th 998.
Sweatman v. Department of Veterans Affairs (2001) 25 Cal.4th 62 (Counsel for amicus).
Valenzuela v. GAB Business Services (1999) 71 Cal. App.4th 935 (depublished).
County of San Mateo v. Berney (1988) 199 Cal.App.3d 1489.
Lakeland Village v. Great American Ins. Group, 727 F. Supp. 2d 887 (E.D. Cal. 2010)
Insalaco v. Hope Lutheran Church of West Contra Costa County (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 506, 508 [262 Cal.Rptr.3d 852, 854, 49 Cal.App.5th 506, 508]
Member
Contra Costa County Bar Association
Awards
Award: 2016 – 2024 Super Lawyers Northern California