Charles A. Danaher

Charles Danaher is a partner with the firm's Insurance Litigation practice, recognized by Chambers USA as a "Leading Firm" in the industry. Mr. Danaher represents insurance companies that are sued for bad faith, fraud and unfair competition. Mr. Danaher's clients include Allstate Insurance Companies, State Farm Insurance Companies, Farmers Insurance Exchange, Infinity Insurance Company, and Auto Club of So. Cal. While the focus of his practice is in California, Mr. Danaher has represented insurance company clients in Wyoming, West Virginia, Nevada, Montana, Indiana, Missouri, Alaska, Maryland, Arkansas, Oregon, Georgia, Colorado and Ohio.

Mr. Danaher has served as lead counsel in numerous class actions filed against his insurance company clients. He has successfully defended class actions involving such issues as the payment of overhead and profit, the payment of sales tax, the manner in which actual cash value is determined, whether coverage exists for innocent co-insureds, issues involving med-pay coverage, and allegations of premium overcharging.

Together with the members of his practice group, Mr. Danaher was one of the first attorneys in California to successfully advocate the "genuine dispute" defense. Today, this defense is considered to be the most important and viable defense available to an insurance company that has been sued for bad faith.

Mr. Danaher was recently named by Infinity Insurance Company as its national coordinating counsel for claims seeking to recover Diminished Value.

Mr. Danaher has obtained numerous published decisions from state and federal courts on significant issues affecting the insurance industry.

Mr. Danaher is a former member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Recent Work / Representative Matters

Du v. Deerbrook - Defended Deerbrook in a jury trial. Plaintiff alleged that Deerbrook refused to settle a claim against its insured for the policy's $100,000 limits. Because the claim was not settled, the insured was ultimately found liable for a $5 million judgment. Deerbrook was sued for the amount of the judgment based on a "bad faith refusal to settle" theory. Defense verdict. This case was selected by the Daily Journal as a "Top Defense Verdict" for 2010. Read more.