Eric K. Larson

Eric K. Larson, Special Counsel

Phone: (415) 433-8000
Fax: (415) 433-4816

Eric (“Rick”) has been with Pillsbury & Coleman for nearly four decades. Before that he was a partner in a nationwide firm, specializing in defense of class actions and other complex litigation. His practice encompasses insurance coverage and bad faith involving virtually every type of insurance including property, general liability, professional liability, directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, employee dishonesty, and builders risk. Rick has extensive experience in litigating every aspect of an insurance coverage and bad faith claim in court, arbitration, mediation and appeal. A good part of Rick’s practice is advising clients and negotiating resolutions to avoid litigation.

Rick has achieved multiple six, seven and eight figure recoveries for commercial clients in cases involving, for example, the rebuild in a different location and upgrade of a food production facility destroyed by fire, the replacement of a university campus’s failed water piping system, the rebuild of a historic North Beach building destroyed by fire, water damage to a Marin school, tankers of spoiled imported orange juice, and alleged defective construction of residential developments in Hawai’i. Rick is often brought in by clients already in litigation to ensure that they are being given a proper defense and to protect their interests in settlement negotiations. Rick is also often retained by plaintiffs’ counsel to advise them on maximizing their clients’ recovery from insurers.

Rick co-authored the “Subrogation” chapter in the CEB publication California Property Insurance: Law and Litigation. He spoke at the national meeting of the ABA Property Insurance Section on the history and interpretation of “ensuing loss” clauses and has been a panelist for several CLE presentations. Rick served for three years on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Insurance Practice section.

Highlights

  • Successfully negotiated time-pressure settlement of Builder’s Risk claim in face of difficult fact issues and policy exclusions in favor of insured.
  • Defended against multiple nationwide class actions for wage and hour violations in the travel industry.
  • Successful defense of a class action arising out of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in California.
    Responsible for devising the strategy for and writing of the key “do or die” briefs.

Representative Cases Examples

Prevailed on summary judgment, establishing the duty to defend and the insurer’s liability for defense for a manufacturing company that was denied a defense under a fiduciary liability policy against a claim by former executives for health care benefits.

Successfully represented homeowners against an insurance company that refused to pay for complete remediation of a landslide. Obtained payment of 100 percent of claim, including reimbursement of attorneys’ fees paid by our client.

Obtained millions of dollars under property policies for local hotel with severe construction defects.

AREAS OF PRACTICE

  • Insurance Bad Faith

EDUCATION

  • University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, Los Angeles, California
    • J.D. – 1989
  • University of California, Berkeley
    • B.A. – 1986

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • California
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of California
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

  • San Francisco Bar Association
  • American Bar Association

PRO BONO ACTIVITIES

  • California Alumni Association
  • Commitment to the Community
  • Coach, girls and boys youth basketball