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CBM » Attorneys »
G. David Godwin

G. David Godwin

Partner

Chair of the Insurance Coverage Practice Group

San Francisco

415.989.5900

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Expertise

Insurance Coverage Experience

• Mr. Godwin represents carriers and policyholders in numerous insurance coverage actions and claims nationwide. Types of policies at issue include liability, directors & officers professional liability, aviation, environmental impairment, builder’s risk, surety and life.
• He has litigated coverage actions involving a wide variety of claims, most including a bad faith component, as well as contamination caused by the release of hydrocarbons, PCBs, solvents, sewage, lead, arsenic and other toxic metals.
• Mr. Godwin has represented insurers in actions, including at trial, concerning bodily injuries allegedly resulting from exposure to asbestos, lead, tobacco, EMF, pesticides and other toxic chemicals/products.
• Other example representations include investment fraud, and commercial real estate and construction claims.

Environmental Experience

• Represents developers, contractors, water districts and trusts in actions involving contamination from landfills, underground storage tanks, tannery operations, manufactured gas plants, semiconductor facilities and water treatment plants.

Product Liability Experience

• Mr. Godwin has coordinated (with partner Justs Karlsons) products liability claims nationally for a major auto manufacturer.
• He represented manufacturers in a variety of product liability actions such as steel pipe used for transportation of petroleum products, a bird control device, automobile restraint systems, and a steel traffic pole.

Presentations and Publications

• “Strategic Considerations for Selection of Forum,” presented at ABA/Annual Meeting of the Insurance Coverage Committee of the Litigation Section (March 7, 2009).
• Limits Don’t Grow on Trees: Why Limits of Multi-Year Policies Cannot Be Annualized, published in the ABA Midyear Meeting Materials, Tucson, Arizona (March 2006).
• "How Much Coverage Do We have? Pushing the Limits of Multi-Year Policities," presented at the ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Meeting, Tucson, Arizona (March 2006).
• "Privileged Communications and the Claims Adjusting Process," presented at the ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Meeting, Tucson, Arizona (March 2004).
• "Fundamentals of Insurance Coverage Litigation," presented in San Francisco (CEB, April 27, 2001).
• "Corporate Acquisitions: Environmental Liability Coverage for Successor Entities," presented at Mealey's Emerging Insurance Coverage Issues Seminar, Boston, Massachusetts (April 2000).
• “No Settlement and No Judgment Means No Coverage,” presented at ABA Midyear Meeting, Tucson, Arizona (March 1999); and published in Coverage, Vol. 9, No. 4 (July/August 1999).
• Co-authored Scientific Expert Testimony: Who Is Watching the Gate in California? published in California Litigation, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Spring 1995).