William F. Campbell
Senior Counsel
PRACTICE AREAS
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Business Litigation, Insurance,
Professional Liability
Bill Campbell is a litigator with over 30 years' experience in insurance coverage, professional liability, and other business cases.
Mr. Campbell's insurance coverage practice includes counseling and litigation concerning a wide range of insurance coverages, including directors' and officers' liability, professional liability, employment practices, advertisers' liability, media liability, and general liability policies. On the insurer side, he provides coverage opinions and assists clients in drafting contract language for new coverage products, including errors and omissions and directors' and officers' liability, media, Internet, employment practices, and employee benefits liability. On the policyholder side, he assists clients in analyzing their insurance needs, filling gaps in coverage, and enhancing their insurance protection.
Mr. Campbell also represents insurance companies, agents, brokers, underwriting managers, and wholesalers in insurance industry disputes, such as agency terminations, unfair competition claims, and issues involving confidential information, trade secrets, and fiduciary duties.
He has significant experience in counseling and representing professionals, including insurance brokers, law firms and accounting firms, in professional liability matters. For example, he has represented insurance brokers in numerous claims involving a wide range of insurance products and insurance-related services.
Mr. Campbell has written and spoken extensively on insurance-related topics for a variety of audiences. He is a former co-chair and an active member of the American Bar Association Litigation Section's Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee. He twice co-chaired the committee's annual CLE meeting. He has held numerous leadership positions in the ABA and currently serves as co-director of the Litigation Section’s Publications CLE and Programs Division. He is a recipient of the Section's Litigation Star award and its Award of Excellence.
Among his other professional activities, he is a member of the Litigation and Insurance Practice Sections of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Litigation Section of the State Bar of California, and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers of Northern California.
In addition to being experienced in all forms of alternative dispute resolution, Mr. Campbell is a judicial arbitrator appointed by the San Francisco Superior Court.
Mr. Campbell received his undergraduate degree with highest honors from Springfield College in 1967. He is a 1970 graduate of Rutgers Law School, where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the Rutgers Law Review.
Representative Cases
- Represents a large self-insurance pool with regard to coverage issues ranging from antitrust and other business disputes to employment discrimination and sexual harassment claims.
- Assisted a financial services company's captive insurer in obtaining an arbitration award against its reinsurer in a Bermuda arbitration. The underlying class action claims were brought by investors who had been defrauded in an investment manager's Ponzi scheme.
- Represented professional liability insurers of an international accounting firm in disputes with other insurers concerning responsibility for settlements of securities class actions and creditor suits. After obtaining pretrial rulings in his clients' favor on the major issues, Mr. Campbell negotiated a favorable settlement.
- Represented an owner of an industrial facility in an arbitration with its tenant concerning responsibility for rising earthquake insurance costs. The arbitrator ruled that that the client was entitled to reimbursement for the full amount claimed, plus interest and late charges. The arbitrator also determined that the tenant was obligated to pay the costs for every remaining year of the lease.
- Represented an underwriting manager in a dispute with an insurance company that began to hire away the manager's key employees and to solicit its customers. After suing for injunctive relief and damages, Mr. Campbell assisted the client in negotiating a settlement in which the insurance company purchased the client's business. Later, the parties disagreed on the interpretation of the settlement agreement. Following an expedited arbitration, the arbitrator ruled in the client's favor and awarded attorneys fees.
- Represented a commercial policyholder in a dispute with its insurance company concerning a settlement that compromised a large punitive damage claim. Mr. Campbell resolved the dispute through a summary arbitration at which the arbitrator ruled in the client's favor on all issues.
- Represented a wealthy family that had been defrauded by life insurance agents who presented doctored projections and forged a client's signature. Mr. Campbell assisted the family in negotiating a settlement in which the life insurance company issued a new $7 million policy at no additional cost.
- Represented insurers in an "other insurance" dispute relating to securities law claims involving an international accounting firm and an acquired accounting firm under accountants' professional liability policies. The litigation was settled without payment by the clients.
- Represented a large, New York-based law firm in professional liability litigation. Mr. Campbell obtained a dismissal of all claims without payment.
- Represented an insurance brokerage firm that was sued for failing to obtain earthquake coverage for a fine art collection. The trial court approved the client's good faith settlement over the opposition of the co-defendant insurer, and the appellate court denied the insurer's petition for a writ. The plaintiffs proceeded to trial against the insurer and obtained the largest judgment in California that year.
- Represented an energy-industry mutual insurance company that other insurers sued for contribution to settlements of class action and other environmental claims. The dispute was settled without contribution by the client.
- Represented an insurance brokerage firm that was sued by a developer for alleged failure to obtain coverage for construction defect losses under general liability and umbrella policies. Mr. Campbell obtained a summary judgment dismissing all claims.
CONTACT
phone: (415) 352-3000
direct: (415) 277-9000
fax: (415) 352-3030
bcampbell@chapop.com
Recent Publications
Contributing author, California Liability Insurance Practice: Claims and Litigation, Continuing Education of the Bar (1991, and 1992-2009 annual updates)
Author, "Do Your Insurance Policies Cover 21st Century Risks?," 15 Coverage 32 (January/February 2005)
Contributor, "US Primary Risk, Broker and Reinsurance Regulatory Issues in 2004," The Euromoney Global Insurance Handbook 2005
Author, "New Policies, Less Coverage: Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Claims," 22 IPL Newsletter 13 (2004)
Author, "The Incredible Shrinking Advertising Injury Coverage," 14 Coverage 1 (May/June 2004)
Recent Presentations
Moderator, "Advertising Injury: The Sequel," American Bar Association, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Annual CLE Seminar (2005)
Moderator, ABA CLE teleconference and live audio webcast, "21st Century Risks: Are Your Clients Protected?" (2005)
Panelist, "Liability at the Speed of Light: Telling the Corporation's Story Without Ending Up in Court," Professional Liability Underwriting Society (2005)
Speaker, "New Policies = New Challenges: Advertising Injury Coverage for Intellectual Property Claims," American Bar Association Annual Meeting (2004)
Speaker, "Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Claims," 28th Annual Intellectual Property Institute, State Bar of California (2003)
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