Intro
Linda represents policyholders and has specialized in handling insurance disputes for more than 30 years. She regularly assists clients in evaluating and assessing insurance policies, risks, and resolving claims. She also advocates for clients to maximize their insurance recovery and, where appropriate, pursue claims for bad faith and extra-contractual liability against her clients' insurers.
Currently, Linda is the Insurance Consultant to and Chief Negotiator for the PG&E Fire Victim Trust, a $13.5 billion fund to compensate fire survivors for losses they sustained as a result of the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay and 2018 Camp Fires caused by PG&E.
During the first phase of her career, Linda represented insurers and was one of Fireman's Fund Insurance Company's national coordinating counsels for environmental coverage litigation. She uses the knowledge and experience she gained as an insurance industry insider to maximize recoveries for policyholders and to resolve matters in a business sensitive manner in recognition of the fact that policyholders frequently need to maintain a business relationship with their insurers.
She has tried more than 30 cases and arbitrated or mediated more than 100 matters.
Education
Admissions and Courts
Role
Women's Impact Network, Member
Long-term and acute care provider. Achieved a $500+ million dollar recovery for one of the nation's largest providers of long-term and acute care in a dispute over coverage for more than 500 claims against the company.
Coverage dispute. With only a few months of effort and at a cost of less than $10,000 to the client, secured an insurance payout of $250,000 in a coverage dispute that had been ongoing for more than a year.
Denial-of-coverage reversed. Resolved a denial-of-coverage in a matter in less than two weeks and negotiated a settlement payment for a claim against the client solely funded by insurance in excess of $2 million.
American Bar Association, Insurance Committee of the Litigation Section
The California Association of Healthcare Facilities
"Hanson Bridgett Partner Linda Klamm on Navigating Homeowners Insurance After the LA Fires," CEB Daily News (January 2025)
"State Law Reforms Give Policyholders a Choice of Whether to Rebuild or Relocate," Daily Journal (January 2025)
"L.A. Fires Aftermath: Insurance Lawyers Advise Businesses on Claim Process," L.A. Business First (January 2025)
"California Wildfires’ Tens of Billions in Insured Losses to Test Historic Reforms," Insurance Insider US (January 2025)
"What to Know About Renters Insurance and What it Does and Doesn’t Cover," Associated Press (September 2023)
"Elder Care Facility Says It's Covered For Wrongful Death Suit," Law360 (March 2023)
"Female Powerbrokers Q&A: Hanson Bridgett's Linda Klamm," Law360 (June 2014)
"Calif. Lawyers Respond to Wine Country Fire Devastation," The Recorder (October 2017)
Co-Chair of the 2012 Annual Conference for the Insurance Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association
Super Lawyers, Insurance Coverage (2005-2019)
California Lawyers Association, Wiley W. Manuel Pro Bono Legal Services Award (2023)
"Premier Ins. Co. v. Welch" (1983) 140 Cal.App.3d 720
"After the Fire-Rebuilding Financial Resilience," panelist, Morgan Stanley Webinar (March 2025)
"Courts Deciding Coverage Issues on the Pleadings Alone—Is Discovery Necessary?," co-speaker, Women in Insurance Network (WIN) Regional CLE Program (October 2024)
"Insurance Coverage Considerations," co-speaker, CALA's Risk Symposium (February 2020)