About Eric
Eric D. Townsend is the Managing Partner of Townsend Pyle LLP. His practice focuses on insurance bad faith and injuries: standing up for policyholders whose fire and property claims were denied, delayed or underpaid, and for people hurt by someone else’s choices.
It started with the Marine Corps
Eric served in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Corps brought him to Southern California, and in 1998 he made San Diego his permanent home. The Marines taught him habits he still brings to every case: show up prepared, finish what you start, and stay loyal to the people counting on you. Today, those people are his clients.
Why he takes on insurers
After a series of devastating California wildfires, Eric found the cause that would shape his career: helping fire victims push back against insurers that were supposed to protect them. He went on to found and lead a practice devoted to fire, smoke and property insurance claims, and has handled thousands of fire and smoke, bad faith and denied-claim matters. Case after case, he has seen how carriers delay, discount and deny, and he knows how to answer with documentation, deadlines and the law.
“Insurance companies have adjusters and lawyers protecting their bottom line. My clients deserve someone just as committed to protecting them.”
The same fight for injured people
Most injury cases also come down to an insurance company deciding what someone’s losses are worth. Eric makes sure that number reflects the whole picture: medical care, lost income, and the harm that never shows up on a bill.
Clients work directly with a partner, and there is no fee unless we win.
Education
- J.D., University of San Diego School of Law
- B.S., Criminal Justice, San Diego State University
Military service
- United States Marine Corps (enlisted)
Honors
- Selected to Super Lawyers, 2024–2027*
- Selected to Rising Stars, 2019–2020*
- Professor Robert & Dolores Simmons Award for Outstanding Environmental Clinic Intern, USD School of Law
Admissions & memberships
- State Bar of California, admitted June 2, 2010
- U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern and Central Districts of California
- San Diego County Bar Association
* Super Lawyers and Rising Stars are selected by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of California.