Clinton H. CoddingtonChairman Emeritus
Practice Areas
- Appellate Practice
- Aviation
- Business Law and Litigation
- Insurance Law and Services
- Products Liability
Education
- United States Military Academy
West Point, New York
B.S. 1961 - Boalt Hall School of Law
Berkeley, California
J.D. 1968
Bar Admissions
- California
- United States Supreme Court
- Numerous United States Courts of Appeals
United States District Court
Northern District of California
Eastern District of California
Southern District of California
Additional Information
Clinton H. Coddington founded Coddington, Hicks & Danforth more than three decades ago and is now Chairman Emeritus. He is a trial and appellate civil lawyer who has dedicated his entire professional life to the defense of the American aviation/aerospace and insurance industries. He has represented clients in complex aviation, products liability, business and insurance coverage and bad faith cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States and, on a number of occasions, in other countries.
Mr. Coddington has served as chief trial counsel and has tried to verdict numerous mass aviation disaster cases and many other aviation matters, including In Re Air Disaster at Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988 in which he represented all defendants, In Re Hijacking of Pan Am Flight 073 at Karachi, Pakistan in which he represented all defendants, and In Re Air Disaster at Bombay, India, in which he represented the target defendant. He has tried many commercial, rotorcraft and utility category aviation cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States, as well as insurance coverage, bad faith and commercial cases.
Bud has been a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada, Lawyer-Pilots' Bar Association, International Association of Insurance Counsel, Defense Research Institute and the American Bar Association. He has written a number of articles for various legal and aviation publications, has lectured on various legal and aviation topics and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Aviation Law at Loyola University School of Law.
He tried the first case in the United States involving the failure to embark a Middle Eastern passenger following September 11. The matter was of some considerable interest to the aviation and insurance industries and was listed as the most important defense result in the civil rights category for the year 2002 by various legal publications.
Bud was commissioned as an officer of the United States Army in 1961 and served from 1961 through 1965 reaching the rank of Captain before entering law school.
His hobbies and avocations include his family (especially five grandchildren whom he sees regularly), reading, travel and music (he plays the guitar). He serves or has served on a variety of boards and has always been active in Episcopal Church work, on vestries, service as Senior Church Warden, Chancellor and the like.