Introduction
With two decades of experience on the Sacramento County Superior Court bench, and advanced training in mediation, Judge Hersher has presided over hundreds of civil litigation matters, including business and corporate disputes, all types of employment matters including false claims, Qui Tam, and state actions, eminent domain, wrongful death, environmental, insurance, and civil rights. She is now available for mediation, arbitration, and private judging assignments, including neutral cases, testimony, and evidence evaluation.
Prior to becoming a judge, she was a litigation partner with Downey Brand LLP and tried cases representing both sides in many facets of law. During this time, she participated in court ADR programs, including serving as Judge Pro Tem for the Sacramento County Superior Court settlement department and as an Early Neutral Evaluator for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District.
Over the course of her 37 years in law, Judge Hersher has earned a reputation for fairness and firmness with an unprecedented work ethic. She shares her mission as a private judge stating, “My goals are to provide a collaborative and collegial process through which disputes are resolved with engaged support, and all aspects of the process are founded in neutrality, integrity, respect, legal scholarship, and decisiveness.”
Practice Areas
- Business, Corporation, Partnership Litigation
- Civil Rights
- Elder Abuse
- Employment
- Environmental
- Personal Injury including child abuse and sexual assault
- Professional Malpractice
- Real Estate
ADR Highlights
- Authored numerous publications including California Civil Jury Instruction Handbook for Thomson Reuters (2014- 2018) and Sacramento Lawyer Magazine articles such as "Settlement Demands in Excess of Available Insurance: Good or Bad Faith under CCP §998?" (September/October 2014)
- Graduate, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, “Mediating the Litigated Case”, Pepperdine/Caruso School of Law, August 2022
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Experience Summary
The following is a sampling of the various cases Judge Hersher presided over as a Superior Court Judge.
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Hobbies & Interests
Throughout the decades, Judge Hersher continues to dedicate her time as an instructor, panelist, and author on a myriad of topics in civil law and proceedings in trial for colleges, law schools, bar groups, courts, and judges. She is also involved in many charitable organizations within the local community. In her spare time, she enjoys hikes, travel, and landscape design.
Experience Summary
CALIFORNIA JURY INSTRUCTIONS AND RELATED LAW
• Member of the California Judicial Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions
BUSINESS, CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS
•Breach of contract and law
•International disputes
•Fraud/Misrepresentation
•California Commercial Code/Uniform Commercial Code disputes
•Trade secret violations
•Partnership formation and dissolution
•Fiduciary and non-fiduciary governance breaches
•Mortgage fraud against various banks during recession
•Commercial sale and leases
•Unfair Business Practices
CIVIL RIGHTS
•Violations of state and federal statutes
•Prisoner rights and challenges
ELDER ABUSE
•Financial and physical abuse
•Skilled nursing home abuse and negligence
•Wrongful death
EMPLOYMENT
•Race Discrimination
•Age Discrimination
•Sexual Harassment and Discrimination
•Disability Discrimination, Failure to Accommodate
•Gender Discrimination
•Wrongful termination
•Wage and hour disputes
•Covid-related challenges based on protocol, layoff, and terminations
•Sex and Race Discrimination involving Fire and Law Enforcement
•False Claims, Qui Tam, State Actions including: False claim action brought by 200+ public entities against four national cellphone carriers; False claims act brought by the State of California; Challenges by nurses against the State of California for regulatory staffing ratios; Challenges by California teachers’ pension funds against the State of California for wrongful use/conversion of pension funds
ENVIRONMENTAL
•Injury to property/persons
•CEQA, groundwater, and soil contamination
•Insurance coverage disputes, successive policies, vertical and horizontal coverage
HEALTHCARE
•Medicare billing fraud against major hospital chain
•State action against health insurer for wrongful coding and billing
PERSONAL INJURY, NEGLIGENCE + TORT
•Assault and Battery
•Catastrophic injury, auto and otherwise
•Child sexual abuse trial for civil money damages
•Negligence
•Negligent care against childcare facility for sexual assault/abuse, wrongful hiring, and staff oversight
•Personal Injury
•Product Liability
•Wrongful Death
PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE
•Legal malpractice
•Medical malpractice/negligence against doctors, surgeons, nurses, catastrophic and otherwise
REAL ESTATE
•Breach of contract
•Buy/sale/lease agreements, business, and individual homeowners
•Eminent Doman including: Pre-condemnation; Active and Inverse Condemnation; Related theories of trespass, property damage
•Property Damages