Edward Dudensing

Practice Areas

As the founder and lead counsel at Dudensing Law, Edward P. Dudensing specializes in representing plaintiffs in elder abuse cases, with a particular focus on neglect and abuse that takes place in assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

Career

Widely recognized as one of the nation’s most successful and knowledgeable elder abuse attorneys, Mr. Dudensing serves clients across California, including Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles.

His ability to navigate the intricacies of elder law and his relentless pursuit of justice have solidified his standing as a leader in the field. During his 23+ year career dedicated to compassionately representing victims of elder abuse and their families, Mr. Dudensing has successfully brought cases against some of California’s largest assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and healthcare conglomerates, securing well over $250+ million in recoveries on behalf of his clients.

He has achieved multiple significant elder abuse jury verdicts, including a $29.1 million verdict in 2010, a $42.5 million verdict in 2019, and a $30.9 million verdict in 2023. Most notably, in March 2026, a Sacramento County jury awarded $110 million against Colony Capital, the publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), and Formation Capital, the private equity investment firm that oversaw Greenhaven Estates. The verdict is the largest elder abuse verdict against an assisted living facility in California history. The case involved Mildred Hernandez, a 100-year-old woman with Alzheimer's dementia who wandered from the facility in the middle of the night and died of hypothermia.

Also in 2026, his legal team secured a $15.75 million total jury verdict in a case involving a senior named Ruby Evans who suffered severe neglect at Windsor Vallejo Care Center and developed devastating pressure sores as a result.

His track record also includes dozens of multimillion-dollar settlements in cases involving preventable deaths, understaffing, fraudulent business practices, medication mismanagement, and systemic corporate negligence. In 2025, Mr. Dudensing negotiated more than $25 million in recoveries, and in 2024, Mr. Dudensing secured several large resolutions for his clients, totaling nearly $20 million in recoveries, many of which were against large, for-profit skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities that prioritized profits over care.

Additionally, Mr. Dudensing has served as lead counsel in appellate cases that have established significant legal precedents in elder law.

His legal expertise extends beyond the courtroom, where he has earned a reputation for his tenacious advocacy and has a deep understanding of the complexities surrounding elder abuse cases. Mr. Dudensing is a vocal advocate for policy reform and better enforcement of elder care regulations. In 2010, he worked alongside The Sacramento Bee to explain the labyrinthine corporate structure of nursing homes that has led to an increase in elder abuse and neglect cases. Mr. Dudensing’s commentary has been featured in The New York Times, The Hill, The Los Angeles Times, The Sacramento Bee, The Mercury News, ABC7 San Francisco, CalMatters, Healthcare Dive, Fierce Healthcare, Daily Journal, and more.

In 2025, Mr. Dudensing was named to the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) Board of Directors, where he will help shape policy, guide advocacy efforts, and advance CAOC’s mission to protect the rights of consumers and vulnerable communities. Mr. Dudensing is the sole author of the Rutter Group’s treatise addressing elder abuse litigation, which came out in 2025. He is also a frequent speaker at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), the state’s largest nursing home advocacy organization, and an adjunct professor at the UC Law San Francisco (formerly Hastings), where he teaches law students about elder abuse litigation. As a member of the National Consumer Voice for Long-Term Care, CANHR, CAOC, the American Association of Justice’s Nursing Home Litigation Group, the Sacramento County Bar Association, and the State Bar of California, Mr. Dudensing is actively engaged in the legal and advocacy communities.

In recognition of his work, Mr. Dudensing has been selected as a Super Lawyer from 2011 to 2026. In 2026, he has been named an Attorney of the Year”Finalist for Law.com’s 2026 California Legal Awards, named to Lawdragon’s 2026 500 Leading Lawyers in America guide, and named to Lawdragon's 2026 100 Managing Partners You Need to Know guide. In 2025, he was ranked in the Litigation: Mainly Plaintiffs category by the USA Chambers Guide for California. Further, in 2025, he was selected as a Top 100 Lawyer by the Daily Journal, received the William F. Taylor Memorial Award from the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, received the Mentorship Award from the Law.com/ALM California Legal Awards, was named a finalist for SFGate's Best Attorneys and Best Personal Injury Attorney in the Bay Area, and was a named a finalist for “Sacramento’s Favorites” by The Sacramento Bee. Dudensing Law was recognized with several prestigious awards in 2024, including being named among the Top Boutique Law Firms by the Daily Journal, acknowledged as Top Lawyers in Sacramento by Sactown Magazine, and honored with the Distinguished Leader Award by The Recorder and Law.com. In 2023, he was awarded Advocate of the Year by the Capital City Trial Attorneys.

After graduating from law school and passing the bar in 1994, Mr. Dudensing clerked for the Honorable Robert C. Broomfield, Chief Judge of the Federal District Court in Arizona, for two years. From 1996 to 1999, he was a litigation associate at the international law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. From 1999 to 2003, Mr. Dudensing was a Deputy District Attorney in Sacramento County. In that role, Mr. Dudensing first-chaired more than 50 trials to verdict. As a prosecutor, Mr. Dudensing tried cases of murder, attempted murder, rape, child molestation, and gang crimes, among many others. He also handled financial elder abuse cases, which sparked his passion for advocating for this vulnerable population.

At UC Davis School of Law, Mr. Dudensing graduated in the top 3% of his class and was inducted into the Order of the Coif for academic excellence. Mr. Dudensing also served as the Executive Editor of the UC Davis Law Review. Mr. Dudensing was also elected to the Order of the Barrister for his skills in oral advocacy, which included his membership on the law school’s traveling mock trial team. Following graduation, Mr. Dudensing coached the UC Davis traveling mock trial teams for many years.

Professional Memberships

Board of Directors, Consumer Attorneys of California, 2025

Member, State Bar of California, 2025

Member, Sacramento County Bar Association, 2025

Member, California Advocates For Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), 2025

Member, American Association of Justice Nursing Home Litigation Group, 2025

Member, The National Consumer Voice for Long-Term Care, 2025

Adjunct Professor, UC Law San Francisco, 2025

Publications

Daily Journal, Author, Why Loosening Sedative Rules in Nursing Homes Would Put Vulnerable Patients at Serious Risk, 2026

Law.com, Author, How I Founded a Law Firm: 'Take Your Time to Build Foundational Skills,' Says Edward Dudensing of Dudensing Law, 2026

The Rutter Group Civil Litigation Series, Author, Elder Abuse Litigation, 2025

The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly Hastings), Adjunct Professor, 2025

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), Speaker, 2025

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) Conclave, Speaker, "Hidden Games And Scary Pitfalls", 2025

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) Conclave, Speaker, "CC 3345 & Punitive Damage Denominator Issues", 2024

CANHR Annual Conference, Speaker, "Post-Mortem On Rios Trial", 2023

CANHR Annual Conference, Speaker, "Limitations On Punitive Damages", 2023

Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) Annual Conference, Speaker, "Securing Punitive Damages", 2023

Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association (CCTLA), Speaker, "Document Requests & Methods to Combat Defense Concealment Tactics", 2023

CANHR, Speaker, "LRS Training Series", 2022

CAOC Annual Conference, Speaker, "Getting DPH Violations Admitted", 2020

AAJ, Speaker, “Champions of the Courtroom: Winning Techniques for Nursing Home Litigation Seminar”, 2019

CANHR, Speaker, "AB 1629 – Bad Deal, Bad Care", 2019

Justice.org, Speaker, "Nursing Home Verdicts", 2019

American Association for Justice (AAJ) Nursing Home Litigation Group, Speaker, "Post-Mortem on Tanner Trial", 2014

CAOC Annual Convention, Speaker, "Effectively Using DPH Records to Prove Recklessness in Nursing Home Litigation", 2012

Kaiser, CAOC/ San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (SFTLA), Speaker, "Choosing Between Arbitration & Trial, and Challenging Kaiser’s Arbitration Agreements", 2011

AAJ, Speaker, "Litigating Nursing Home Cases Seminar: Proving Systemic Corporate Neglect", 2010

(Kim Stone as moderator), Debater, Debate Re Arbitration

The University of California Davis Law Review, Executive Editor

Work Highlights

Hernandez v. Colony Capital, Inc., et al.: Jury verdict of $110 million, 2026

Evans v. Windsor Vallejo Care Center, LLC: Jury verdict of $15.75 million, 2026

Sam Rios, Jr., et al. v. Pine Creek Care Center, Plum Healthcare Group LLC, et al.: Jury verdict of $30.9 million, 2023

Barbara Lovenstein, et al. v. Eskaton Fountainwood Lodge, et al.: Jury verdict of $42.5 million, the largest elder abuse verdict against an assisted living facility in the history of Sacramento County, 2019

Family and Estate of Frances Tanner v. Horizon West Healthcare, Inc. and Colonial Healthcare, Inc.: Jury verdict of $29.1 million, the largest nursing home verdict in the history of Sacramento County, 2010

Industry Sector Expertise

Elder Abuse and Neglect Law

Education

Awards