Biography

Vanessa O. Wells focuses her practice on complex business litigation involving insurance pricing matters, regulation and unfair practices. She represents life and property-casualty insurers in commercial litigation, including the regulation of insurance rates and litigation challenging pricing and underwriting practices. Ms. Wells defends these claims before administrative tribunals and at all levels of state and federal court.

Ms. Wells’ extensive experience includes representation in adjudicatory and rulemaking hearings before the California Department of Insurance and in Insurance Department workshops, as well as in proceedings brought by the California Commissioner of Insurance before the Office of Administrative Law. She has litigated numerous cases brought in the courts pursuant to Business & Professions Code §17200 through §17209 (the Unfair Competition Law). Ms. Wells has had substantial experience in defending securities fraud and consumer class action cases and in litigating trade libel, unfair competition and other business conduct.

Most recently, she represented Personal Insurance Federation of California, Association of California Insurance Companies, and American Insurance Association in MacKay v. Superior Court; a case concerning to what extent the California State Insurance Commissioner has exclusive original jurisdiction over rate issues, and to what extent plaintiffs may bring ordinary civil actions (including Unfair Competition Law actions based on rate issues.

Representative Examples

Rulemaking Hearings

• 2008 Amendments to Prior Approval (REG-2007-00046 (Emergency Regulations) and REG 2007-00023 (workshop)
• 2006 Prior Approval (RH05042749)
• 2006 Intervenor Regulations (RH06092874)
• 2006 Mileage Verification (RH06091489)
• 2006 Auto Rating Factors (RH03029826)

Administrative Hearings

• State Farm Commercial Earthquake Insurance Rates, CDI File No. PA-95-005-00 (successfully defended State Farm’s proposed rate increase and the scientific model used by RMS, the California Earthquake Authority’s modeling company)
• 1994 State Farm Homeowner’s Insurance Rates, CDI File Nos. PA-93-0014-00, PA-93-0015-00, PA-93-0017-00, PA-93-0018-00, PA-93-0014-0A (Farm/Ranch), PA-93-0014-0B
• State Farm’s Rollback Case: State Farm v. Quackenbush, 77 Cal. App. 4th 65 (1999)

Pricing Litigation

• Nakashima v. State Farm Mutual Auto Ins. Co., 153 P.3d 664 (N.M. App. 2007)
• Spanish Speaking Citizens’ Foundation, Inc. v. Low, 85 Cal. App. 4th 1179 (2000)
• Walker v. Allstate Indemnity Company, 77 Cal. App. 4th 750 (2000)
• Wolfe v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, 46 Cal. App. 4th 554 (1996)

Amicus Curiae Briefs

Unfair Competition Law Cases

• Californians for Disability Rights v. Mervyns LLC, 39 Cal. 4th 223 (2006) and Branick v. Downey Savings and Loan Ass’n, 39 Cal. 4th 235 (2006)
• Korea Supply Co. v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 29 Cal. 4th 1134 (2003)
• Cortez v. Purolator Air Filtration Products Co., 23 Cal. 4th 163 (2000)
• Cel-Tech Communications, Inc. v. Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Company, 20 Cal. 4th 163 (1999)
• Quelimane Company, Inc. v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co., 19 Cal. 4th 26 (1998)

Insurance Cases

• MacKay v. Superior Court, 188 Cal. App. 4th 1427 (2010).
• Jonathan Neil & Associates v. Jones, 33 Cal. 4th 917 (2004)
• Farmers Ins. Exchange v. Superior Court, 137 Cal. App. 4th 842 (2006)

Affiliations, Activities and Accomplishments

She has been an active community member, serving in such organizations as the Palo Alto Little League Board of Directors, East Palo Alto Community Law Project and previously served as a director and vice chair of Mid Peninsula Access Corporation, a public access cable channel serving several communities in California’s Bay Area.

She is a contributor to Sedgwick’s Appellate Strategist blog.

Presentations & Publications

While at Sedgwick, Ms. Wells has written and/or presented on the following topics:

• “A 5-4 Decision in the Making: Constitutional Challenges to Federal Healthcare Reform,” Sedgwick Annual Healthcare Seminar Series, Los Angeles and San Francisco (June 8-9, 2011).
• “Labels Matter, But No Reset to Pre-Prop. 64,” The Daily Journal (March 28, 2011).
• “A Quick Analysis of Kwikset: Labels Might Matter, But No Reset to Proposition 64,” Sedgwick’s Product Liability Advisory (February 24, 2011).
• Moderator, Sedgwick’s 2nd Annual Insurance Regulation and Litigation Seminar: California Developments and Challenges for 2011, Sacramento, CA (February 15, 2011).
• “Health Care Reform: The First Nine Months,” ABA TIPS Midwinter Symposium on Insurance and Employee Benefits, Miami Beach, FL (January 14, 2011).
• “California Court of Appeal Adopts Filed Rate Doctrine for Insurance Rate Filings,” Sedgwick’s Insurance Law Flash (October 11, 2010).
• “What Happens Now: The Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and State Regulation of Health Insurance,” Sedgwick Annual Healthcare Seminar Series, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Francisco (May 24-25, 2010) and Hartford, CT (September 22, 2010).
• “Ships Passing in the Night: How California’s Statutory Framework Directs Traffic Through the Maze of Jurisdictional Doctrines Concerning Insurance Rates,”  University of San Francisco Law Review, Volume 44, Number 4 (Spring 2010).
• “Chicago Seminar III: What's New in Class Actions,” Sedgwick's 2010 Chicago Seminar Series, Chicago (September 23, 2010).
• "New Insurance Ballot Initiatives on the Horizon in California," Sedgwick's Insurance Law Flash (March 2010).
• “Insurance Roundtable with the CDI,” Santa Clara Law School Roundtable, Santa Clara, CA (February 24, 2010).
• “Insurance Rate Regulation in California: A Class Action Bonanza, or Exclusive Jurisdiction Before the Regulator?” Sedgwick’s Insurance Regulation & Litigation Seminar, Sacramento, CA (January 13, 2010).