Caleb C. Wolanek

Caleb is an Associate in Maynard Nexsen’s Insurance Litigation Practice Group and its Appellate and Post-Verdict Practice Group. He focuses his practice on defending insurance and financial services clients in a variety of class-action and individual disputes nationwide, including against breach-of-contract, bad-faith, data-breach, privacy, and sales-practice claims. Caleb also maintains an active appellate practice. He has argued before two federal courts of appeals (the Ninth and the Eleventh Circuits), in addition to briefing appeals in five others (the Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits).

Before joining the Firm, Caleb clerked for the Honorable Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for the Honorable W. Keith Watkins of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Caleb received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and he holds a B.A. summa cum laude from Auburn University. He has authored or co-authored publications in the Montana Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Harvard Journal on Legislation Online, and the Concordia Law Review.

• Successfully defended the grant of summary judgment in an employment case arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Bibi v. VxL Enterprises, LLC, No. 23-15367, 2024 WL 1756099 (9th Cir. Apr. 24, 2024).
• Successfully orally argued for the affirmance of judgment in the client’s favor in a long-term disability case under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Roeder v. Guardian Life Insurance Co., No. 22-56226, 2024 WL 1612256 (9th Cir. Apr. 15, 2024).
• Successfully defended the grant of summary judgment in a breach-of-contract and bad-faith lawsuit concerning whether an insurance policy was delivered and accepted. Pacific Life Insurance Co. v. Blevins, 92 F.4th 734 (8th Cir. 2024).
• Obtained an early, contested dismissal of an appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Lincoln Life Assurance Co. of Boston v. Meade, No. 23-3328 (7th Cir. Feb. 28, 2024).
• Orally argued an appeal on a question that divides circuit courts, resulting in a published opinion about when an appellate court’s “alternative holding” is binding precedent. United States v. Files, 63 F.4th 920 (11th Cir. 2023), denied, 144 S. Ct. 419 (2023). Also prepared a petition for writ of certiorari that was a “Featured Petition” on SCOTUSblog.
• Successfully defended the dismissal of a breach-of-contract and bad-faith lawsuit as untimely. Parsley v. Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co., No. 22-12459, 2023 WL 7126426 (11th Cir. Oct. 30, 2023) (per curiam).
• Successfully defended the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that an Illinois statute required the payment of an insurance policy. Levy v. West Coast Life Insurance Co., 44 F.4th 621 (7th Cir. 2022).
• Obtained a vacatur and remand for an incarcerated defendant seeking a sentence reduction, after convincing the United States to confess error and to agree that the defendant was eligible for relief under the First Step Act of 2018. United States v. Files, 848 F. App’x 412 (11th Cir. 2021) (per curiam).
• Represented associations of local governments and public officials as amici curiae on issues of federalism and the separation of powers. LA Alliance for Human Rights v. County of Los Angeles, 14 F.4th 947 (9th Cir. 2021).
• Successfully defended the dismissal of a purported nationwide class action alleging breach of contract for charging non-smokers the same premiums as smokers. The Second Circuit held that the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by a statute of limitations, and one judge concurred on the grounds that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA) precluded the plaintiffs’ claims. Miller v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 979 F.3d 118 (2d Cir. 2020).
• Successfully defended the dismissal of claims for breach of fiduciary duty and constructive trust in an action involving the disputed payment of life-insurance proceeds. Strickland v. Broome, 812 F. App’x 204 (5th Cir. 2020) (per curiam).
• Successfully defeated a proposed class-action lawsuit involving claims by Illinois residents under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Obtained dismissal of all claims based on a choice-of-law clause, Thakkar v. ProctorU, Inc., 642 F. Supp. 3d 1304 (N.D. Ala. 2022), after obtaining a transfer of venue from the Central District of Illinois to the Northern District of Alabama, Thakkar v. ProctorU Inc., 571 F. Supp. 3d 927 (C.D. Ill. 2021). Also obtained an opposed stay of discovery in the same case. Thakkar v. ProctorU, Inc., No. 21-cv-2051, 2021 WL 2589019 (C.D. Ill. May 24, 2021).
• Obtained dismissal of a purported class action alleging statutory bad faith and unjust enrichment under Colorado law. Advanced Exteriors, Inc. v. United Services Automobile Association, No. 21-cv-1817, 2022 WL 3716508 (D. Colo. Aug. 29, 2022).
• Obtained dismissal of a defendant from a purported class action alleging violations of sections 10113.71 and 10113.72 of the California Insurance Code. Linhart v. New York Life Insurance Co., No. 21-cv-1640, 2022 WL 3907177 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 22, 2022).
• Obtained dismissal of multiple causes of action, through two motions to dismiss, in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceeding arising from an alleged healthcare data breach. In re: Mednax Services, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, 603 F. Supp. 3d 1183 (S.D. Fla. 2022); In re: Mednax Services, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, No. 21-md-2994, 2022 WL 3550045 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 18, 2022).
• Obtained dismissal of claims for breach of contract, insurance bad faith, and fraud in a case about insurance coverage and alleged COVID-19-related business-income losses under Georgia law. RAM Hotel Management, LLC v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co., 614 F. Supp. 3d 1342 (N.D. Ga. 2022).
• Obtained dismissal of two purported nationwide class actions about insurance coverage and alleged COVID-19-related business-income losses under Georgia law. Karmel Davis & Associates, Attorneys-At-Law, LLC v. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., 515 F. Supp. 3d 1351 (N.D. Ga. 2021); Johnson v. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., 510 F. Supp. 3d 1326 (N.D. Ga. 2021).
• Obtained dismissal of claims for breach of contract and insurance bad faith in a case about insurance coverage and alleged COVID-19-related business-income losses under Mississippi law. The Kirkland Group, Inc. v. Sentinel Insurance Co. Ltd., No. 20-cv-496, 2021 WL 2772561 (S.D. Miss. June 29, 2021).
• Obtained dismissal of a purported nationwide class action about insurance coverage and alleged COVID-19-related business-income losses under Alabama law. Pure Fitness LLC v. Twin City Fire Insurance Co., No. 20-cv-775, 2021 WL 512242 (N.D. Ala. Feb. 11, 2021).

Recognition

• Listed in Best Lawyers, "Ones to Watch" for Insurance law, Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants (2024)