Blane A. Smith
Insurance Law Expert
Mr. Smith began the practice of law in 1980 and has devoted his career to the specialty of insurance law. His work includes consultation and litigation related to the duties of insurers to their insureds and bad faith claims. After eight years as a partner in the firm of Thompson Heller, he became a partner in Farmer Murphy Smith & Alliston in 1996 and founded Farmer Smith Law Group LLP along with Craig Farmer in 2007, which later became Farmer, Smith & Lane, LLP. In 2020, he formed the Law Office of Blane A. Smith.
Mr. Smith’s insurance practice includes high-profile cases and legal matters with significant exposure for insurance coverage and claims handling issues in these areas:
Civil Rights
Construction Site Injury
Wrongful Death
Construction Defect
Sexual Assault and Harassment
Automobile Injury
Life Insurance and Disability
General Civil Litigation
Bad Faith
He is frequently retained in an advisory capacity concerning insurance coverage and claims handling and has served as a consultant and expert witness in these fields.
Skilled Litigator
Mr. Smith has conducted litigation in State and Federal Courts throughout California at the trial and appellate level and has served as counsel of record in significant published appellate opinions concerning insurance law issues.
Educator
Mr. Smith has presented over thirty seminars since 1995 for attorneys and insurance professionals and has participated in training for insurers. Blane has written extensively on these topics:
Bad Faith
Claims Handling
Policy Interpretation
Uninsured Motorist Claims
Insurance Coverage Analysis
Insurance Litigation
Mr. Smith has been a featured speaker for California’s Continuing Education of the Bar program and a panelist on the Northern California Association of Defense Counsel. He is a contributing author to the CEB work California Property Insurance; Law and Litigation. He has authored periodic reviews of case developments in insurance law since 1984. While attending law school, he was an associate comment editor for the Pacific Law Journal. He is the author of “The California Legislature Steers the Antitrust Cart Right Off the Illinois Brick Road”, generally regarded as entailing the most obscure pun of any scholarly work in the field of anti-trust law.
Associations, Training, Background
Blane is a native of Kirkland, Washington. He is a member of the Association of Defense Counsel, Sacramento County Bar Association, and the Sierra-Curtis Neighborhood Association. He served as comptroller of the Harry S. Truman Club. He is also a proud member of the Primerus Legal Society, an organization committed to maintaining integrity, quality, civility, professionalism, reasonable fees, continuing education and community service in the legal profession. He and his wife, Shannon, have three children.
Education
B.A. – History - Western Washington University, 1977
B.S. – Speech - Western Washington University, 1977
J.D. – McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, 1980
Court Admissions
Admitted to the California & Federal Bars, 1981
Mr. Smith has been admitted to practice before the United States District Courts of the Eastern, Northern and Central Districts of California.
Cole Smith-Crowley
Mr. Smith-Crowley began the practice of law in 2021 and has specialized in insurance and business law.
His specialties include legal research and discovery.