Joshua S. Davis
California Insurance Attorney
Joshua Davis is an accomplished attorney with over 15 years of experience handling complex and challenging litigation. Prior to joining Gianelli & Morris in 2011, Mr. Davis gained extensive knowledge and strategic insight at a prominent national law firm, where he defended insurance companies in multi-million-dollar coverage disputes involving state and federal courts across the United States.
Today, Mr. Davis leverages this invaluable background to advocate passionately on behalf of policyholders facing wrongful insurance denials. He specializes in representing consumers in disputes involving health, life, disability, annuities, professional liability, errors & omissions (E\&O), directors and officers (D\&O), commercial general liability (CGL), long-term care, auto, and fidelity bonds.
Notable Class Action Litigation
Throughout his career, Joshua Davis has been appointed Class Counsel in numerous high-stakes class actions against leading health insurers such as United Healthcare, Blue Shield, Anthem, Cigna, and Kaiser Permanente. His relentless dedication and sharp litigation strategies have resulted in landmark outcomes benefiting thousands of policyholders.
Representative cases include:
- Trujillo v. United Health Group, et al.
- Hill v. United Healthcare Insurance Company
- Escalante v. California Physicians Service dba Blue Shield
- Akmal v. Blue Shield
- Dion v. Kaiser
- Gallimore v. Kaiser
Mr. Davis also achieved significant settlements in class actions against prominent annuity providers, including:
- Sanchez v. Allianz Life Insurance Co. — settled for $19.85 million regarding wrongful surrender charges and related issues.
- Vaccarino v. Midlands
Groundbreaking Legal Achievements
Joshua Davis has played a pivotal role in precedent-setting class actions that reshaped industry standards:
- Lumbar Artificial Disc Replacement (L-ADR): Successfully litigated class actions against major health plans, compelling them to recognize and cover lumbar artificial disc replacement procedures to treat degenerative disc disease. Prior to these cases (Hill, Escalante, Bradford v. Anthem), L-ADR was wrongly classified as experimental, denying critical treatment to many patients.
- Lipedema Surgery Coverage: Championed cases such as Aklaghi v. Cigna, Goolsby v. Anthem, and Caldwell v. United Healthcare, successfully advocating for coverage of surgeries for lipedema, significantly alleviating patient suffering from this painful condition.
- Reconstructive Surgery Rights: In Gallimore v. Kaiser, alongside Rob Gianelli, Mr. Davis secured a victory compelling Kaiser Permanente to comply with California’s reconstructive surgery law. This landmark trial ensured thousands of Kaiser members access to necessary excess skin removal surgeries, generating benefits exceeding \$150 million.
- Mental Health Residential Treatment: Achieved significant outcomes in Dion v. Kaiser, mandating residential treatment coverage for patients with severe mental illnesses.
His exceptional advocacy was recognized when he received the prestigious “Street Fighter of the Year” award from the Consumer Attorneys of California for his groundbreaking work in Trujillo v. United Health Group.
Educational Background and Bar Admissions
Joshua Davis earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California Law School in 1997 after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991.
He is admitted to practice law in California, all federal district courts in California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
