Sage Wen

Sage comes to Calfee from the Ohio Supreme Court, where she served as a Judicial Law Clerk to Justice Pat DeWine.

Before her clerkship, Sage gained legal experience serving as a Summer Associate with an Ohio corporate law firm and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.

Sage earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2019, where she was a member of the Michigan Journal of International Law and the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court team.

Sage joined Calfee as an Associate in 2020.

Education

J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 2019

LL.M., Cornell Law School, 2014

LL.B., Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 2013

Experience

Representative Insurance Coverage Matters

• A publicly traded, Fortune 100 corporation filed two lawsuits against our client, an Ohio manufacturing company, in federal courts in two states. The Plaintiff's claims against our client involved allegations that construction material, which the Plaintiff purchased from our client and installed in its retail stores, was defective and had caused alleged damages. The lawsuits involved more than 50 retail stores located throughout the country. Following a confidential settlement between the Plaintiff and our client, Calfee now represents the client in an insurance coverage litigation in the United States District Court against its three insurance companies. These lawsuits were the most significant that the client has ever faced, and the insurance claims will involve the interpretation and application of key controversial, recent Ohio Supreme Court precedent regarding coverage triggers and compensable property damage, with the coverage case potentially establishing new law exploring the boundaries of that precedent.
• Calfee is serving as lead policyholder insurance coverage counsel regarding claims resulting from a fire at a chemical manufacturer client's facility in Europe. The publicly traded, Fortune 100 company client seeks insurance coverage from certain of its general liability insurers for alleged bodily injury and property damage resulting from a fire at the facility in Western Europe. This matter is important because it involves novel questions of the interpretation and application of certain key provisions appearing in typical general liability insurance policies.
• Calfee’s client, a publicly traded, global company, has faced claims in multiple states from both government regulators and private claimants alleging that its chemical emissions have resulted in injury. Calfee is serving as the client’s lead insurance coverage counsel, designing and implementing a coverage strategy to secure defense and indemnification from certain of the client’s insurers. This matter is important because of the high-profile public nature and alleged public health hazards. The insurance coverage issues involve challenging questions surrounding the interpretation and application of key insurance policy provisions. There is a reasonable likelihood the newly filed lawsuit will set a precedent that will be cited and relied upon by courts nationwide on the scope of pollution exclusions appearing in commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies.
• Calfee provided insurance coverage consulting and advocacy services to a privately held manufacturing company in connection with its efforts to secure defense and indemnification coverage for a pending environmental contamination lawsuit involving a city on the West Coast of the U.S. This matter, which was settled in 2022, was important because it presented unique issues of captive insurers in relationship to public market insurers, along with novel interpretation and application of exclusionary language, including pollution exclusions.
• Calfee’s client, a large university, faces hundreds of claims by former student-athletes alleging violations of U.S. Title IX in connection with sexual misconduct committed by a former doctor employed by the university. Calfee serves as the university’s outside insurance coverage counsel, leading the client’s efforts to secure insurance coverage for the defense and indemnification of those claims valued at multi-billion dollars. This matter is important due to the magnitude and social significance of the pending claims against the client and it involves highly unique and sophisticated insurance coverage issues, including the interpretation and application of various types of insuring agreements and exclusions.
• Calfee is serving as outside insurance coverage counsel for a privately held, billion-dollar U.S. and Canadian manufacturing company. Calfee is guiding the client through two separate disputes alleging damage resulting from alleged product defects. These matters present unique and challenging issues pertaining to the interpretation and application of commercial general liability coverage grants and retentions.
• Multiple Ohio municipalities and private companies have filed two high-stakes class action lawsuits against our client, an insurance company, alleging the client fraudulently collected certain fees. In addition to serving as the client’s defense counsel in the underlying litigation, Calfee is serving as the client’s insurance coverage counsel, having successfully secured a defense and indemnity from the client’s liability insurer. Calfee continues to manage the coverage claim to maximize the value of the insurance coverage available to our client. This matter is important because of the high costs of defending against the class action, as well as the fact that the class action poses significant reputational and financial risks to the client, with insurance coverage a key component in mitigating those risks.

Representative Business, Corporate, and Commercial Litigation Matters

• Calfee is representing an Asian consumer electronics company in a shareholder derivative action. Calfee is developing and implementing the defense strategies with co-counsel, interfacing with the court where this action was filed and the court to which the action was removed, and together with co-counsel, is drafting, editing, and providing comments on case filings, and also providing comprehensive representation to the clients.
• Calfee is representing a mutual health insurance company in several litigation matters, specifically: (1) a class action lawsuit challenging the client's practices in connection with "value-based contracting" with medical providers; (2) a class action lawsuit challenging the client's practices also in connection with "value-based contracting" by medical providers but with a larger putative class; (3) an action alleging the breach of our client's agreements with two national insurance providers.