Experience Denise D. Pentino

Experience

Lead Counsel in Class Action Personal Injury Litigation

Denise served as lead counsel in a personal injury litigation filed on behalf of 19 coal preparation plant workers alleging personal injuries, including cancer, reproductive toxicity, genotoxicity, neurological, including peripheral neuropathy, and CNS damage.

After nearly one decade of fierce litigation, all claims were dismissed based on Summary Judgment Motions or by the court on other grounds.

Lead Counsel in Defense of Medical Monitoring Class Action Suit

Denise served as lead counsel in defense of a medical monitoring class action lawsuit filed by coal-preparation plant workers alleging exposure to polyacrylamide flocculant.

Representation in Class Action Claims

Represent Nationwide in ongoing class action claims administration and claims settlements stemming from underinsured waiver forms and class litigation

Summary Judgment in Bad Faith Claim

Summary Judgment granted on all claims asserting cause of action for bad faith and Hayseeds damages.

DeBias v. Coastal Lumber Co., 2014 W. Va. LEXIS 755 (June 13, 2014)

Co-counsel in successful defense of employer in deliberate intent action arising from serious injuries, including paralysis, incurred by a truck driver when a load of lumber fell from a flatbed trailer and struck him during the unloading process. The parties strongly disputed whether Coastal’s training of its forklift operators created a specific unsafe working condition which presented a high degree of risk and a strong probability of serious injury or death, whether Coastal had actual knowledge of the existence of that specific unsafe working condition, and whether its training regimen was a violation of OSHA forklift training standards. Complicated liability and medical issues have required the involvement of expert witnesses in a wide array of specialties. Coastal Lumber moved for summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiff could not establish any of the statutory elements of his deliberate intent claim. The Circuit Court of Randolph County agreed and granted summary judgment in favor of Coastal Lumber. On appeal, the Supreme Court of West Virginia affirmed.

Fixodent Denture Cream Litigation

Dinsmore's Product Liability Team recently received a ruling in favor of The Procter & Gamble Defendants ("P&G") which is the first in the country to assess and reject the scientific basis for lawsuits filed by a number of Fixodent® users.

Frank C. Woodside, III, and his team serve as counsel for P&G defendants concerning Denture Adhesive Litigation. In that litigation, Judge Cecilia Altonaga oversees discovery in the Multi-District Litigation involving more than 150 plaintiffs who seek damages for personal injuries that allegedly resulted from their use of excessive amounts of Fixodent, manufactured by P&G, and/or Poligrip, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. The current litigation was initiated in 2009 against P&G. The Federal cases were eventually consolidated in Miami with a number of other cases pending in state courts throughout the country. P&G has steadfastly defended the safety of Fixodent.

On June 13, 2011 Judge Altonaga issued a Daubert opinion granting P&G's motion to exclude virtually all of the Plaintiffs’ proposed expert opinion testimony that purportedly supported the link between extremely excessive use of Fixodent denture adhesive and neurological disease.

Fortune v. Nalco Company et al.

Represented manufacturer of chemicals held in a storage tank on property owned by a coal company which overturned during a flood which occurred in Raleigh County, West Virginia. This matter was filed on behalf of fifty named Plaintiffs against several coal company Defendants, a logging company and our chemical company client. Plaintiffs filed this matter as a purported class action. Plaintiffs sought damages for medical monitoring and personal injuries including claims for wrongful death and lung cancer. Plaintiffs sought a multi-million dollar settlement. This matter settled for $20,000 on behalf of our client after we finished deposing Plaintiffs.

Hilton v. Stockhausen, Ciba and American Cyanamid

Represented manufacturer (Stockhausen) of polyacrylamide flocculants in first personal injury case filed in West Virginia in which Plaintiff claimed neurologic injury/polyneuropathy as a result of exposure to residual amounts of acrylamide while working at municipal wastewater treatment facility. This matter resulted in a favorable settlement on behalf of our client.