Tort

Experience

Successfully Defended Client in Wrongful Death Case

Client: Subsidiary of an automobile company

We and co-counsel represented our client, a subsidiary of an automobile company, in the wrongful death case brought by a mechanic’s family. The mechanic had worked in one of our client’s dealerships for one to two years in 1965-1966 and worked on our client’s brakes and clutches. The family claimed the mechanic was exposed to asbestos from these products, which caused his pleural malignant mesothelioma, and our client should have warned him that could happen. We argued and provided supporting evidence that our client didn’t know at the time that any health hazards were associated with the mechanic’s work with such friction materials, and that any asbestos emitted from those materials did not cause the mechanic’s mesothelioma. The jury returned a defense verdict that our client was not liable.

Lewis v. Synthes, et al.

Dinsmore & Shohl represented Synthes, a medical device manufacturer, in the Ohio cases involving alleged injuries from the use of pedicle screws.  The cases were dismissed.

Medical Device Product Liability Litigation

Defending multiple product liability cases involving joint replacement products.

Successfully Defended Manufacturer in Entrapment Case

Client: Genie

We represented our client, Genie – a global aerial work platform manufacturer, in a lawsuit after a worker suffered fatal injuries in an entrapment accident. The plaintiffs claimed that aerial work platforms should be equipped with mandatory secondary guarding accessories, which plaintiffs claim would have prevented this death. The plaintiffs sought $69 million, including punitive damages.  Post-accident evidence, including evidence of non-similar accidents, were allowed to go to the jury. Despite these challenges, we received a unanimous defense verdict from the jury after nearly two weeks of testimony.  The jury rendered the defense verdict in under 90 minutes, agreeing these machines, which have been used for decades and millions of man hours, are not defective and unreasonably dangerous. This case was also significant for the industry, as it is the first entrapment case to be tried to verdict.

Adam v. Spotswood

We defended a husband and wife, homeowners, who had rented their home to the plaintiffs, a husband, wife, and infant child. Approximately 2 months after moving into the home the infant child was diagnosed with autoimmune pancytopenia a relatively rare but known blood disorder. Autoimmune pancytopenia is a depression of the blood cell lines, reds, whites, and neutrophils. At about the same time that the infant child was diagnosed with autoimmune pancytopenia, mold, including stachybotrys mold, was discovered in the home. The plaintiffs claimed that they were forced to abandon the home, destroy all of their personal property, and further that the mold exposure caused the infant child's autoimmune pancytopenia. The theories of recovery asserted against the defendant home owners were of negligence, breach of contract, and breach of the warranty of habitability. At trial plaintiffs proceeded solely on their negligence theory.

During pretrial discovery it became clear that the plaintiffs' expert on the contention that the alleged mold exposure caused the infant's autoimmune pancytopenia was not following generally accepted scientific/medical methodology to reach his causation opinion. On behalf of the home owners, we filed a Frye motion to exclude this expert. After extensive depositions of both the plaintiffs' expert and our expert as well as briefing and arguing the issue, the trial judge excluded the plaintiffs' expert's testimony that mold caused the infant son's autoimmune pancytopenia. At trial, plaintiffs proceeded on their property damage claim and also on the theory that their infant son's asthma was caused by the alleged mold exposure in the home.

Following three days of trial, the jury returned a verdict for less than 10% of the claimed property damage and a defense verdict on the asthma claim.

Plaintiffs filed post trial motions seeking to reverse the trial court's decision to exclude the plaintiffs' expert on autoimmune pancytopenia. The trial judge affirmed his decision. The plaintiffs then took an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. The Superior Court affirmed the trial court's decision to exclude the plaintiffs' expert's testimony that mold caused autoimmune pancytopenia.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. Cereal Manufacturer

We represented the Defendant's insurer in a suit for $10,000 against a cereal manufacturer for Plaintiff's broken tooth due to an alleged foreign object in the cereal.  The case was settled prior to mediation.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. General Contractor

Plaintiff filed suit against our client, a general contractor, seeking $100,000 for defects in Plaintiff's home related to the use of synthetic stucco (EIFS) material.  Dinsmore & Shohl obtained a dismissal in favor of the general contractor on the basis of the North Carolina Statute of Repose.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. General Contractor

Plaintiff filed suit against our client, general contractor, seeking $1 million for defects in Plaintiff's home related to the use of synthetic stucco (EIFS) material.  Dinsmore & Shohl negotiated settlement with the homeowners on the general contractor's behalf and prosecuted third-party claims against the EIFS product manufacturer.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. General Contractor

Plaintiffs filed a $300,000 suit against our client, the general contractor, for defects in Plaintiff's home related to moisture intrusion and structural defects.  The general contractor in turned filed suit against 12 different subcontractors.  The case was settled favorably for the client after two days of mediation.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. General Contractor

Plaintiff filed suit against our client, a general contractor, seeking $1,000,000 for defects in Plaintiffs' home related to the use of synthetic stucco (EIFS) material.  Dinsmore & Shohl obtained dismissal in favor of the general contractor, individually, which was affirmed on appeal.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. General Contractor

Plaintiff filed suit for $1,000,000 against our client, the general contractor, for defects in Plaintiff's home. The claim went through a week-long arbitration, settling favorably for the client before a verdict was rendered.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. General Contractor

Plaintiff filed suit for $300,000 against our client, the general contractor, for defects in Plaintiff's home.  The claim went through three days of arbitration, settling favorably for the client after a minimal verdict was rendered.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. Insurance Company

Plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit against our client, an insurance company, seeking coverage in excess of $75,000 for moisture intrusion damage due to defects in Plaintiff's home.  The case was removed to Federal court, was never certified as a class action and was eventually dismissed.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. Manufacturer of Dental Equipment

Dinsmore & Shohl represented the manufacturer of dental equipment in a claim alleging personal injuries as a result of exposure to sewer gas.  The case was settled.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. Plastics Manufacturer

Plaintiff sued our client, a plastics manufacturer, for personal injury and product liability when a chair manufactured by the client broke.  The case was settled at mediation.

Anonymous Plaintiff v. Smoke Alarm Manufacturer

Plaintiff filed suit against our client, a smoke alarm manufacturer, seeking $1 million for the wrongful death of a university student killed in an off-campus apartment fire.  Plaintiff ultimately dismissed the suit with prejudice and no settlement payment was made.

Anonymous Plaintiffs v. Window Manufacturer

Plaintiffs filed a $200,000 suit against the general contractor, who in turn filed suit against our client, a window manufacturer, for alleged defects in the windows.  The case was settled after mediation.

Anonymous Plaintiffs v. Window Manufacturer

Plaintiffs sued our client, a window manufacturer, for $75,000 for allegedly defective windows.  The case was settled.

Asbestos Litigation

Defended manufacturer against product liability claims, resulting in defense verdict at trial affirmed on appeal. Defended premises liability case, obtaining summary judgment affirmed by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Asbestos Litigation

Dinsmore & Shohl represented Owens Illinois in lawsuits filed in Southern Ohio by numerous workers alleging personal injuries as a result of exposure to asbestos.  These cases resulted in either settlement, dismissal or a jury verdict for the defense.

Class Action Defense - Manufactured Housing

Dinsmore & Shohl defended a national seller of manufactured housing in state and federal court against class action claims related to the alleged inherent risks of fire and injury associated with manufactured housing. Following successful motion practice, all claims were dismissed in both state and federal courts.

David Burton v. American Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds

Dinsmore & Shohl represented a major cigarette manufacturer (American Tobacco) in a smoking and health case involving allegations of peripheral vascular disease causation and corporate misconduct that was tried in Federal Court in Kansas City, Kansas in 2002.  The case resulted in a small compensatory damages verdict against American Tobacco in the amount of $1984.00 (yes, that is the correct number) and no punitive damages.  After the verdict was rendered the case against American Tobacco was dismissed without payment.

Firearm Product Liability Litigation

Defended firearm manufacturers against design defect allegations.

Frederick Moore v. The Glidden Company

Dinsmore & Shohl represented Glidden in connection with several lawsuits brought by children and parents alleging personal injuries as a result of exposure to lead paint.  The cases were dismissed by the Plaintiffs.

Health Insurance Subrogation Litigation

Representation of health care insurers seeking enforcement of their contractual subrogation rights in tort litigation.

Hotel Owners v. Painting Subcontractor

Plaintiff hotel owners filed a $300,000 suit against our client, a painting and moisture proofing subcontractor, and against the coating manufacturer for moisture damage to the hotel.  The claim settled favorably for the client after mediation and before trial.

In re: Silica Product Liability Litigation

Dinsmore & Shohl represented Robert Bosch Tool Corporation in the MDL litigation involving claims of personal injury for exposure to silica.  The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, remanded the cases to the Mississippi State Courts.  The cases were then dismissed.

In re: Tobacco Litigation: Medical Monitoring

A medical monitoring action tried to a defense verdict in state court in Wheeling, West Virginia in 2001 that was instituted against multiple tobacco companies by a class of West Virginia smokers who sought medical monitoring in the form of CT scanning and spirometry to screen for smoking related disease.  In this action (which was affirmed on appeal) Dinsmore & Shohl represented The American Tobacco Company and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation.  In addition to acting as trial counsel, Dinsmore & Shohl consulted with and retained pre-eminent experts in the fields of public health, preventive medicine and pulmonology to develop and present a scientifically sound defense in emerging areas of law and medicine.

John Deere Credit Co. v. Towe

Successfully defended numerous commercial and fraud-based claims seeking in excess of $9 million against John Deere. Obtained pre-trial dismissal of claims accounting for over 99% of the damages sought and then settled the remainder of the action favorably for the client.

Joseph Boyd v. Enerfab Corporation, et al., Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas

Plaintiff brought class action intentional tort claims and product liability claims. Successfully negotiated dismissal of claims against client without payment by client.