Joe has extensive experience litigating products liability, and both medical and non-medical professional liability matters. In addition, he handles a multitude of construction defect and asbestos claims, general liability, employment liability, and transportation matters on behalf of his clients.
Joe has been defending a wide variety of toxic tort cases for more than 25 years, including single plaintiff and multi-plaintiff claims. Throughout his career, he has litigated cases in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Michigan defending client’s claims with consistent success.
Practices
Representative Experience
- Lead counsel for multidistrict litigation; Re: Hair Relaxer Litigation | Allegations that consumer product hair straighteners and relaxers cause or contribute to uterine cancers
- Successfully argued a motion that “a mere possibility of asbestos exposure” is insufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment
- Represented major oil company regarding release of gasoline from an underground storage tank (UST) resulting in litigation involving the EPA and State Attorney General, and claims of property damage and personal injury from explosions and fires resulting from gas vapor intrusion into homes and buildings
- Defended catastrophic injury case involving double amputation from paper recycling baler
- Litigated wrongful death case resulting from improper maintenance on a street cleaning truck
- Defeated subrogation and breach of warranty action involving fires on two tractor trailers
- Represented insurance broker on negligent failure to bind allegations in personal injury matter
- Defended case of electrocution with resulting amputation from contact with a utility line while using a rental lift
- Obtained defense verdict in consolidated asbestos case involving five plaintiffs in one of the first asbestos cases tried in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
- Won directed defense verdict against first plaintiff in consolidated two-plaintiff case in Philadelphia, and, after two weeks of trial, a defense verdict against the remaining plaintiff
- Successfully argued a motion to bar the plaintiff’s medical expert testimony in regards to client in Illinois mesothelioma case, resulting in dismissal due to lack of causation evidence
- Acting as NCC, successfully represented clients in appeal to the Eighth Circuit in MDL product liability matter regarding a medical device; the court upheld the doctrine that an entity supplying a non-defective raw material or a non-defective component part is not strictly liable for defects in the final product over which it had no control
Education
- Wayne State University Law School, JD, 1985
- Michigan State University, BS, 1982
Admissions
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Arizona
- Wisconsin
- United States District Courts: Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Michigan, Eastern District of Wisconsin, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of Minnesota
- United States Courts of Appeal: Third Circuit, Eighth Circuit
Professional Memberships
- Medical Professional Liability Association
- Defense Research Institute
- Diversity Committee
- Toxic Tort Committee
- Trucking Law Committee
- Claims and Litigation Management
- Product Liability Committee
- Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Languages
- English
Related News
Presentations/Publications
- Co-author, “Illinois’ First District Appellate Court Releases New Ruling Regarding Natural Accumulation Liability,” Litchfield Alert (July 2019)
Recognition
- Martindale-Hubble AV® PreeminentTM Peer Review Rated Attorney, recognized for the highest level of professional excellence
- Selected as an Illinois Leading Lawyer annually since 2016 by peers in the practice areas of Products Liability Defense Law and Toxic Torts Defense Law, a designation received by fewer than five percent of all lawyers licensed in Illinois