Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Dana C. Lumsden, a partner in the firm’s Charlotte office, has been elected to the 2024 Class of the Mecklenburg County Bar’s (MCB) Board of Directors.

A member of Bradley’s Banking and Financial Services, Litigation and Intellectual Property practice groups, Lumsden focuses his practice on business litigation, including intellectual property disputes, securities litigation, investigations and enforcement proceedings, and the resolution of regulatory controversies concerning the consumer financial services industry. He advises and represents domestic and international companies, including some of the world’s largest financial institutions and manufacturers.

Lumsden’s professional and civic involvement includes work for and leadership on committees for the International Association of Defense Counsel, the North Carolina Bar Association and the MCB. Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Charlotte Ballet and is a member of the board of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

The Mecklenburg County Bar is dedicated to serving the pubic and its members by improving and preserving the administration of justice, and to assisting the North Carolina State Bar as described by statutory requirements.

Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, is pleased to announce that Stephanie Sarantopoulos, a shareholder in the firm’s Minneapolis office, has been named Program Director of its award-winning Littler onDemand (LoD) platform.

In this role, Sarantopoulos will oversee the legal operations of LoD and help implement new services and products. She will also manage and grow the team of Littler onDemand Counsel – a dedicated role within the platform held by experienced employment-law practitioners who are on call to answer workplace questions.

Launched in 2019, LoD is a technology-based platform that provides companies with quick, consistent and thorough answers to workplace legal questions, as well as data-driven insights to identify trends, manage risk and drive stronger business decisions. The platform houses all of a client’s inquiries, creating a knowledge bank that stays with the company in perpetuity and that can be drawn upon to reduce time spent answering duplicative questions. To date, more than 1,500 clients have used LoD and the firm has answered over 6,000 questions via the platform.

The LoD platform and Forman’s innovative leadership, have led to numerous awards from organizations that recognize innovation in the legal industry, including most recently winning the “Digitising the Practice of Law” award in the Financial Times 2020 North America Innovative Lawyers report.

It’s critical for anyone involved in contract management to monitor and optimize your contracts and contracting processes using key performance indicators (KPIs). But, how do you determine which KPIs are the most important to your business and how do you harness the data required to benchmark and track them?

Join Contract Logix on Friday, June 18th at 1:00 pm ET as our team discusses the top 10 contract management KPIs that every organization can gain valuable insights from. Our panel will discuss what they are, why they’re important, and how organizations like yours are implementing them.

By attending this webinar, you will learn:

-10 contract management KPIs every company should leverage
-Best practices for benchmarking and tracking them
-How to optimize your contracts and processes with data

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we will send you the webinar recording.

Phillips Nizer Adds Four Real Estate Partners from Brill & Meisel
Four partners and an associate join top NY Real Estate practice
New York, NY (June 1, 2021) – Phillips Nizer LLP is pleased to announce that the partners at Brill & Meisel, a leading New York real estate practice with a specialization in cooperative and condominium law, have joined Phillips Nizer’s New York office.
Allen H. Brill and Elliott Meisel, who founded Brill & Meisel in 1979, partners Mark Axinn and Christopher Aldridge, and associate Amanda Benishai are joining forces with one of New York’s top real estate teams, including real estate practice co-chairs Marc Landis and Lisa Radetsky, real estate partners Jay Kim and Thomas Fuerth and land use and government relations co-chairs Christian Hylton and Kevin McGrath.
Landis, the firm’s managing partner, said, “Having worked collaboratively with one another for years, we are happy to welcome the Brill & Meisel attorneys to Phillips Nizer. They are highly respected in the real estate and co-op/condo field and allow us to expand our full-service offerings to our current and future clients.”

Axinn represents cooperative and condominium associations, sponsor/developers, holders of unsold shares and individual property owners and businesses. A graduate of Columbia College and Fordham Law School, he performs all aspects of cooperative and condominium association practice and also has extensive commercial litigation experience.

Brill, a graduate of Columbia College, Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School, represents individuals and businesses in the purchase, sale and leasing of cooperatives, condos, buildings, residential, office and retail spaces. His litigation work includes commercial and contract disputes, construction issues, real estate disputes and challenging real estate tax assessments.

Meisel, a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School, represents numerous New York cooperatives and condominiums in all aspects of their operations including financings, alterations, contract negotiations and the development and implementation of policies and shareholder and owner relations. Mr. Meisel, a nationally recognized authority in cooperative and condo law, has converted many buildings to cooperative and condo ownership and represented tenant associations in connection with the conversions of their buildings sponsored by others. He also represents owners and investors in all aspects of their real estate ownership, including optimizing their portfolios through the sale of air rights, Section 1031 exchanges and Opportunity Zone investments.

Aldridge represents clients in a broad range of residential and commercial real estate matters, including hundreds of purchases, sales and financing of all types of properties. A graduate of Hofstra University and Fordham Law School, his experience includes representing boards of associations in general corporate governance, mortgage refinancing, contractor and architect agreements and shareholder and unit owner disputes.
Ms. Benishai, a graduate of Yeshiva University’s Stern College and New York Law School, is a real estate litigator focusing on commercial landlord-tenant disputes and cooperative corporation matters.

Onna Launches eDiscovery Cloud Transfer Capability To Increase Security And
Cut Export Management Overheads For Customers
The automated export workflow significantly reduces time and effort while increasing predictability and strengthening security

New York and Barcelona — June 7, 2021: Onna, the world’s first Knowledge Integration Platform on a mission to make enterprise information accessible, useful, and private, has today announced the availability of its eDiscovery Cloud Transfer capability and additional export enhancements. The new automated export workflow will enable Onna’s customers to save time and effort by streamlining the export process whilst also strengthening data security.

Traditionally, data exports are a manual and time-consuming process for legal and IT administrators who are required to monitor data downloads to a server or local machine before uploading to the desired review tool or location. With the new Cloud Transfer capability and export enhancements, Onna customers can send data directly to a secure cloud destination for loading into their chosen review tool, whilst also saving and using export templates to set export parameters faster and more accurately. Importantly, they will be able to maintain tighter control of data by bypassing the need to download sensitive exports to a local machine or server.

Key benefits of Cloud Transfer and export enhancements include:
● Faster document review by sending exported data directly to a chosen review tool via SFTP
● Strengthened security by automatically sending export files directly to where they’re needed, bypassing the need to stage sensitive data on individual machines or servers
● Easy monitoring of document transfers with a visual dashboard of progress and proactive notifications to individuals or groups when completed
● Export configuration templates, eradicating the repeated task of ensuring correct details are selected
● Shared exports with authorized individuals to offload the management burden from a single administrator
Salim Elkhou, Founder and CEO, Onna commented, “We are streamlining the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) by enabling integration with other eDiscovery technologies so customers can use best-of-breed tools.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Tierney M. Chadwick, a Member at Wadleigh, Starr and Peters P.L.L.C. in Manchester, New Hampshire, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Chadwick focuses her practice on medical malpractice, professional liability, products liability and toxic torts litigation. She serves on the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association Board of Directors and the Suffolk University Alumni Board.

Chadwick received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Dickinson College.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “The Better Part of Valor? Discretionary Institution in PTAB Proceedings,” featuring Fitch Even partners David A. Gosse and Karen J. Wang.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

Filing a meritorious petition does not guarantee the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) will institute trial in inter partes review (IPR) or post-grant review (PGR) proceedings. Congress allowed that the PTAB “may not authorize” IPR proceedings unless they identify a reasonable likelihood that the petitioner would prevail with respect to at least one of the claims challenged. This leaves the PTAB with discretion over whether to institute if the relevant conditions are present. The PTAB has issued guidance and precedential decisions to help petitioners and patent owners evaluate whether the PTAB should apply its discretion to deny institution.

During this webinar, we will cover these topics and more:
• How the PTAB exercises its discretion to deny institution in the face of parallel district court proceedings, e.g., in the Western District of Texas “rocket docket”
• Whether prior reexamination, IPR, PGR, or even prosecution will cause the PTAB to exercise its discretion and deny institution
• Why the PTAB may or may not deny institution of multiple petitions challenging a single patent

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Register for the event.

Announcement: https://generalcounselnews.com/the-better-part-of-valor-discretionary-institution-in-ptab-proceedings/

Registration link: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5364909073570065167

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Pashman Stein Walder Hayden announced today that Chirali V. Patel has joined the firm as an associate in the firm’s Cannabis & Hemp Law practice and Litigation practice as of May 24, 2021.

Patel started her journey in the cannabis industry through self-education and organic networking in legal states such as Colorado as early as 2016. She went on to gain experience in facilitating vertical applications for medical cannabis licenses in New Jersey and in advising individuals on ancillary market opportunities. Patel is also an advocate in the community and was the South Asian liaison for NJ CAN 2020, the successful “vote yes” campaign led by the ACLU-NJ to legalize adult-use, for which Pashman Stein Walder Hayden served as pro bono counsel. Patel is an Executive Board Member for the New Jersey State Bar Association Cannabis Committee and is a member of its Legislative Subcommittee. She is also a member of several industry organizations and speaks frequently on the topic in her professional and personal capacity. In 2021, Patel was named by the Green Market Report as one of Cannabis’ Most Notable AAPI Leaders.

Patel’s litigation practice is focused on complex commercial litigation, including business torts and civil RICO claims against Fortune 500 companies, and complex class actions and mass tort litigation against pharmaceutical drug companies and automobile manufacturers.

She devoted the early years of her career to serving the public, previously working for the County of Bergen as assistant county counsel, for the City of Hoboken as assistant corporation counsel and assistant prosecutor, and for the County of Passaic as a legal associate.

Patel is a member of the Bergen County Bar Association and is a Trustee for the South Asian Bar Association-NJ. She earned her J.D. from Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2015 and her B.A. from Rutgers University in 2011. She is admitted to practice in New Jersey and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Trial Lawyer Jessica Dean Named to Lawdragon’s Top 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers of 2021

Dean Omar Branham Shirley lawyer selected as top attorney for consumer litigation

DALLAS – Trial lawyer Jessica Dean, name partner in Dallas’ Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP, has been recognized as one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers of 2021.

This is the third year in a row Dean has been selected for this honor. For nearly 18 years, she has represented those involved in personal injury lawsuits, mesothelioma claims, product liability cases, catastrophic injury and unpaid wages cases, as well as shareholder liability and consumer class action lawsuits. Ms. Dean has dedicated her practice to ensuring her clients have a voice against any injustice.

The Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers is committed to researching attorneys nominated by their peers who strive to fight for justice for those facing life-altering problems.

Global law firm Hogan Lovells announced today that Andrew Strong and Barry Burgdorf have joined the firm’s Corporate and Finance practice as partners in the Houston office. Strong will join the firm’s Global Life Sciences and Health Care leadership team.

Strong and Burgdorf represent life sciences/biotech and health care companies from early stage technology spinouts all the way through public exits or mergers and acquisitions. Strong previously served as the founding President and CEO of Kalon Biotherapeutics, a Texas A&M University biotech spin out which he successfully grew to a staff of over 120, financed and built three state of the art manufacturing facilities, and sold to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies in 2015. Prior to that Strong was the General Counsel and Compliance Officer for the Texas A&M University System where he was responsible for, among other things, business transactions, technology commercialization, and litigation for the System’s 11 public universities, seven state agencies and health science center. Strong is also the co-founder and Chairman of K2 Biolabs, a drug development company accelerator located in the Texas Medical Center.

Burgdorf previously served as General Counsel of Samsung Austin Semiconductor where he worked on the construction of Samsung’s DRAM fabrication plant and multiple large financings. Burgdorf also served as Vice Chancellor and General Counsel of the University of Texas System, where, for over eight years, he was a key member of the leadership team and oversaw areas ranging from legal to real estate to IT security and technology transfer for the 14 campus university system. He has also spent time in the corporate suite for Remeditex Ventures and VuComp., Inc – a medical device technology company. Burgdorf was also a corporate securities partner at another global law firm.

Strong received his B.S. Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law. Burgdorf graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A, Southern Methodist University with a M.B.A and received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law

ROANOKE, Va. (June 9, 2021) – The Virginia law firm Gentry Locke is pleased to congratulate Catherine J. Huff on her recognition as the Roanoke Bar Association 2021 Young Lawyer of the Year.

Huff joined Gentry Locke in 2011 as an associate and became a partner in 2017. Since then, she has developed a successful practice, which focuses on employment, insurance, and workers’ compensation. She has litigated cases in both state and federal courts in Virginia and has also represented companies before the EEOC and the Department of Labor.

Huff serves as the 8th District Representative on the Board of Governors of the Virginia State Bar Young Lawyers Committee and has volunteered for a number of bar programs. She is also an engaged member of ALFA International, a global legal network of 150 law firms in the United States and other countries. She serves on the ALFA International Women’s Initiative Steering Committee, which promotes the professional development of women attorneys, and on the Steering Committee for the ALFA International Hospitality & Retail group.

Gentry Locke Managing Partner Monica T. Monday presented Huff the award at the Roanoke Bar Association 96th Annual Meeting. “Cate is an excellent trial lawyer who is well-versed in all aspects of litigation. She is a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom and a tremendous advocate for her clients. She’s a valued colleague within our firm and the legal community, and it was my pleasure to present this award to her,” said Monday.

Huff was a member of the 2019 “Up & Coming Lawyers” Class for Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s Leaders in the Law awards. Since 2015, she has been named a Rising Star by Virginia Super Lawyers and was honored as a Legal Elite by Virginia Business magazine. She frequently speaks on employment-related issues across the country.

The 2021 Young Lawyer of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding attorney age 36 and under, or those admitted to practice three years or less, who has demonstrated dedicated service to the community and the profession.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that Paul F. Woody has joined the firm as counsel in the Franchising & Distribution and Business Services groups, based in Greensfelder’s St. Louis office.

A Certified Franchise Executive through the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives, Woody works with franchisors in a variety of industries to help ensure their compliance with federal and state laws and proactively avoid disputes. He focuses on all aspects of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, as well as franchise litigation and litigation avoidance and prevention.

Previously, Woody served as general counsel for a large sports and recreation franchisor with more than 300 franchises throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. In that role, he provided legal guidance and contributed to strategic planning and key decisions, oversaw compliance and litigation strategies, and managed franchisee relationships, including franchise transfers, rectifying compliance issues, and franchise terminations. His experience also includes corporate and employment litigation. Prior to practicing law, he worked in state and local government and political communications.

Woody also teaches franchise law at Saint Louis University School of Law, from which he received his J.D. He received his Bachelor of Arts from St. Louis University.

Duane Morris LLP has appointed Dr. Nguyen Thi Lang as chair of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC. Duane Morris opened offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in 2007.

Dr. Lang focuses her practice on all aspects of corporate and commercial matters, with an emphasis on M&A, cross-border investment, real estate, pharmaceutical and infrastructure projects. She has advised a wide variety of multinational businesses from all parts of the world, counseling many leading foreign and local investors in Vietnam. Dr. Lang has lectured on a wide range of subjects including corporate governance, investment, commercial, competition and anti-corruption law. She has written extensively on foreign investment in Vietnam, and in particular, on BOT contracts.

Additionally, the EU Commission selected a team led by Dr. Oliver Massmann from Duane Morris to support the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to achieve business expansion, employment gains and increased opportunities for economic growth. Duane Morris is advising the EU Commission and the Vietnamese government on free trade for the next two years. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement has been recognized as one of the most significant free trade agreements the Vietnamese government has ever signed, providing a stronger link between Europe and Southeast Asia, and offering new economic and trade potential that will aid in the recovery of commerce and development after the coronavirus pandemic.

Nicolaides Fink Thorpe Michaelides Sullivan LLP is pleased to announce that Adrienne H. Nelson has joined the firm’s Dallas office as a partner.

Nelson brings to the firm years of experience representing insurance companies in a wide variety of coverage-related matters, with a particular focus on first-party and general liability matters arising from construction defect, premises liability, and commercial transportation claims. Nelson is licensed in Texas and Florida and regularly advises insurers on coverage issues under commercial and personal lines policies. Nelson monitors changes to legislation, regulations, and case law pertaining to claims handling and provides training and counsel to clients accordingly.

In addition, effective June 1, 2021, Nicolaides Fink Thorpe Michaelides Sullivan LLP has moved its Dallas office to Harwood International’s Saint Ann Court, located at 2501 North Harwood Street, Suite 1210. Saint Ann Court is situated in the Harwood District near Uptown Dallas.

The firm opened its Dallas office in December 2020 with the addition of partner Ellen Van Meir, partner Mariah Quiroz, and associate Conor J. McCall. Since then, the firm has added associate Nicholas K. Low and now partner Nelson.

Global law firm Hogan Lovells announced today that IP litigator Nitin Gambhir has joined the firm’s Intellectual Property, Media and Technology (IPMT) practice as a partner based in its San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. He joins the firm from Polsinelli.

Gambhir represents plaintiffs and defendants who work with a broad range of technologies, including computer networking, telecommunications, smartphones, memory controllers, medical imaging, sensor technology, entertainment and gaming, and internet-related systems.

He brings a strong technical background in computer-related technologies to complement his deep experience advocating for clients in a variety of complex IP lawsuits, which includes successfully defending them in bet-the-company patent infringement and trade secrets cases. Adding to his technology bona fides, he holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California Los Angeles, and received a Certificate in High Technology Law while attending the Santa Clara University School of Law.

“One of our strategic priorities has long been to add technology-focused IP litigators in Northern California,” said Celine Jimenez Crowson, IPMT Practice Leader for the Americas. “Adding a partner like Nitin to our market-leading IP litigation team allows us to strengthen our position even further.”

“For many technology companies, protecting IP is akin to protecting the business. So adding a deeply technical and experienced litigator like Nitin in NorCal is a huge boon for our clients,” said Patrick Michael, co-managing partner for Northern California. “We are excited to continue to grow our strong bench of¬ technology lawyers across practice areas — including IP, litigation, and M&A — in Northern California.”

The addition of Gambhir follows a string of several strong hires within Hogan Lovells’ IPMT practice, including prominent IP partners like Patrick Michael and Krista Schwartz in Northern California as well as renowned trademark and copyright IP litigation partner Joel Smith in London.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that nine of the firm’s partners have been named by Who’s Who Legal as among the world’s leading construction lawyers. The Bradley attorneys listed in the 2021 edition of Who’s Who Legal: Construction are Jim Archibald, Axel Bolvig, Ian P. Faria, Jon Paul Hoelscher, Douglas L. Patin, J. David Pugh, William R. Purdy, E. Mabry Rogers and Robert J. Symon.

WWL: Construction provides in-depth analysis to the world’s elite construction lawyers and experts as well as future leaders in the field. Lawyers are selected for their outstanding experience and expertise in resolving complex multi-jurisdictional construction disputes through litigation, mediation and arbitration while the experts gain recognition for their impressive work on disputes and claims arising from both quantum and delay issues on major projects.

Bradley’s Construction Practice Group was named a “2020 Practice Group of the Year” by Law360, and was named the nation’s “Law Firm of the Year” for Construction Law in the 2020 and 2018 editions of U.S. News & World Report – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” Attorneys in the firm’s Construction Practice Group counsel clients on projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as more than 35 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and South America. Many of the firm’s construction attorneys have degrees in engineering, building science or architecture and have previous practical experience working in the construction industry.

In an exciting expansion of its hospitality sector capabilities, Stroock welcomes partner Michael S. Kosmas to the firm’s D.C. office.

A leader in real estate and corporate law for the hospitality industry, Michael joins from Kelley Drye & Warren, where he was Deputy Chair of its Global Hospitality and Leisure practice.

Michael has represented some of the world’s largest hotel owners and operators in the drafting and negotiation of complex franchise and management contracts, as well as matters involving the development, acquisition, disposition and financing of hotel and resort properties across the globe. His industry work also includes structuring of sophisticated transactions not only for owners, operators and developers, but also for investors and lenders as well.

Over his career, Michael devoted significant pro bono efforts to the Archdiocese of Washington and Catholic Charities. Prior to private practice, Michael spent nearly a decade as a senior aide to late U.S. Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley.

Michael earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his B.A. from Loyola College in Maryland.

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP is pleased to announce that Tiffany Burba has been elected to the leadership team of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Law Section. As a member of that team, called the council, Burba will help drive education and networking for intellectual property attorneys across the state.

The NCBA Intellectual Property Law Section examines copyright, patent, trademark, and other intellectual property issues impacting North Carolina. The section helps mold the NCBA’s legislative agenda, sponsors continuing legal education (CLE) programs and a newsletter, and provides networking opportunities for lawyers and patent agents.

Burba has served as co-chair of the section’s Licensing Committee since 2019. At Parker Poe, she helps clients protect their intellectual property rights and negotiate technology contracts. She has particular experience at the intersection of intellectual property and technology, including with contracts involving cloud software, data sharing, and cybersecurity consulting.

Burba has also counseled national companies on compliance with international, federal, and state data privacy regulations. She serves on the CLE Committee of the NCBA Privacy & Data Security Section as well.

Raleigh Magazine recently named Burba among the city’s top 20 up-and-coming leaders who are in their 20s.

RALEIGH (June 7, 2021) – Michael Best is pleased to announce the addition of Partner Carrie Meigs and Associate Justin May to the Raleigh office. Both Meigs and May come from the California-based law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP to join Michael Best’s Litigation Practice Group.

With more than 20 years of experience, Meigs has advised clients across an array of industries. Meigs’ practice focuses on the healthcare sector clients, including representing and advising individual health care providers and behavioral health institutions. At Lewis Brisbois, Meigs served as the vice-chair of the Behavioral Health and Healthcare Practices and has successfully tried cases of general liability and professional malpractice to verdict throughout North Carolina. Her years of experience as a trial lawyer have been recognized by her admission to the American Board of Trial Advocates, a national association of experienced trial lawyers and judges dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

May advises clients on the complex legal and regulatory issues facing health care providers and businesses in government investigations. He is well versed in false claims litigation, Medicaid audit and recoupment actions, malpractice and more. He also works with companies seeking advice on non-competition agreements and employment discrimination.

Meigs earned her B.A. and J.D. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. May earned his B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, and his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law.

DALLAS – Simon Greenstone Panatier trial lawyers secured a total $12 million verdict on behalf of an 83-year-old Korean War veteran who contracted mesothelioma after years of working with asbestos-containing packing material.

On Friday, following the jury’s unanimous decision for punitive damages, Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery added $6 million to the initial jury award of $6.1 million.

Robert Mitchell worked in the stock room at the Pfaudler Co. plant in Elyria, Ohio, for more than 40 years. His responsibilities included assisting in the shipping of specialized glass-coated steel bowls used in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The work required spending several hours every week cutting rope packing with a band saw, which threw asbestos particles into the air. Despite the packing material’s high concentration of blue crocidolite asbestos, Pfaudler was never warned of the potential dangers or advised on proper handling by Crane Packing Co. (now John Crane, Inc.), the material’s manufacturer.

Diagnosed in 2016, Mitchell passed away from the effects of mesothelioma later that year at the age of 83. Single, with no children, his only surviving relative is his 86-year-old brother, James.

Mitchell was represented at trial by Ms. Peterson, Frank Wathen and Sean Kerley of Simon Greenstone Panatier, and Joshua Grunda of Bevan & Associates.

The case is the Estate of Robert William Mitchell v. John Crane Inc., Lorain County Ohio Court of Common Pleas, 18-CV-196597.