Malcolm E. Wheeler

wheeler@wtotrial.com

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P 303.244.1870
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Education

Stanford Law School, J.D., 1969
Stanford Law Review, Editorial Board
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.B., 1966

Practice Areas

Industries

Mal Wheeler's practice focuses on large and complex business litigation and product liability litigation, especially nationwide "pattern" litigation, class actions, and major appeals. He has defended manufacturers at trial in several highly publicized cases, including the Pinto criminal prosecution, the damages trial in the Kearns windshield-wiper patent case, the first "no airbag" case tried to verdict, the first defective airbag case tried to verdict, and cases in the medical device, pharmaceutical, chemical, automotive, and appliance industries. He has served as national trial counsel for Ford, Pfizer, and Nissan, and as national class action counsel for Whirlpool. He has briefed and argued cases in the United States Supreme Court, in United States Courts of Appeals, and in state appellate courts throughout the country.

Mr. Wheeler has been the designated media representative for several Fortune 500 companies in connection with major litigation. In that role, he has appeared on nationally broadcast television programs, including ABC's 20/20, CNN's Burden of Proof, Dateline NBC, and 90 Minutes (a European news show), as well as nationally broadcast radio programs.

In 2010, Product Liability Law360 chose Mr. Wheeler as one of the 10 most admired product liability lawyers in the United States. Each year since 2010, Chambers USA has named him one of only three nationwide "star individuals" in product liability.

Mr. Wheeler has appeared on the Colorado Super Lawyers^® Top 10 list four times, twice as the "top point getter" in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, Mr. Wheeler was featured on the cover and profiled in the annual publication.

A Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers for years, Mr. Wheeler was inducted as a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 2012.

Other Experience
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Partner)
Hughes Hubbard & Reed (Partner)
Parcel, Mauro, Hultin & Spaanstra, P.C. (Director)

Legal Memberships, Activities, and Honors

International Academy of Trial Lawyers
    Fellow
American College of Trial Lawyers
    Fellow
BTI Consulting
    Client Service All-Star, 2011, 2013
Product Liability Law360
    Most Admired Product Liability Lawyer, 2010
Product Liability Advisory Council
    John Raleigh Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008
Law Week Colorado
   "People's Court" Best Class Action/Mass Tort Defense Lawyer, 2011
    Product Liability Lawyer of the Year, 2008
The International Who's Who of Product Liability Defense Lawyers,
1997-2011, 2013
The International Who's Who of Life Sciences Lawyers,
2008-2011
The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers: Commercial Litigation,
2011, 2014
Chambers USA
    Product Liability - National, 2005-2013
        Star Individual, 2010-2013
        Leading Individual, Automobile, 2010-2013
    Litigation: Trial Lawyer - National, 2013
    Commercial Litigation - Colorado, 2005-2013
The Legal 500 United States
    Leading Lawyer, Litigation: Product Liability and Mass Tort Defense,
   2007- 2012
Best Lawyers
    Denver Personal Injury Litigation - Defense Lawyer of the Year, 2012
    Personal Injury Litigation, 2003-2013
    Product Liability Litigation, 2003-2013
Benchmark Litigation
    Commercial Litigation - Colorado, 2011-2013
    Products Liability - Colorado, 2012, 2013
Colorado Super Lawyers
    Civil Litigation Defense, 2006-2013
    Top Point Getter, 2010, 2011
    Top 10, 2008-2013
The National Law Journal
    Top 10 Trial Lawyers, 1998
Who's Who in America, 1987-2011
Who's Who in American Law, 1998-2011
Who's Who in the West, 1996-2012
The Tenth Judicial Circuit Historical Society
    Board Member, 2007-2010
Colorado Bar Association
American Bar Association
State Bar of California
American Law Institute
    Restatement of the Law (Third) of Torts
        Adviser, Apportionment of Liability
        Adviser, General Principles
        Adviser, Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm
        Members Consultative Group, Products Liability
Product Liability Advisory Council
Martindale-Hubbell AV® Peer Review Rated*

*CV, BV, and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards, and policies.

Teaching Positions
University of Iowa College of Law
    Professor of Law, 1978-1979
University of Kansas Law School
    Associate Professor of Law, 1971-1973
    Professor of Law, 1973-1974 and 1981-1983
National Institute for Appellate Advocacy
Annual Advocacy Institute
Appellate Judges Conferences
CLE Programs

Cases

Representative Clients

Bar Admissions

California
Colorado
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court

Legal Memberships, Activities, and Honors

Government Service
Chief Counsel, United States Senate Select Committee to Study Law Enforcement Undercover Activities of Components of the Department of Justice (ABSCAM), 1982

Articles/Presentations

A Look Through Tinted Glass: What Does the Future Hold for Preemption in Motor Vehicle Litigation? Prod. Safety Liab. Rptr., Vol. 39, No. 20 (May 16, 2011)
The Trial of Class Actions, presented at Product Liability Advisory Council (Apr. 28, 2011)
The Changing Face of Preemption in Product Liability Actions, presented at American Bar Association's Emerging Issues In Motor Vehicle Product Liability Litigation (Mar. 31, 2011)
Preemption in Pharmaceutical Cases, presented at Association of American Law Schools (Jan. 8, 2011)
Defending Against Punitive Damages Before and During Trial, presented at DRI Masters of Product Liability Litigation Conference (Apr. 8, 2010)
Using FDA Pronouncements to Defend Product Liability Claims, presented at DRI Drug and Medical Device Conference (May 14, 2009)
Punitive Damages: How Much, How Far, What Conduct and Where Committed, presented at The Network of Trial Law Firms' one-day Litigation Management SuperCourse (Jan. 31, 2003)
Legal and Tactical Evidentiary Issues in Punitive Damages Cases, presented at 2002 Annual Litigation Institute (Oct. 11, 2002)
Choice of Law: Little-Recognized Punitive Damages Issues, Leader's Prod. Liab. L. & Strategy, Mar. 1999, at 1.
Product Liability Aspects of the Risks of Technological Change, 25 Can.-U.S. L.J. 137 (1999)
How Now, Daubert: Dilemma About Application, Leader's Prod. Liab. L. & Strategy, Apr. 1997, at 1
Honda Motor Co. v. Oberg: A Guide for Punitive Damages Reform, Prod. Liab. Advisory, Aug. 1994, at 8
Defendants Confront Onerous Pretrial Tactics, Leader's Prod. Liab. L. & Strategy, Jan. 1993, at 1
Strict Liability in Design-Defect Cases: A Doctrinal Structure in Need of a Foundation, Wash. Legal Found. Legal Studies Division (Nov. 16, 1990)
The Need for Narrow Tort Reform: Abolishing Strict Liability, in Product Liability Reform: Debating the Issues (K. Chilton ed. 1990)
A Proposal for Further Common Law Development of the Use of Punitive Damages in Modern Product Liability Litigation, 40 Ala. L. Rev. 919 (1989)
Comment on Landes's and Posner's Positive Economic Analysis of Products Liability, 14 J. Legal Stud. 575 (1985)
Pre Dismissal Notice and Statutes of Limitations in Federal Class Actions After American Pipe & Construction v. Utah, 48 S. Cal. L. Rev. 771 (1985)
The Use of Criminal Sanctions to Regulate Product Safety, 13 J. Legal Stud. 593 (1984)
A Comment on Recent Developments in Judicial Imputation of Post-Manufacture Knowledge in Strict Liability Cases, 6 J. Prod. Liab. 127 (1983)
The Constitutional Case for Reforming Punitive Damages Procedures, 69 Va. L. Rev. 269 (1983)
Manufacturers' Criminal Liability, Chapter 1B in L. Frumer & M. Friedman, Products Liability (1983)
Product Liability: Civil or Criminal, 17 Forum 250 (1981)
In Defense of Economic Equal Protection, 22 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1 (1974)
Parole Eligibility for Prisoners Serving Consecutive Sentences in Kansas: A Comment, 21 U. Kan. L. Rev. 167 (1973)
The Statute of Limitations for Antitrust Damage Actions: Four Years or Forty?, 41 U. Chi. L. Rev. 72 (1973) (with Robert J. Jones)
Antitrust Treble-Damage Actions: Do They Work?, 61 Cal. L. Rev. 1319 (1973)
Toward a Theory of Limited Punishment II: The Eighth Amendment After Furman v. Georgia, 25 Stan. L. Rev. 62 (1972)
Toward a Theory of Limited Punishment: An Examination of the Eighth Amendment, 24 Stan. L. Rev. 838 (1972)
Some Observations on Tie-Ins, the Single-Product Defense, Exclusive Dealing and Regulated Industries, 60 Cal. L. Rev. 1557 (1972)
A Reexamination of Antitrust Law and Exclusive Territorial Grants by Patentees, 119 U. Pa. L. Rev. 642 (1971)
Note, Judicial Enforcement of Contract-Arbitration Agreements, 21 Stan. L. Rev. 673 (1969)
Note, Toward the Peaceful Modification of Treaties: The Panama Canal Proposals, 21 Stan. L. Rev. 938 (1969)

Education

Stanford Law School, J.D., 1969
Stanford Law Review, Editorial Board
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.B., 1966

Government ServiceChief Counsel, United States Senate Select Committee to Study Law Enforcement Undercover Activities of Components of the Department of Justice (ABSCAM), 1982

Bar Admissions

California
Colorado
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court

Law360 selects Malcolm Wheeler among 10 most admired product liability lawyers in the U.S.

Malcolm Wheeler is the Colorado Super Lawyers^®2011 top point getter