Illinois

Cases

• Won dismissal for a Colorado-based manufacturer in an asbestos product liability case in the plaintiff-friendly "judicial hellhole" of St. Clair County, Illinois. WTO asserted jurisdictional defenses at the pleading stage and later won dismissal after the plaintiff's deposition.
• Elward et al. v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc. (N.D. Ill. 2020) - Defeated class certification for Electrolux in a consolidated putative class action in Illinois involving millions of the company's dishwashers.
• Won a landmark federal case in Illinois defining the obligations of lead and liaison counsel in multidistrict litigation.
• Won a defense verdict, as second chair trial counsel, in a living mesothelioma case following a seven-week trial in Mclean County, Illinois.
• Obtained dismissal of Colorado-based manufacturer in a product liability case in Madison County, Illinois. WTO asserted various jurisdictional and workers' compensation defenses at the pleading stage, obtaining a rare dismissal in a multi-million dollar lawsuit in one of the worst venues for defendants in the United States.
• Won motion to compel plaintiffs' privilege documents in a legal malpractice dispute in Illinois and defended the motion to the Illinois Supreme Court.
• Successfully defended a physician and hospital in a birth trauma case in Illinois. Handled damages claims, prepared defense witnesses, and conducted a mock trial. The case settled a month before trial on terms that saved WTO's client eight figures. The client was extremely pleased.
• Kljajic et al. v. Whirlpool (N.D. Ill. 2017) - Defeated class certification amid allegations that 2,000,000 Whirlpool-made ovens were prone to overheat. WTO attorneys disqualified the plaintiffs' expert witness and successfully argued that the claims were overly broad and the plaintiffs' purported theories for failure were too many to achieve certification.
• Obtained four-figure midtrial settlement for Dana Corp. as plaintiff closed its case in Cook County, IL.
• Rehberger et al. v. Yahoo! (S.D. Ill. 2016) - Successfully resolved a putative class action against Yahoo! involving alleged violations of the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute.
• Won a defense jury verdict in a $31 million medical malpractice lawsuit in Illinois involving a newborn who developed sepsis, meningitis, and catastrophic brain damage. WTO then won the subsequent appeal (3-0 panel decision).
• Defended an investment advisory firm in Cook County, IL against a $10 million professional negligence claim. After a two-week trial, the jury found for the defendant.
• Represented a managing partner in a $5 million suit between law firm partners with respect to claims of fraud and mismanagement. After a two-week trial, WTO's client prevailed on fraud and mismanagement claims, and the Court ordered an accounting and liquidation of the firm.
• Mulcahy v. Rapid American (Ill. Cook Cnty. Cir.Ct.) - Won a jury verdict in Cook County, Illinois, for General Electric in an asbestos duty to warn case involving power plant land turbines.
• Munch v. Sears, Roebuck and Co. (N.D. Ill. Sept. 30, 2008) - Obtained dismissal of putative state consumer protection claims alleging that Sears failed to disclose that certain Whirlpool-manufactured washing machines contained defective electronic control boards and a design defect that caused them to develop moldy odors.
• Won the first asbestos wrongful death defense verdict for General Electric in Madison County, IL, one of the top "judicial hellholes" for corporate America as featured in The Wall Street Journal.
• St. Clair County and City of Centreville v. Ford (Ill. St. Clair Cnty. Cir. Ct. 2004) - Won a complete defense jury verdict for Ford in a six-week, certified class action trial in Illinois.