John is a seasoned litigation attorney whose national practice focuses on products liability, toxic torts, premises liability, personal injury, and wrongful death. He regularly defends hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, physicians, nurses, and health care systems in high-stakes medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, and insurance defense cases. Many of these cases involve arbitration, and John and his team have developed strong relationships with Kentucky’s most respected mediators and arbitrators – often knowing the decision-makers involved in our clients’ cases.
John has represented welding consumables and equipment manufacturers nationwide. He has served as national trial counsel for Hobart Brothers LLC (a subsidiary of Fortune 200 company Illinois Tool Works) since 2001. From 2001–2012, John led the defense of more than 14,000 lawsuits filed by the same legal teams that previously secured massive settlements from Big Tobacco and brought down major corporations in asbestos litigation. He played a key role in the eventual industry-wide victory, making welding manufacturers the first to successfully defeat this formidable coalition of plaintiffs’ lawyers. He was the only Kentucky attorney on the national defense team, joining legal powerhouses from Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and beyond. He was recognized in 2012 by Newsweek magazine as one of 14 national “Leaders in Asbestos Law.”
John followed a non-traditional path to a career in law. After earning his undergraduate degree, he pursued his creative ambitions in Hollywood. He sold his belongings and moved west to explore a career in film editing and production. Following valuable experiences and new perspectives gained from his time in the entertainment industry, John chose to redirect his path toward the legal profession, which he has been practicing in Kentucky since 1987.
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