Ulmer & Berne has functioned as Ohio counsel and as national counsel for numerous former manufacturers or distributors of asbestos, silica, lead, and other occupational/industrial products. Currently, the firm represents over 40 companies involved in the asbestos litigation and in the newly emerging silica litigation, in more than 70,000 lawsuits pending in federal and state court. To date, we have successfully resolved over 20,000 claims.
In Ohio, the firm is responsible for the day-to-day management of thousands of cases that are on the active trial docket. We routinely obtain summary judgments or voluntary dismissals on behalf of our clients in the vast majority of all cases filed.
Ulmer & Berne currently serves as national coordinating counsel for eight companies (four in the asbestos, and four in the silica litigation) in thousands of cases filed across the country.
As national counsel, we actively defend asbestos cases in some of the country’s more challenging jurisdictions including West Virginia and Madison County, Illinois. We have developed and implemented national defense strategies for our clients not only in traditional product liability cases, but also in premise liability cases. National counsel responsibilities also include developing responses to discovery in all jurisdictions and the review of historical documents as a predicate to preparing discovery answers. National counsel responsibilities also commonly include supervising local counsel in various jurisdictions and resolving all discovery disputes.
Ulmer & Berne has also successfully defended direct employee-employer workplace injury claims, otherwise known as intentional tort claims, alleging exposure to various toxins including asbestos, petrochemicals, lead, and silica products.
Ulmer & Berne has a wide range of experience in defending toxic exposure cases including not only asbestos and silica exposure but also lead paint and lead pigment cases (including class action work); the alleged development of lung cancer through exposure to depleted uranium, arsenic, and chromium; the alleged development of lung disability through exposure to formaldehyde and related resins; and workplace injury claims based upon exposure to industrial solvents.
With respect to silica, Ulmer & Berne represents a variety of clients including sand distributors, grinding wheel manufacturers, clay distributors, and respiratory protection manufacturers. We have been asked to participate in the Ohio Silica Defense Core Committee, comprised of a group of attorneys who are the primary force behind the defense of the silica cases in Ohio. While the silica litigation is relatively new in Ohio, we have already had clients dismissed from numerous claims and obtained summary judgments. We are also working on obtaining experts versed in the various issues involved in the silica litigation, as we have done for years in the asbestos and lead litigation.
With respect to asbestos litigation, Ulmer & Berne has participated in obtaining summary judgment for two companies in thousands of claims brought in state court on the grounds of preemption by the Boiler Inspection Act. The grant of summary judgment was affirmed by the Appellate Court and Ohio Supreme Court – the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari, which ended the asbestos litigation in Ohio against those two clients.
Ulmer & Berne has also successfully appealed a trial court decision dismissing certain claims without prejudice for failure of service/commencement within the statute of limitations, and obtained, in the Court of Appeals, dismissal with prejudice in over 1,100 claims for our client.
Ulmer & Berne also actively participated in the creation of the reinstatement criteria for the federal asbestos multidistrict (MDL) litigation and successfully argued for the inclusion of a requirement that plaintiffs’ counsel dismiss (peripheral) defendants before the cases can be reinstated and remanded, resulting in considerable savings to the clients.
Finally, Ulmer & Berne serves as liaison counsel between plaintiffs’ attorneys and dozens of defense counsel in over 3,000 asbestos and silica claims.