Groundbreaking Mesothelioma Lawyers and Defendants
With dedicated attorneys and staff, lawyers have worked hard to ensure that clients receive high quality representation. The following are profiles of some well known mesothelioma lawyers that were instrumental in shaping mesothelioma litigation.
Bio on Mark Lanier
Recognized as one of the top trial lawyers by The National Law Journal, Mark Lanier is the only plaintiffs’ attorney to be listed as one of 40 most influential attorneys across the United States. His courtroom finesse and creativity contributed to the progression of large action-suit cases. His courtroom showmanship and dedication to clients led to his selection as a “Texas Super Lawyer” from 2003 through 2007, and was named “Impact Player of the Year” in 2005 by Texas Lawyer.
Graduating from David Lipscomb University in 1981 with a B.A. in Biblical Languages and a minor in Economics, he attended the Texas Tech University School of Law. Mr. Lanier received his J.D. in 1984, and began his legal career with Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, Texas. During his time at Fulbright & Jaworski, he worked primarily in the appellate and trial divisions until he joined the small plaintiffs’ practice of Ernest Cannon and Associates. Mr. Lanier founded The Lanier Law Firm in 1990 with Bill Vernon.
The Lanier Law Firm started as a two-person firm and expanded over the years and now has 45 attorneys from New York, Houston, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles. With the help of fellow associates from the firm, Mr. Lanier participated in the first suit against Vioxx in Ernst v. Merck, winning a $253 million verdict. With verdicts totaling over $480 million, he has represented clients in personal injury, business fraud, corporate disputes, and asset recovery cases.
In 1998, Mr. Lanier led a 21-client case against asbestos manufacturers that resulted in a verdict considered to be the largest in U.S. history at the time for asbestos litigation. He has accumulated over $118 million in verdicts in asbestos cases over the years, and continues to represent asbestos victims across the U.S.
His impressive work has been mentioned by notable publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The National Law Journal. He has been a featured guest on Fox Business News, CNBC and ABC. Mr. Lanier’s turning-point trials have been the subject of several books, highlighting his extraordinary legal showmanship and accomplishments. His performance in the aforementioned Ernst v. Merck trial was described as “frighteningly powerful” by Fortune magazine.
Mr. Lanier is certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is licensed to practice in Texas, both state and federal. Mr. Lanier is also licensed to practice in the state of New York. Mr. Lanier is a speaker and part-time preacher, founding the Christian Trial Lawyers Association. The organization was designed to minister and guide other principled attorneys in cultivating their careers while maintaining their Christian perspectives. He continues to participate in nonprofit organizations and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Committee for Economic Development.
Fred Baron
Fred Baron, represented his first toxic tort client in the early 1970s. Then, he has built one of the largest toxic tort firms in the United States. Widely recognized as a trailblazer in the area of toxic tort law, one reporter noted,"[i]f the field of toxic torts were the frontier of the American West, Baron would have been driving the first wagon onto the plains." G. Taylor, "Outspoken Texan, Baron Establishes Toxic Tort Domain," Legal Times, Vol. VI, No. 25, at p. 10 (Nov. 21, 1983).
As a result of his work to protect the rights of victims of toxic substances, The National Law Journal has listed Fred as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S." (The National Law Journal, June 8, 2000). He has been honored as a lawyer who helped shape Texas law during the 20th century in "Legal Legends: A Century of Texas Law and Lawyering" (Texas Lawyer commemorative publication, June 2000) and has been named one of Dallas' top lawyers by D Magazine (May 2001 and May 2005). The University of Texas School of Law has honored him by establishing the Frederick M. Baron Chair in Law, which is held by a senior professor of the law school engaged in original research on lawyering and the civil justice system.
A life-long advocate of the environment, the consumer, and working people, Fred Baron has served as lead attorney in complex tort cases involving MTBE and TCE water contamination, radiation contamination, community lead contamination, toxic waste, and pesticide exposure.
Fred Baron has also been credited for his efforts in defeating class action settlements whereby defendant corporations attempted to settle mass tort claims for a fraction of what individuals would otherwise be entitled to recover through the legal system. Fred has twice led successful battles to convince the United States Supreme Court to de-certify nationwide class action settlements involving the "future claims" of asbestos-related injuries, or claims that might someday be brought by people who develop asbestos-related illnesses in the future. As a result of the United States Supreme Court's opinions in Amchem Products v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997) and Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp., 527 U.S. 815, 119 S.Ct. 2295, 144 L.Ed.2d 715 (1999), future victims of toxic injuries can no longer have their rights compromised by class action settlements in which they have no voice.
Lisa Blue, Ph.D.
Lisa Blue, a trial attorney and psychologist, has represented hundreds of victims of asbestos and other toxic substances since 1985. Her accomplishments in trial courts around the country earned her the honor of being named one of the top 50 women litigators in the U.S. by The National Law Journal (2002), and the honor of Trial Lawyer of the Year (1999) by the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and recognition as one of Dallas' best lawyers by D Magazine (May 2001, May 2003, and May 2005.) Dallas Business Journal likewise named her one of hte top ten litigators in Dallas. She has also been named by Law & Politics Media as one of the top 100 lawyers in Texas, top 50 women lawyers, and top 100 lawyers in Dallas.
A licensed psychologist, Lisa is certified by the American Board of Forensic Psychology and the American Board of Professional Psychology. Well-known for her work in the area of jury selection, Ms. Blue has published a book and a number of articles on the issue as well as provided over 200 lectures on the topics of jury selection, trial psychology, and witness preparation through organizations such as the State Bar of Texas, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Trial Lawyers Associations of various states, and Harvard University.
Lisa Blue is a past president of the Dallas and Texas chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has served on the Board of Directors of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice and Public Citizen. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Dallas Bar Association. She has also served on the Executive Committee and as head of the Amicus Committee for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association; the Judiciary Task Force for the American Bar Association; the Texas Supreme Court Task Force on Judicial Reform; and as the Chair of the Dallas Bar Association CLE Committee. Lisa is a member of numerous other professional organizations, including American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists; American Psychological Association; Dallas Psychological Association; American Bar Association; Texas Psychological Association; and the American Thoracic Association. In addition, Lisa is very involved in supporting the work of Exodus Ministries, a non-profit organization which provides transitional housing and support services to ex-convicts and their families.
Prior to private practice in 1985, Lisa was an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas and prosecuted over 125 criminal cases to verdict. Lisa also maintains a small practice as a counseling and forensic psychologist and assists in selecting juries and preparing witnesses as part of her psychology practice. In her spare time, Lisa enjoys the study of French and Spanish.
Ronald L. Motley
Ronald L. Motley is a lawyer and founding member of Motley Rice, LLC, a Mount Pleasant, South Carolina law firm focusing on plaintiff's litigation involving asbestos, mesothelioma law, plane crashes, securities and consumer fraud.
Ronald Motley graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law, has over his three-decade career recovered significant compensation for his asbestos and mesothelioma clients. Mr. Motley was also involved in the tobacco litigation and was portrayed in the Insider by Bruce McGill in director Michael Mann's 1999 film which starred Russell Crowe.
Mr. Motley now represents over 6,500 survivors and their family members who where survivors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Mr. Motley is pursuing claims against the financier of the 9/11 terrorists.
Mr. Motley has received the Harry M. Philo Trial Lawyer of the Year by the 50,000-member of the American Association for Justice and received the President’s Award of the National Association of Attorneys General. In 1999, he received the Youth Advocates of the Year awared for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
In addition to trying some of the first asbestos and mesothelioma cases, Mr. Motley has published extensively on asbestos litigation. These include:
How to Handle an Asbestos Case," Chapter 21, A Guide to Toxic Torts, Matthew Bender Publication;
"Medicolegal Aspects of Asbestos-Related Diseases: A Plaintiff's Attorney's Perspective," Chapter 12, Pathology of Asbestos-Associated Diseases, Roggli, et al., eds., Little, Brown and Co., 1992
"Decades of Deception: Secrets of Lead, Asbestos and Tobacco," TRIAL Magazine, October 1999.
He has been dubbed the man who took on Manville. The National Law Journal has ranked Mr. Motley as one of the most influential lawyers in America.
Richard Scruggs
Richard "Dick" Scruggs is a well known lawyer in Mississippi. He has represented individuals diagnosed with asbestos related cancers and mesothelioma since 1980. Due to the Firm's success in representing those with asbestos related injuries, the Attorneys General of the State of Mississippi and Louisiana retained the Firm in connection with cost recovery litigation against the asbestos industry.
Scruggs attended law school at the University of Mississippi with Mike Moore. He practiced law in Jackson, Mississippi and New York before opening his own private practice in Pascagoula, Mississippi..
Scruggs' brother-in-law is Senator Trent Lott, former Majority Leader of the US Senate. Scruggs is currently representing Lott through the Scruggs Katrina Group in a lawsuit against insurance company State Farm because of damage stemming from Hurricane Katrina
Scruggs was also involved in the tobacco industry litigation. The law firm filed the first suit resulted in the first settlement of its kind with the tobacco industry. The Firm's successes and position made it instrumental in negotiating the $248 billion Master Settlement Agreement in 1998.
• A.P. Greene
• A.W. Chesterton
• Anchor Packing
• Armstrong Cork
• Asbestos Claims Management
• Babcock & Wilcox
• Bendix Corporation
• Blackman Supply
• Borg Warner
• Brown & Root
• Byron Church
• Certainteed Corporation
• C.J. McBride
• Cleaver Brooks
• Combustion Engineering
• Con Edison
• Crown Cork & Seal
• Davis & Warshow
• Duro Dyne
• F.M. Charlton
• Fibreboard Corporation
• Flexitallic Gasket
• Flintkote
• Foster Wheeler Energy
• Fuller Austin Insulation
• GAF Corporation
• Garlock
• Gasket Holding
• General Electric
• General Refractories
• George A. Fuller
• Georgia Pacific
• Glen Alden
• Grant Wilson
• H.B. Fuller
• H.K. Porter
• Harbison-Walker Refractories
• Henry Quentzel
| • Indresco
• John Sore
• Joseph A. Hendel
• JT Thorpe
• Kasier Aluminum
• Kelly-Moore Paint
• Lykes Bros. Steamship
• Manville Corp.
• Metropolitan Life Insurance
• Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
• National Gypsum Company
• North American Refractories
• Owens Corning
• Parker Abex
• Pittsburgh Corning
• Plibrico Company
• Plymouth Products
• PPG Industries
• Pneumo Abex
• Proko Industries
• Rapid American
• Riley Stoker
• Robert A. Keasbey
• Ruberoid Corporation
• Sherwood Davis & Geck
• Smith-Sharpe
• Swan Transpiration
• Synkoloid
• Turner Newall
• U.S. Gypsum
• Unarco Industries
• Uniroyal Holding
• W.R. Grace
• W.S. Tyler
• Weil McLain
• Win Way
• Zurn Industries |
