- Find a Lawyer
- /
- United States
- /
- Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs
- /
- Illinois
Find Lawyers in Illinois, United States for Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs
Practice Area Overview
Products liability, therefore, often involves complex litigation. The nature of a products liability claim is dependent on the jurisdiction or state where the injured person lives, the type of product, and the variety and cause of the defect. Product defects can surface in different facets of the user experience including defects in design, manufacturing, or even when a manufacturer fails to warn of associated dangers in the product’s use. Moreover, liability in these cases can rest on many different parties ascending the supply chain up to the original manufacturer - from the manufacturer and distributor to the supplier and retailer. After gathering all of this information, a knowledgeable attorney will determine the appropriate type of claim that should be pursued including strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, or even fraud.
Strict Liability: Rather than focus on the behavior of the manufacturer (as in negligence), strict liability claims focus on the product itself. Under strict liability, the manufacturer is liable for harm caused by the defective product, even if the manufacturer was not negligent in making that product defective.
Negligence: This case type most resembles an ordinary negligence lawsuit. In addition to duty, defect, causation, and injury, the injured party needs to prove that the manufacturer or seller breached its duty to the person harmed.
Breach of Warranty: When the maker of a product warrants its characteristics, if it fails in one of those characteristics and the failure causes an injury, a breach of warranty claim arises. Warranties can be express (written or sometimes verbal) or implied by law.
Select a city from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Cities
Jennifer L. Ashley joined Salvi, Schostok & Prichard P.C., in 2012 and was named partner in 2014. She focuses her practice on the areas of personal injury and wrongful death law including cases that involve car accidents , premises liability and products liability . During her time with the firm, Ms. Ashley has personally secured over $70 million on behalf of her injured clients, including: $16 million settlement for a man who lost his leg in a Lake County car crash $3.14 million settleme...
John Barnerd is a Partner at Simmons Hanly Conroy. He joined the firm in 2002 as mesothelioma and asbestos attorney, and today is a member of the firm’s management committee. He previously served for two years as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Madison County, Ill. John earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Illinois College and graduated with his J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law. In 2010, Chicago Lawyers Magazine recognized him as a top 40 Under 40 ...
Stephan D. Blandin is a principal and partner in Romanucci & Blandin LLC, a Chicago-based personal injury firm. Since co-founding the firm in 1998, Mr. Blandin has focused his practice on catastrophic plaintiff’s personal injury and wrongful death cases involving motor vehicle and airplane crashes, medical negligence, product liability and workplace accidents. He also has a particular passion for birth injury cases in Illinois, Wisconsin and Arizona. At Romanucci & Blandin, Mr. ...
Aaron D. Boeder became a member of the Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., legal team in 2010, focusing his practice in the areas of medical malpractice , catastrophic injury , mass torts and wrongful death law. Mr. Boeder has helped secure a number of noteworthy verdicts and settlements for his clients. In 2021, Mr. Boeder obtained a $ 21.05 million jury verdict on behalf of a woman who suffered a spinal injury in a Maywood, Ill. car crash. In 2017, he obtained an $11.25 million jury verdi...
Tracy Brammeier is no stranger to tort law, having worked as a clerk at the firm for years and then jumping into courtroom work and complex tort cases. In fact, her intelligence and legal acumen have led her to already have worked on some of the biggest lawsuits filed at the firm, led by partners directing the cases. She works closely with partner Kevin P. Durkin handling many transportation accident matters. Tracy has worked on several cases involving bicyclists struck by trucks, a man who s...
Shareholder Perry Browder is head of the Asbestos Department at Simmons Hanly Conroy. He has worked for more than 30 years helping numerous families resolve hundreds of million dollar-plus cases. He started at the firm in 2001 and played a key role in helping the firm develop a national reputation. Within a few years, he had successfully secured one of the largest asbestos verdicts in the country, a $250 million verdict against U.S. Steel. Today, Perry manages the firm’s more than 50 as...
Susan Capra, a partner at Clifford Law Offices, P.C., has spent her entire professional life serving others in times of difficulty and crisis, first as a nurse and currently as an attorney. Susan knew from an early age, through the example of her parents, that her mission in life was to serve others. After graduating from college with a nursing degree, Susan worked at Children’s Memorial Hospital, now known as Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The majority of Susan’s nur...
Attorney Frank V. Cesarone believes that passion and a proactive approach are the keys to success in the legal profession. At every stage of litigation, Frank maintains an unwavering focus on his client’s best interests. Since joining Meyers & Flowers, LLC in 2013, Frank has been actively involved in the firm’s product liability and?personal injury practices. He takes pride in being a voice for victims of neglectful physicians, drug companies, and medical device manufacturers....
Bob Clifford is the founder of Clifford Law Offices, which concentrates its practice in helping victims of personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, mass torts and class actions, consumer and health care fraud, product liability, and aviation and transportation disasters. Bob regularly handles complex damage cases and routinely receives multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. He was named one of America's Top 200 Lawyers in Forbes' inaugural list in 2024. Clifford Law Offic...
Bradley M. Cosgrove is a Chicago medical malpractice attorney, personal injury attorney, and partner at Clifford Law Offices. He is an experienced trial attorney in the areas of medical malpractice, trucking accidents, automobile collisions, personal injury, and wrongful death who believes that results speak for themselves. As a young Chicago personal injury attorney, Brad began his career as a trial lawyer. As a matter of fact, he undertook his first jury trial just one day after he received...
Tara R. Devine joined Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., in March 2004 and became the firm’s first female partner in 2011. In 2018, Ms. Devine was promoted to Managing Partner of the firm’s Waukegan office. She concentrates her practice in the areas of personal injury , nursing home negligence , wrongful death , medical malpractice and product liability cases . Ms. Devine has helped achieve numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of her clients in perso...
As a Partner in the Asbestos Department, Paul supervises a team of attorneys and legal staff who handle mesothelioma cases filed throughout the United States. Paul and his team have represented hundreds of mesothelioma victims, recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on their behalf. Managing the trial team is only part of Paul’s responsibilities. As an asbestos attorney, he personally handles all aspects of his clients’ cases, which can include inve...
Colin Dunn is a highly successful premise liability lawyer, aviation accident attorney, and partner at Clifford Law Offices. He obtained his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, graduating magna cum laude. Mr. Dunn was eighth in his class of 169, and served on the Law Journal. During law school, he worked for the Honorable Justice Ann Williams of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals as well as for the Honorable Judge Ronald Guzman of the United States District Court for...
Kevin Durkin is a partner at Clifford Law Offices. Over a career that spans more than 35 years, Mr. Durkin has successfully represented clients in many practice areas, including: Aviation accident litigation and transportation liability Truck, railroad and automobile litigation Premises liability and negligent security Medical malpractice Mr. Durkin has been named a top-tier attorney by U.S. News-Best Lawyers in the areas of personal injury litigation, aviation law and product liability since...
Peter J. Flowers believes a hands-on approach is the only way to handle delicate cases involving serious injury and death. A partner in the firm of Meyers & Flowers, Pete has represented countless families whose lives have been tragically changed because of medical malpractice, catastrophic injuries from workplace injuries and automobile accidents, and from defective products. He has also represented the victims and families of victims of nursing home abuse and of sexual abuse. His attent...
Charles R. Haskins (Chuck) concentrates his practice on medical malpractice, products liability, and premises liability litigation. Chuck has worked at Clifford Law Offices for a number of years. Starting as a clerk, his commitment to his work and dedication to the law was immediately recognized. Chuck decided to work at Clifford Law Offices because of his interest in helping the injured, those who are in their most desperate times of need, and he does so with a calm, studied manner as he app...
Keith Hebeisen is a partner at Clifford Law Offices. One of the most respected medical malpractice attorneys in Illinois, Mr. Hebeisen has achieved great results for clients in settlements and trials. Although Mr. Hebeisen concentrates his practice in the area of medical malpractice cases against doctors and hospitals, he has represented individuals in a wide variety of cases, including transportation, product liability and toxic torts. We are proud to have him on our team. Mr. Hebeisen has b...
Sarah F. King is one of Chicago’s rising medical malpractice lawyers at the firm and one of the most hard-working, intelligent attorneys one can find. She works tirelessly to investigate and prepare complex medical malpractice cases to achieve justice for those who have been harmed by medical negligence. She works with dedication and tenacity to get to the bottom of what actually happened and what proper practices should have been used to prevent injuries related to medical care. It is ...
Shannon McNulty is a Chicago personal injury lawyer and wrongful death attorney who comes to Clifford Law Offices with a wealth of professional experience from previous employment. Having worked for 10 years with the administration of the Chicago Police Department, she served as the Director of Administration in the Bureau of Operational Services. In this critical role, she was Chief of Staff to the First Deputy Superintendent. She not only became familiar with the inner workings of this comp...
Conard Metcalf has successfully represented hundreds of men and women diagnosed with asbestos-caused cancers, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, as well as individuals suffering from asbestosis and other occupational diseases and toxic injuries. Mr. Metcalf has been invited to speak about asbestos-related diseases at medical conferences and legal seminars and has published articles about occupational diseases in several legal journals. Mr. Metcalf received his law degree from the Universit...
A trial lawyer since 1998, Tom Mulroy joined Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., in January of 2018. Tom brings a unique perspective to the firm, having extensive experience conducting trials by jury on behalf of defendants in negligence cases. As such, he has inside understanding and mastery of the strategy and tactics used by our opponents. In fact, during his two decades as a defense trial lawyer, Tom never lost a single trial. He brings that same level of intensity and competitiveness t...
Stephen D. Phillips is the managing partner at Phillips Law Offices in Chicago . Mr. Phillips was the 2013 President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the largest association for trial lawyers in the state of Illinois, and he remains a current executive committee member . He also was inducted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers – limited to 500 attorneys worldwide – in 2011 as well the International Society of Barristers from 2020 to the present day. Stephen e...
As a trial lawyer, Jim’s philosophy on litigation is based on integrity and hard work for his clients. True to his roots as a prosecutor, Jim values fighting for justice on behalf of those people harmed and always acts with a sense of urgency to hold wrongdoers accountable. While at Clifford Law Offices, Jim has worked on behalf of many individuals and families whose lives have been forever impacted. As the youngest of six children born and raised on Chicago’s Southside, Jim learn...
Patrick A. Salvi concentrates his legal practice in cases concerning serious personal injury , medical malpractice , wrongful death , and mass torts . Mr. Salvi has achieved record-breaking jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients throughout the state, including serving as lead counsel on a trial team that won an Illinois record-high $148 million jury verdict and a Lake County record $33 million jury verdict . In 1982, Mr. Salvi founded the law firm of Salvi, Schostok & Prit...
Patrick A. Salvi II joined Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. in 2007 and was named Managing Partner of the Chicago office in 2017. He concentrates his legal practice on cases concerning personal injury , medical malpractice , mass torts , and product liability . Mr. Salvi has obtained many record-breaking jury verdicts on behalf of his clients. The following are cases he has tried to a verdict: $ 363 million for a woman who developed breast cancer from toxic emissions $148 million for a pa...
Partner Melissa Crowe Schopfer joined Simmons Hanly Conroy in 2005 as an asbestos and mesothelioma attorney. In November 2012, she became an asbestos trial team leader, where her responsibilities include managing a team of attorneys and legal staff. She has worked on over 500 cases in the past 10 years and helped recover over $100 million in settlements and verdicts on behalf of individuals and families impacted by mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. She has represented clients ...
John Simmons founded the firm in 1999 with seven employees and a focus on asbestos litigation. Under his leadership, the firm has expanded to more than 250 employees, including more than 80 attorneys, spread between five offices in Alton, St. Louis, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. John has overseen some of the biggest verdicts and settlements in the history of asbestos litigation. The firm’s first trial involved a roofer and former Shell Oil employee diagnosed with mesothelioma...
Biography: Todd A. Smith, Founding Partner, Smith LaCien LLP Making Access to Justice a Personal Crusade A native of Evanston, Ill., and with a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Todd A. Smith, a founding partner with Brian LaCien of Smith LaCien LLP, has practiced law for over 40 years. He has won some of the largest multi-million dollar jury awards and settlements in serious personal injury, product liability, wrongful death, and medical malpractice cases in Illinois. ...
Michael Sorich, Partner Cavanagh Law Group partner Michael J. Sorich is a veteran trial attorney who has obtained more than $80 million in verdicts and settlements for clients in Illinois and across the United States. The former prosecutor has expertise in every facet of personal injury law and boasts extensive experience in trucking, wrongful death and medical malpractice cases. In 2018, he was part of the Cavanagh Law Group trial team that obtained a landmark $20 million “code of sile...
Craig Squillace has worked for a number of years on various cases, particularly vehicular accident cases, at Clifford Law Offices. He also has worked on claims due to medical negligence, product liability, transportation litigation, and municipal liability. In 2015, he obtained a record $4 million settlement in Will County on behalf of a family who lost their 60-year-old mother in a tragic trucking crash. He was part of the Clifford Law Offices team that reached a settlement with a major auto...
Attorney – Jason Williams biography Jason Williams is a Chicago personal injury attorney at Smith LaCien LLP, concentrating in catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death. He joined the firm in December 2021 after eight years as a solo practitioner, litigating cases at the trial and appellate levels on complex computer matters, medical malpractice, healthcare, antitrust and commercial work, and trusts and estates. The firm regularly confronts powerful corporatio...
Attorney Jared Hausmann is an associate at Simmons Hanly Conroy. He focuses his practice on helping individuals and their families who have been affected by mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. His practice concentrates on motions, defendant discovery and appeals. “I became an attorney to help individuals vindicate their rights,” said Jared. “I believe that the victim of a rights violation should be fully compensated for the harm caused by the inj...
Attorney Luke Pfeifer is an associate at Simmons Hanly Conroy, where he focuses his practice on helping families affected by mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. He joined the firm in 2019. Knowledge, Empathy and Passion Luke decided to become a plaintiffs’ lawyer because he wanted to be a voice for those who do not possess the means to speak for themselves. “My clients should expect me to handle their case as though I was representing one of my own family members,&rd...
Philip E. Proud is an attorney at Simmons Hanly Conroy, where he focuses his practice on helping those affected by asbestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma. Philip works directly with clients from the start of their case to its resolution and helps with all aspects of the legal process in between. “Once I receive a case, my clients can expect open communication, due diligence, honesty and empathy,” Philip explained. “My clients are individuals, families, and I make ev...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.