Member Bio
Tom is a partner in the Business Litigation and Product Liability practice groups, as well as the firm's Loss Prevention Partner. He experience includes substantial work in professional liabilty for attorneys and fiduciaries, inluding adversary proceedings in and related to probate court matters. His works also includes a variety of complex civil litigation matters, including commercial disputes, shareholders' rights, contract claims, toxic tort, class actions, securities, fiduciary duty and employment related issues.
Education
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1987, magna cum laude
Kent State University, B.S., 1983
Representative Matters
Representation of parties in numerous litigations involving breach of fiduciary duty claims regarding investments, administration of significant trust assets and corporate governance.
Represntation of law firms in adversary proceedings brought by Trustees of bankrupt law firms for "unfinished busines" claims.
Representation of chemical industry in matters involving employee injuries and related fraud and conspiracy allegations in numerous cases across the U.S.
Representation of developer in disputes with city over zoning and construction disputes regarding residential developments, including constitutional claims for improper shutdown of construction.
Representation of Trustees in actions involving claimed breaches of duty and resulting investment losses.
Representation of will and trust beneficiaries in disputes regarding interpretation of multiple instruments controlling disposition of multimillion dollar trust corpus.
Representation of investors defrauded of multimillion dollar investments by financial advisor.
Numerous representations of shareholders in closely held corporations against co-shareholders regarding usurpation of corporate opportunities, wasting or theft of corporate assets and other disputes.
Reported Cases:
Nixon v. Wilmington Trust Co., No. 07-4140 (6th Cir. 9/29/2008) (Trustee liability)
Peterson v. Progressive Corp. 2006-Ohio-6175 (Class action)
Sachs v. Phillips, 2006-Ohio-5100 (Fiduciary duty)
Natl. City Bank v. Noble, 2005-Ohio-6484 (Trustee liability)
Porter v. Litigation Mgt., Inc., 146 Ohio App.3d 558, 2001-Ohio-4298 (Employment claims)
Jones v. Sumser Retirement Village, 209 F .3d 851 (2000), 10 AM. Disability Cas. (BNA) 790 (ADA discrimination)
Boedeker v. Rogers, 136 Ohio App.3d 425 (1999) (Class action)
Boedeker v. Rogers, 140 Ohio App.3d 11 (2000) (Class action)
Schachner v. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Ohio, 77 F .3d 889 (6th Cir. 1996) (ERISA class action)
Steiner v. Van Dorn, 104 Ohio App.3d 51 (1995) (Class action)
Mackey v. Cleveland State University, 837 F.Supp. 1396, 64 Employment Practice Rep. 42,980 (N.D. Ohio, July 20, 1993)
Record Data International, Inc. v. Record Data of Michigan, Inc., 677 F.Supp. 915 (N.D. Ohio 1988)
Sedar v. Knowlton Construction Co., 49 Ohio St.3d 193 (1990)
Publications
"Keeping It All In The Family: Addressing Concentrations of Stock for Grantor, Trustees and Beneficiaries" · Cleveland Bar Journal, December 2005
"The Alleged Molestation Victim, the Rules of Evidence, and the Constitution: Should Children Really Be Seen and Not Heard?", 14 AmJ. Crim.L. 227, 230-33 (1988); REPRINTED : Fattah, E.A. (ed.) (1992) Towards a Critical Victimology, St. Martins Press, Great Britain
Presentations
Tom has presented at seminars on a variety of civil litigation topics including fiduciary duty, lender liability, employment issues, arbitration and depositions in civil matters. These include:
Conspiracy Theory: Defending Industry Wide Conspiracy Claims, Defense Research Institute TTEL Annual Meeting, March 2008
Top Ten Lessons in Defending Industry Wide Conspiracy Claims, Defense Research Institute, September 2007
Guest Lecture Western Mass School of Law – Expert Scientific Evidence, February 2009
Fiduciary claims against Hedge Funds, Sept. 2006 and 2007
Fiduciary Duties and Confidentiality, Ohio State Bar Association
Evidentiary Issues in Adversary Matters in Probate Court, Ohio State Bar Association
Lender Liability in Ohio
Taking and Defending Depositions in Ohio
Arbitration Issues in Employment Disputes
Sexual Harassment
Contract Litigation
Awards & Honors
Martindale AV rating
Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers by Ohio Super Lawyer Magazine