Firm News and Current Topics of Interest

This section addresses events of interest involving the firm and the legal profession in general.

• The firm successfully concluded its defense of U.S. Silica in the Ohio silica litigation when its summary judgment motion was granted in the last case on July 15, 2008 by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Francis E. Sweeney. The litigation, at its peak, involved over 1,850 claims against this client. The disposition of this litigation was achieved in six years, without the payment of any money in settlement and without the trial of any cases.

• Bunda Stutz & DeWitt PLL has been certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and by the City of Toledo as a Women’s Business Enterprise.

• Theresa DeWitt has written an article on the strategy and practical issues involved in the management of mass tort litigation. Anticipated publication date is the Fall, 2008.

• Robert Bunda is drafting an article on the recent revisions to the Ohio Product Liability Act, including adoption of a statute of repose, revisions to the comparative negligence statute and revision of the consumer expectation test for determining design defect. The article will appear in the Fall issue of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys (OACTA), the OACTA Quarterly.

• Barbara Machin has recently assumed chairmanship of the Board of Directors of St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Ohio. Her term will run for two years. In this capacity, she has first-hand experience with issues of hospital governance, finance and competition in a rapidly changing environment. 

• Bunda Stutz & DeWitt PLL has recently been named defense counsel in the Ohio and Michigan asbestos litigation for a national conglomerate which owns several valve and valve-related companies.

• The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, located in Toledo, Ohio, has been selected as the transferor court for multi-district litigation involving allegations of contaminated Heparin used in dialysis and other medical procedures. Bunda Stutz & DeWitt has researched the medical use of Heparin in connection with medical malpractice litigation.

• David Gray is working with a Fortune 500 client on adapting its information technology policies and procedures in response to the adoption of e-discovery amendments to
  the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and their ongoing and anticipated extension into state rules on discovery. This work incorporates Mr. Gray’s long-standing interest
  and experience in computer systems with the developing case law and legal issues
  in this area.