Ice Miller's Asbestos Litigation Practice Group has defended clients in asbestos personal injury matters since the inception of asbestos litigation over forty years ago.
The group's background includes defending three clients in one of the nation's earliest premises liability cases to go to trial in a matter brought by what was then known as the Ness Motley plaintiffs law firm. Over the years, the Firm has been at the forefront of the laws, changes, rules, and technology of asbestos litigation and other mass torts.
Ice Miller has represented nearly 60 different clients in what are often complex, multi-party matters; involving state, national and multi-national product manufacturers, distributors and premises owners. Ice Miller attorneys have at times managed asbestos litigation caseloads numbering in the thousands. Our practice has handled cases ranging from the occasional "one-off" matter, to several hundred cases for multiple individual clients, to approximately 2,000 matters and premises for one defendant sued in asbestos product liability cases. The caseload is handled by a "right-sized" staff of partners, associates and paralegals, as demands of the cases require. The Asbestos Litigation group can draw upon an extensive bench of Ice Miller partners and other attorneys, as well as paralegals and nurse consultants, all of whom have worked specifically on asbestos cases.
Ice Miller serves as national counsel for companies who are sued in the states where they are headquartered, as well as other jurisdictions. The Firm sometimes works in partnership with local counsel—oftentimes a necessity when defending cases in Madison County, Illinois and some of the other, more challenging venues. Ice Miller has represented defendants at depositions of plaintiffs residing in one state, but whose case was filed in other jurisdictions. The Asbestos Litigation group has often been called upon to provide insights concerning state law for cases outside of that jurisdiction, to assist the client's counsel in choice of law analyses. Because of the number of companies Ice Miller represents, our clients are often able to enjoy significant cost-savings by sharing joint defense costs, while still receiving individual attention to meet the client's objectives.