Joseph W. Hovermill chairs the firm's Products Liability Practice Group. Joe's practice focuses on the defense of product manufacturers in toxic tort and environmental litigation in the region and nationally. He supervises the management of mass torts, class actions, and other multi-party litigation nationally for a publicly-traded manufacturing client, developing and implementing coordinated litigation strategies to resolve those matters favorably. Joe also acts as liaison counsel in mass torts brought in the mid-Atlantic region, coordinating the defense of such suits with plaintiff's counsel, courts and multiple defendants. Joe's experience includes mass torts alleging occupational exposure or environmental contamination arising out of a variety of allegedly toxic substances, including asbestos, silica, mold, vinyl chloride, benzene, nickel, lead, perchlorate, and TCE/PCE. Joe also heads up the firm's team of experienced policyholder insurance coverage lawyers. He regularly represents policyholders (including a number of large publicly-traded and privately-held companies) in insurance coverage and/or insurance-related issues. Joe assists business clients in the retention and analysis of insurance, including coverages offered under CGL, workers compensation, Property, D&O, E&O and specialty policies. He also handles or, if necessary, litigates coverage disputes arising out of a variety of insurance policies. Outside the products liability and insurance areas, Joe's practice encompasses a range of complex civil matters including nationwide/statewide class action litigation and business disputes. He is regional counsel to a large financial services company for all lawsuits brought in the region arising out of that company's credit card operations. Joe received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, was named one of the Best Lawyers in America ® and was listed as a Maryland Super Lawyer. In 2011, he was also named among the "Top 50" Maryland Super Lawyers. Credentials American Bar Association: Trial Tort and Insurance Practice Section Baltimore Business Journal: 40 Under 40 Award (2007) Baltimore City Bar Association Baltimore County Bar Association Best Lawyers in America ®: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants (2009-2012) Defense Research Institute, Inc. International Association of Defense Counsel Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: AV Rated Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc. Maryland State Bar Association Maryland Super Lawyers®: Selected for inclusion in the area of Class Actions/Mass Torts, Personal Injury Defense: Products, Insurance Coverage (2009-2012); Named among the Top 100 Maryland Super Lawyers (2012); Named among the Top 50 Maryland Super Lawyers (2011) Super Lawyers® - Corporate Counsel Edition: Selected for inclusion in the area of Personal Injury Defense: Products (September 2009) Publications "California Supreme Court Rejects a Duty to Warn for Other Manufacturers' Products," Miles & Stockbridge News Brief (Co-Author) (January 2012). "Expanding Federal Diversity Removal Jurisdiction?" Law360 (Co-Author) (March 26, 2010). "Duty To Warn For Other Manufacturers' Products?" Law360 (Co-Author) (November 23, 2009). "Medicare Reporting - Those Who Hesitate Are Lost," Law360 (Co-Author) (October 9, 2009). "Is Wood The Next Asbestos? It Shouldn't Be," Law360 (Co-Author) (July 10, 2009). "When Nobody Knows What the Company Knows," For the Defense (November 2008). "Are your Chinese Suppliers Adequately Insured?" The Gazette of Politics & Business, Legal Review (2008). "High Crimes or Misdemeanors: Avoiding Legal Brawls From Bar Room Brawls," The Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc. (Winter 2005). "Not Thy Brother's Keeper: Who's Duty is it?" For The Defense (October 2005). "Start Thinking of your Insurance as an Asset, Rather than a Liability," Baltimore Business Journal (September 24-30, 2004). "Forensic Insurance Investigations: Finding Coverage in Old Policies" DRI Industry-Wide Litigation Subcommittee Newsletter (June 2003). "Mold Claims May be Excluded from Your CGL Policy -- 2002 Update," Mealey's Litigation Report: Mold (May 2002). "Are Mold Claims Excluded from Your CGL Policy?" Mealey's Litigation Report: Mold Vol. 1 No. 3 (March 2001). "Upfront Challenges to Mold Class Action," For the Defense Vol. 43, No. 8 (2001). "Without Consent: Establishing a Corporation Successor's Rights to the Predecessor's Insurance Coverage," 37 Torts & Insurance Law Journal 1, 105 (2001). Speaking Engagements "Fitting into the National Scene: How Do We See Ourselves, How Do Others See Us?," Harris Martin's Delaware Asbestos Conference, Wilmington Delaware (Panelist) (March 2011). "Emerging Trends in Asbestos Insurance Coverage Litigation," Mealey's Emerging Trends in Asbestos Litigation Conference, Los Angeles, California (March 2008). "The Role of Insurance Coverage in Asbestos Cases," American Conference Institute's Litigating, Settling, and Managing Asbestos Claims, Las Vegas, Nevada (June 2006). "The Cost of Taking Ownership - Facing Successor Liability Issues in Asbestos Litigation," Mealey's National Asbestos Litigation Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (September 2005). "Managing Outside Counsel Through Proven Reporting Structures," National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes that Cost You in Court, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (September 2003). "Found Money in a Tight Economy: Identifying and Managing Your Historic Insurance Assets," National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana (June 2003). "Securing Predecessor Insurance Coverage," RPM International Inc. Third Annual Corporate Counsel Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland (May 2003). "Keeping Up With the Rapidly Evolving Practice in Class Actions and Mass Torts," National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Chicago, Illinois (March 2003). "It's 2003, Do You Know Where Your Insurance Policies Are?" National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Chicago, Illinois (2003). "Saving Defense Costs Through Joint Defense Groups Without Giving Up Necessary Control," National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Chicago, Illinois (2003). "Impact of Insurance Coverage and Trial of a Mold Case," Mealey's Mold Litigation Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (May 2002). "Insurance Coverage and Claim Prevention Issues: Mold, the Next Asbestos?" Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc., Chesapeake Chapter (September 2001). |