Mr. Burkholder heads the Detroit office and has over 30 years of trial experience in business litigation, wrongful death actions, catastrophic injury cases, design defect cases, and product recall actions. He has represented architects, engineers and accountants in professional liability actions and has defended insurers in first party policy (fire, all risk property or business interruption) cases, as well as bad faith and excess liability claims. He has worked on complicated construction projects, representing design-build firms. He has defended pharmaceutical companies in medical device cases, ethical drug litigation and in generic drug registration litigation. His toxic tort experience includes the representation of manufacturers and distributors in lung cancer, liver cancer (nickel products), asbestosis and silicosis cases. He has tried complicated UCC cases involving requirements contracts and just-in-time inventory systems. His practice has included the representation of domestic and foreign firearm’s manufacturers. His background includes experience in the U. S. Marine Corps as a trial counsel and military judge, work as a police commissioner and training as an armorer.
In addition to direct trial representation, Mr. Burkholder has coordinated the defense of multi-state product liability actions, supervising local counsel, coordinating discovery and managing the operations of large document depositories.
Mr. Burkholder's practice involves the extensive use of computers to manage litigation and to prepare demonstrative evidence. He has supervised the use of document management programs in environmental declaratory judgment actions and the preparation of computer animations in product liability actions. He has also developed a computer based litigation and case management system that permits corporate clients to budget and track litigation expenses. Mr. Burkholder has been a frequent lecturer on demonstrative evidence and trial technique.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Burkholder practiced as a partner with McGuire Woods in Richmond, Virginia and Lord, Bissell & Brook in Chicago, Illinois
PRACTICE AREAS
• Product Liability
• Civil Litigation
• Construction Litigation
• Business & Commercial
• Management of Mass Tort Litigation
• Toxic Tort
• Insurance
• Personal Injury
NOTABLE ENGAGEMENTS
• Architects & Engineers. Represented design professionals in connection with two-ply built up roof litigation and design claims at Newport News Naval facility.
• Pharmaceutical Litigation. Acted as coordinating counsel in pharmaceutical device litigation, coordinating discovery and expert witnesses.
• Construction Litigation. Represented international design-build firm on construction claims involving renovation of largest wastewater treatment plant in North America.
• Environmental Litigation. Representation of environmental insurance carriers in declaratory judgment actions involving multi-site groundwater contamination claims.
• Product Liability Litigation. Successfully defended automotive & truck manufacturers in design defect cases in Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania (twice), Illinois (multiple), Michigan, Missouri (three cases), and Georgia state courts (twice), West Virginia, Virginia and in New York and Louisiana federal courts. Each case involved 3-6 weeks trial and six to eight figure damage claims.
• Product Liability Discovery. Acted as national discovery counsel for automotive company, coordinating all discovery for specific product lines by employing cost effective, secure intranet tools. Coordinated defense of database and electronic discovery claims.
• Litigation Management. Developed early evaluation program and case budgeting program as cost control tools for litigation assignments. Developed and implemented multi-firm collaborative extranet, as cost management tool, permitting firms and clients to share institutional knowledge and manage litigation costs.
• Food Product Equipment. Represented German manufacturer of food processing equipment in failure to warn and failure to guard litigation.
• Employment Litigation. Represented national chain of mattress distributors in employee non-compete litigation.
• Firearms Litigation. Coordinating counsel for a firearm manufacturer in connection with product liability claims and suits. Review and revision of instruction manuals, product warnings and storage container designs.
• Toxic Tort Litigation. Representation of manufacturers and distributors in lung cancer, liver cancer (nickel products), asbestosis and silicosis cases.
• Insurance Bad Faith. Successfully prosecuted bad faith claim on behalf of excess insurer against primary carrier in 2 week jury trial in Detroit Federal Court, recovering ad damnum plus interest.
• Electrical Utility Litigation. Representation of utility companies in personal injury actions involving overhead and underground cable contacts. Successfully defended utility company in electrical generating plant injury litigation.
• General Tort Litigation. Defense of trucking companies in catastrophic burn injury cases.
• Chapter 11 Litigation. Organized accounting/valuation evidence in breach of personal services contracts.
• Pharmaceutical Litigation. Successfully defended pharmaceutical manufacturer in Vistaril IV injection trial in Virginia State Court. Plaintiff’s verdict at trial reversed and judgment for Pfizer as a matter of law on appeal.
REPORTED CASES
• JB Hunt Transport Co. v. General Motors, 243 F.3rd 441 (8th Cir. 2001). Plaintiff’s reconstruction expert and “foamology” expert properly excluded on Daubert grounds.
• Leon Burns v. General Motors Corporation, __ F.2nd __ , (5th Cir. 1998) No. 96-31234. Unpublished opinion affirms trial court ruling on discovery of work file of plaintiffs’ counsel following waiver of attorney-client privilege.
• Pfizer v. Lottie Jones , 272 S.E.2nd 42, 221 Va. 681 (1980). Plaintiff’s verdict reversed and final judgment entered for pharmaceutical manufacturer where prescribing physician was fully aware of prescription drugs warnings which were found to be reasonable.
EDUCATION
• B.A., Hanover College, 1968 With Honors
• J.D. George Washington University National Law Center, 1971, Order of the Coif.
LINCENSURE AND ADMISSIONS
• State Bar of Virginia
• State Bar of Illinois
• State Bar of Michigan
• U. S. District Courts in Virginia, Illinois & Michigan
• 4th, 6th and 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
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