Frank R. DeSantis

Practices

• Business Litigation

Professional Experience

Frank is a trial lawyer with experience in complex civil and business litigation, including experience litigating cases (both plaintiff and defendant) in the following areas: securities, commercial (including contract and employment litigation, shareholder disputes, trade secrets, etc.); tax, construction tort litigation; product liability actions; class action suits; and school law. Included in his experience in product liability matters, Frank has handled a significant number of cases in which he has defended clients in asbestos related law suits, including personal injury and wrongful death claims.

Frank has extensive experience in professional negligence matters, including legal malpractice, accounting negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, lawyer disciplinary proceedings and attorney ethics. Along with serving as the Firm's Ethics Counsel since 2003, he has also served on the Ohio Supreme Courts Board of Commissioners on the Unauthorized Practice of Law (including two years as its Chair), and was a member of the Cuyahoga County Bar Association Certified Grievance Committee for many years (including two years as its Chair). Frank has also served as an expert in legal malpractice cases on behalf of both plaintiff clients and defendant attorneys and has lectured often on ethics and professionalism issues.

Frank also participates in the firm's Tax Controversy practice. After obtaining a Masters in Business Administration and a concentration in tax law in law school, he was accepted in 1980 for the Honors Program with the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS. As a trial lawyer in the Cleveland District Counsel's Office of the IRS, Frank represented the Service in many trials before the United States Tax Court. Frank was also the first trial lawyer assigned to participate in the Utility Industry Specialization Program. In that capacity, he was involved in several significant tax disputes involving Fortune 500 companies including a two week trial involving potential revenue impact for the government of over $500 million per year. Since leaving the IRS, Frank has been involved in numerous Tax Court and United States District Court lawsuits on behalf of taxpayers.

Admitted: 1980, Pennsylvania (inactive) and Tax Court; 1983, Ohio; 1984, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio; 1991, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania; 1993, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas; 1997, U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; 2001, U.S. Supreme Court

Education

• Gonzaga University School of Law, J.D., 1979, magna cum laude
• Gannon University, M.B.A., 1977
• Mercyhurst College, B.A., 1973

• Anchor v. Linton, No. 99-3702, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 24077; (6th Cir., September 25, 2000)
• Black v. Barberton Citizens Hospital, 134 F. 3d 1265; (6th Cir., 1998)
• Tri-State Hotels v. FDIC, 79 F.3d 707; (8th Cir. 1996)
• Cuyahoga County Bar Association v. Santarelli,  (1997), 79 Ohio St. 3d 390; 683 N.E.2d 1071
• Cuyahoga County Bar Association v. Petrancek, (1996), 76 Ohio St. 3d 571; 669 N.E. 2d 828
• Cleveland Bar Association v. Stranathan, (1994), 71 Ohio St. 3d 303; 643 N.E.2d 1077
• DeMeo v. Provident Bank, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 2475 (Cuyahoga Cty. June 16, 2008)
• Wiggins v. Waltz, No. 74864, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 4667; (8th Dist., September 30, 1999)
• H & D Steel Serv. v. Weston, Hurd, Fallon, Paisley & Howley, No. 72758, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 3422; (8th Dist., July 23, 1998)
• Springer v. Emerson Elec. Co., No. 67705, 1995 Ohio App. LEXIS 3979; (8th Dist., September 14, 1995)
• Columbia Properties, Inc. v. Tiedeman, No. 53862, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 3054; (8th Dist., July 28, 1988)
• Consumers Power Co., v. Commissioner, (1987), 89 T.C. 710
• Estate of Gilford v. Commissioner, (1987), 88 T.C. 38
• DeMars v. Commissioner, (1982), 79 T.C. 247
• McGuire v. Commissioner, (1981), 77 T.C. 765
• Malandro v. Commissioner, (1989), T.C. Memo 1989-135
• McLeod v. Commissioner, (1986), T.C. Memo 1986-395
• Ragone v. Commissioner, (1984), T.C. Memo 1984-538
• Sammons v. Commissioner, (1984), T.C. Memo 1984-414
• Morgan v. Commissioner, (1984), T.C. Memo 1984-384
• Fisher v. Commissioner, (1984), T.C. Memo 1984-216
• Benson v. Commissioner, (1983), T.C. Memo 1983-775
• Medina v. Commissioner, (1983), T.C. Memo 1983-253
• Blackburn v. Commissioner, (1982), T.C. Memo 1982-528
• Blackburn v. Commissioner, (1982), T.C. Memo 1982-529
• Allen v. Commissioner, (1982), T.C. Memo 1982-455
• Pimbley v. Commissioner, (1982), T.C. Memo 1982-103

• Received the Cuyahoga County Bar Association's President's Award for Outstanding Service 1993
• Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers by Ohio Super Lawyer magazine 2006-2012
• Selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of American Trial Lawyer Honorary Society
• Awarded 2009 William K. Thomas Professionalism Award for enhancing professionalism and ethics in the greater Cleveland legal community.