Tom is a partner in the Business Litigation and Product Liability practice groups, as well as the firm's Loss Prevention Partner. He handles a wide variety of complex civil litigation matters, including commercial disputes, shareholders' rights, contract claims, toxic tort, class actions, securities, fiduciary duty and employment related issues.

Education

  • Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1987, magna cum laude
  • Kent State University, B.S., 1983

Representative Matters

  • Representation of parties in numerous litigations involving breach of fiduciary duty claims regarding investments, administration of significant trust assets and corporate governance.
  • Representation of chemical industry in matters involving employee injuries and related fraud and conspiracy allegations in numerous cases across the U.S.
  • Representation of developer in disputes with city over zoning and construction disputes regarding residential developments, including constitutional claims for improper shutdown of construction.
  • Representation of Trustees in actions involving claimed breaches of duty and resulting investment losses.
  • Representation of will and trust beneficiaries in disputes regarding interpretation of multiple instruments controlling disposition of multimillion dollar trust corpus.
  • Representation of investors defrauded of multimillion dollar investments by financial advisor.
  • Numerous representations of shareholders in closely held corporations against co-shareholders regarding usurpation of corporate opportunities, wasting or theft of corporate assets and other disputes.
  • Reported Cases:
  • Nixon v. Wilmington Trust Co., No. 07-4140 (6th Cir. 9/29/2008) (Trustee liability)
  • Peterson v. Progressive Corp. 2006-Ohio-6175 (Class action)
  • Sachs v. Phillips, 2006-Ohio-5100 (Fiduciary duty)
  • Natl. City Bank v. Noble, 2005-Ohio-6484 (Trustee liability)
  • Porter v. Litigation Mgt., Inc., 146 Ohio App.3d 558, 2001-Ohio-4298 (Employment claims)
  • Jones v. Sumser Retirement Village, 209 F .3d 851 (2000), 10 AM. Disability Cas. (BNA) 790 (ADA discrimination)
  • Boedeker v. Rogers, 136 Ohio App.3d 425 (1999) (Class action)
  • Boedeker v. Rogers, 140 Ohio App.3d 11 (2000) (Class action)
  • Schachner v. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Ohio, 77 F .3d 889 (6th Cir. 1996) (ERISA class action)
  • Steiner v. Van Dorn, 104 Ohio App.3d 51 (1995) (Class action)
  • Mackey v. Cleveland State University, 837 F.Supp. 1396, 64 Employment Practice Rep. 42,980 (N.D. Ohio, July 20, 1993)
  • Record Data International, Inc. v. Record Data of Michigan, Inc., 677 F.Supp. 915 (N.D. Ohio 1988)
  • Sedar v. Knowlton Construction Co., 49 Ohio St.3d 193 (1990)

Professional & Civic Involvement

Professional Associations

Ohio State Bar Association · Section on Litigation
Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (Litigation Committee, former chair, Practice and Procedure Clinic on Civil litigation)

Professional Activities

Shaker Family Center · President of Board of Trustees
Cleveland Marshall Law Alumni Association · Board of Trustees

Publications

  • "Keeping It All In The Family: Addressing Concentrations of Stock for Grantor, Trustees and Beneficiaries" · Cleveland Bar Journal, December 2005
  • "The Alleged Molestation Victim, the Rules of Evidence, and the Constitution: Should Children Really Be Seen and Not Heard?", 14 AmJ. Crim.L. 227, 230-33 (1988); REPRINTED : Fattah, E.A. (ed.) (1992) Towards a Critical Victimology, St. Martins Press, Great Britain
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Presentations

Tom has presented at seminars on a variety of civil litigation topics including fiduciary duty, lender liability, employment issues, arbitration and depositions in civil matters. These include:

  • Conspiracy Theory: Defending Industry Wide Conspiracy Claims, Defense Research Institute TTEL Annual Meeting, March 2008
  • Top Ten Lessons in Defending Industry Wide Conspiracy Claims, Defense Research Institute, September 2007
  • Guest Lecture Western Mass School of Law – Expert Scientific Evidence, February 2009
  • Fiduciary claims against Hedge Funds, Sept. 2006 and 2007
  • Fiduciary Duties and Confidentiality, Ohio State Bar Association
  • Evidentiary Issues in Adversary Matters in Probate Court, Ohio State Bar Association
  • Lender Liability in Ohio
  • Taking and Defending Depositions in Ohio
  • Arbitration Issues in Employment Disputes
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Contract Litigation
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Awards & Honors



  • Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers by Ohio Super Lawyer magazine in 2007 and 2008