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Michael Freeborn's Practice Areas:
Antitrust Litigation
Commercial Litigation
Employment Law
Environmental Litigation
Product Liability
Securities Litigation
His product liability practice has included cases
involving a diverse range of products --
 | Industrial crushers -- those huge devices that try to reduce
a car to something the size of a cigarette carton;
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| Airport Jetways -- the mobile ramps which (usually) make it easy to
walk from the concourse to the cabin of an airplane;
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| Pharmaceuticals -- useful drugs like heparin, which are
supposed to prevent clotting but sometimes do the opposite, with tragic
results;
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| Wire rope -- the metal cable which some manufacturers claim never
breaks, at least when used as instructed;
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| Dump truck flatbeds -- the movable platform on the back of some
trucks; and
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| Tobacco -- Michael assisted others in his firm representing
the State of Illinois in its historic case against the tobacco industry.
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But his best known product liability work has been in the asbestos
litigation --
| Johns-Manville Corporation
Michael began his work in the asbestos litigation in 1981, while a
partner in a previous firm. Johns-Manville asked him to lead the defense of all its cases then pending
in northern Illinois. Approximately one year later, in August 1982,
the company filed a Chapter 11 petition before any of those cases were
tried.
During the bankruptcy, he continued to assist the company as special
litigation counsel where the bankruptcy stay was lifted, such as depositions
to preserve testimony of terminally ill witnesses and plaintiffs, and the
company's insurance coverage litigation in California.
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| Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust
When the Manville Trust was later created in 1988, they likewise needed
trial counsel for the more than 100,000 cases which were then pending.
The Trust conducted a nationwide search and selected Michael and his
colleagues to serve as defense counsel in more than 10,000 cases pending in
nine midwestern states, from Indiana to New Mexico.
In addition, Michael and his firm were chosen to serve as national
coordinating counsel for all litigation against the Trust, to assure
quality and consistency in responses to interrogatories, document requests
and witness preparation. The firm's Denver office had custody of the
massive document warehouse, as well as responsibility for the computerized
document management system.
In the two years that litigation was conducted against the Trust, Michael
and his colleagues tried to verdict the claims of 28 separate
plaintiffs. Of these 28 claims, 25 resulted in "defense
verdicts" -- meaning either (a) verdicts of not guilty, or (b) awards
of damages so low that, after considering set-offs, the Trust either paid
nothing or paid less than its final settlement offer.
By 1991, all such litigation against the Trust was stayed due to its
insolvency.
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| Commonwealth Edison Company
Since then, Michael and his colleagues were asked to represent ComEd in
its asbestos litigation. In addition to several hundred cases filed
against the company by individuals, a class action named ComEd as the sole
defendant in 1995. This class action was purportedly on behalf of more
than 10,000 plaintiffs who were allegedly exposed to asbestos during
construction of numerous powerplants in Illinois.
In 1997, after full briefing and argument, this class action against the
company was dismissed. All individual cases coming to trial have been
settled for well below anticipated defense costs.
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| United States Gypsum Company
USG is best known for its manufacture of wall board and related products
for construction. Initially, the company was sued in only a few
asbestos cases. However, the litigation against USG increased
dramatically after the bankruptcy
of more than two dozen other defendants -- companies which had been much more closely
involved than was USG in the production of asbestos and asbestos-containing
products.
The company ultimately found itself a defendant in tens of thousands of
asbestos cases.
For a time, USG relied on trial counsel from the Center for Claims
Resolution (CCR), a consortium of companies established to efficiently
handle the litigation and, where possible, settle claims. But
when several member companies in the CCR recently filed for Chapter 11
protection themselves, the dynamics of the asbestos litigation shifted
again.
USG then concluded it needed to protect its own corporate interests by using
independent trial counsel. Michael and his colleagues were asked to
assist, and they began representing USG as trial counsel in asbestos cases in
Washington, Oregon, Indiana and New York. Unfortunately,
however, in June 2001 USG was likewise forced to join the ranks of numerous
other defendants by filing its own Chapter 11 petition. Consequently
the litigation against the company is now stayed.
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