Joseph C. Orlet

Toxic Tort

• Tried toxic tort case in southern Illinois in which plaintiff claimed that chemical exposure caused her to suffer injury to virtually every organ system in her body and increased her risk of developing cancer. After being asked to award minimum $5 million for lost wages, medical bills and future medical monitoring, the jury instead returned defense verdict.

Class Action/Mass Tort

• Obtained dismissal of class action that sought damages for residents of Illinois town for personal injuries, property damage and medical monitoring allegedly resulting from groundwater contamination and air emissions from closed refinery.
• Obtained summary judgment in lawsuit brought by residents of Minnesota town who claimed personal injuries and property-value diminution from exposures through groundwater contamination and air emissions from former wood-treatment plant.
• Acted as lead trial counsel in multiple-plaintiff chemical emission case in southern Illinois and obtained a favorable jury verdict, which resulted in awards of no damages for most plaintiffs and fraction of the damages sought for few plaintiffs who recovered.

Biotech

• Acted as lead trial counsel in a patent infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, in which jury award resulted in judgment of $2.9 million and finding of willful infringement.

Commercial Litigation

• Acted as lead trial counsel in breach of contract action and obtained jury award of $3 million.

Product Liability

• Tried case involving fatal accident captured on surveillance video that was shown to jury by plaintiff’s counsel throughout two-week trial that resulted in defense verdict and was named Top 10 defense win in the Missouri Lawyers Weekly annual survey.

Representative Cases

• Manufacturing:
  • Rock Hill Mechanical Inc. v. Liebert Corp., 707 F. Supp. 2d 988 (E.D.Mo. 2010)
  • Bredemus v. International Paper Co., 2009 WL 3126451 (D.Minn. 2009)
  • Bredemus v. International Paper Co., 252 F.R.D. 529 (D.Minn. 2008)
  • Bogner v. Airco Inc., 353 F. Supp. 2d 977 (C.D.Ill., 2005)
  • Arnold v. Louisville Ladder Group LLC, 2004 WL 5572033 (C.D.Ill. 2004)
  • Haynes v. Louisville Ladder, 341 F. Supp. 2d 1064 (E.D.Ark. 2004)
• Oil and Gas:
  • Marsh v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 2005 WL 2246006 (E.D.Mo. 2005)
  • Fletcher v. Conoco Pipe Line Co., 323 F. 3d 661 (8th Cir. 2003)
• Agribusiness:
  • Monsanto Co. v. David, 516 F. 3d 1009 (Fed.Cir. 2008)
  • Monsanto Co. v. McFarling, 488 F. 3d 973 (Fed.Cir. 2007) (McFarling III)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Scruggs, 459 F. 3d 1328, 79 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1813 (Fed.Cir. 2006)
  • Monsanto Co. v. David, 448 F. Supp. 2d 1088 (E.D.Mo. 2006)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Hill, 2006 WL 4864419 (E.D.Mo. 2005)
  • Monsanto Co. v. McFarling, 363 F. 3d 1336 (Fed.Cir. 2004) (McFarling II)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Ralph, 382 F. 3d 1374, 72 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1515 (Fed.Cir. 2004)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Scruggs, 342 F. Supp. 2d 568 (N.D.Ms. 2004)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Scruggs, 342 F. Supp. 2d 584 (N.D.Ms. 2004)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Scruggs, 342 F. Supp. 2d 602 (N.D.Ms. 2004)
  • Monsanto Co. v. McFarling, 302 F. 3d 1291 (Fed.Cir. 2002) (McFarling I)
  • Monsanto Co. v. Nelson, 2001 WL 34079479 (E.D.Mo. 2001)