Belasic, Mark A.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Mark Belasic is a trial lawyer who has broad experience representing clients in complex product liability cases, class actions, and medical monitoring lawsuits. Since the 1980s, he has represented R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in scores of cases and has defended other clients in lawsuits involving industrial machinery and other products. He has defeated class certification in more than 20 cases and has been lead counsel in multiple high-stakes trials, including a defense victory in one of the biggest medical monitoring cases ever tried.

Mark was lead trial counsel for R.J. Reynolds in a multiyear class action in New Orleans, in which defendants won a defense verdict on a $10 billion medical monitoring claim in a venue long recognized as one of the most hostile to corporate defendants. He was lead counsel in another multibillion dollar medical monitoring class action in Philadelphia — the first of its kind to reach a federal appellate court — in which defendants defeated class certification and won summary judgment dismissing all claims. Mark was one of the principal attorneys in the landmark McLaughlin case, in which the Second Circuit dismissed a multibillion dollar RICO class action. He has tried multiple wrongful death cases, including a trial in Seattle in which the jury took only one hour to reach a defense verdict.

Mark recently passed the Florida bar exam in order to try multiple cases in the future in that state. He is author of the Ohio tort law chapter in Tort Law Desk Reference: A Fifty-State Compendium.

Areas of Practice

• Product Liability & Tort Litigation

Representative Cases

• R.J. Reynolds defends multibillion dollar, nationwide class action in the Eastern District of New York
• R.J. Reynolds obtains dismissal of class action in one of first putative class action cases alleging consumer fraud
• R.J. Reynolds prevails in jury trial brought by smoker's widower , (2009)
• R.J. Reynolds wins 2nd Circuit reversal of class certification in nationwide RICO fraud action for sale of "lights" cigarettes , (2009)

West Practice Categories

Alcoholic Beverages, Apparel, Asbestos, Chemicals & Cosmetics, Firearms, Food & Agricultural Products, Machinery & Tools, Medical Products & Devices, Motor Vehicle Defects, Pharmaceutical Products, Products Liability Law, Recreational Products, Tobacco

Bar Admissions

• Ohio

Education

• Columbia University - New York
• Wooster (The College of)

Address

North Point
901 Lakeside Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114-1190

Phones

1.216.586.1043 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.216.579.0212 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com