John Lewis is a trial lawyer who has represented corporate clients of all sizes and from varying industries in matters of utmost significance to their business operations and interests. John has lead lawyer experience in product liability lawsuits, complex commercial disputes, and employment litigation matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts and in arbitration proceedings throughout the world. He has tried cases to a defense verdict, successfully briefed and argued dispositive motions, and obtained or preserved success in several appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.

John regularly provides litigation-related counseling to corporations and corporate boards on matters involving takeover defense, commercial supply and distribution contracts, corporate transactions and purchase agreements, trade secret protection, indemnification disputes, electronic discovery, and medical device and pharmaceutical regulatory issues and litigation avoidance. In addition, he has assisted corporate clients and their representatives during investigations by federal and local governmental authorities and has conducted internal and external investigations on behalf of boards of directors and senior-level management.

John dedicates a majority of his work to the defense of companies in product liability lawsuits. He has defended companies in class actions, mass tort and multidistrict litigation, single plaintiff personal injury suits, toxic tort litigation, aviation litigation, and pharmaceutical and medical device lawsuits. John has been instrumental in several recent successes for Firm clients:

• as trial counsel, delivered closing argument and cross-examined key liability and damage experts in obtaining a complete defense verdict for a major medical device manufacturer after a six-week trial in Alameda County (CA) Superior Court in a lawsuit seeking over $2 million in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages

• obtained dismissal of class action medical monitoring claims against major medical device manufacturer in case involving suburethral sling

• obtained dismissal of pubic nuisance claims against Ohio-based paint company in case brought by city of Toledo against former manufacturers of lead paint; after victory, Ohio municipalities voluntarily dismissed all remaining claims against defendants

• awarded summary judgment on federal preemption grounds in case against medical device manufacturer involving vocal cord paste

• first-chaired defense in a product liability lawsuit in Mississippi state court involving multiple failures of tissue expanders, where the jury returned a defense verdict after less than two hours of deliberations

• second-chaired successful defense in product liability lawsuit in Florida state court involving breast implants and

• successfully argued before a Florida state court of appeals, which affirmed summary judgment for Mentor Corporation in a case involving an alleged failure of a medical device and asserted damages in excess of $1 million.

John has successfully defended companies in numerous other pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, including claims involving silicone breast implants, saline breast implants, tissue expanders, penile prostheses, liposuction systems, intraocular lenses, injectable vocal cord paste, stress urinary incontinence products, anti-reflux devices, and hormone therapy drugs.

A significant portion of John's practice also includes work on commercial litigation matters, such as complex business tort and contract litigation, post-closing adjustment, indemnification and earnout disputes, supply and distribution contract claims, trade secret litigation, and construction disputes. As an example, John recently headed a team that successfully defended Cummins Engine Company against a multimillion dollar lost profits claim relating to an international sales agreement before an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal. Prior to the ICC proceeding, John successfully argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which resulted in a published decision reversing the district court's refusal to enforce the ICC arbitration provision in the contract (Inland Bulk Transfer Co. v. Cummins, 332 F.3d 1007 (6th Cir. 2003)).

John also has experience defending companies in a wide variety of labor and employment litigation, including race and sex discrimination lawsuits, wage and hour class action litigation, whistleblower actions, Ohio intentional tort suits, breach of national labor agreement litigation, and in disputes over noncompete and other employment agreements. He has represented clients in state and federal courts, and before administrative bodies, throughout the country. In one significant series of matters, John played a key role in the successful defense of General Motors and Delphi Automotive Systems in alleged "reverse" discrimination lawsuits throughout Ohio relating to an apprentice training program (see, e.g., Yeager v. General Motors Corp., 67 F. Supp. 2d 796, aff'd, 265 F.3d 389 (6th Cir. 2001)).

In addition, John has represented law firms in legal malpractice actions and fees disputes and focuses a part of his practice on lawyer ethics issues. He has prosecuted grievances as a volunteer trial attorney for the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association's Certified Grievance Committee and has spoken on issues of ethics and professionalism, including most recently as a panelist in a program sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association titled "Ethics and Advocacy in the Courtroom."

Pro bono is also a significant part of John's practice. In one pro bono representation, John argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of an Ohio inmate who had filed a civil rights action challenging parole procedures. The court ruled 8-1 in favor of the inmate, affirming reinstatement of the previously dismissed lawsuit (Wilkinson v. Dotson, 544 U.S. 74 (2005)). John had previously represented the inmate in the appeal before the Sixth Circuit, which, after John presented argument before an en banc court, resulted in the reversal of the district court's dismissal of the inmate's lawsuit.

Recently, John successfully argued an appeal before the Sixth Circuit on behalf of Ohio death row inmate Joe D'Ambrosio. The Sixth Circuit affirmed a federal district court judge's March 2006 ruling that D'Ambrosio's conviction and death sentence must be set aside because his constitutional rights were violated by the prosecution's withholding of exculpatory evidence in the underlying murder trial. The district court had arrived at its ruling after extensive briefing and a three-day evidentiary hearing in which John and a Jones Day team presented numerous witnesses and evidence. The case has been featured in the press, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer and on the Discovery Channel's "Guilty or Innocent?" series.

John has been consistently recognized by Law & Politics magazine as one of Ohio's "Super Lawyer Rising Stars" and was the subject of a feature article in 2005. John is a member of the Defense Research Institute, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, where he currently serves as an officer on the Executive Council of the Litigation Section, and has served in the past as chair of the Young Lawyers Section and on the CMBA's board of trustees. In addition, John has been appointed by the Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court as an arbitrator and business mediator in numerous matters and currently serves on the court's Civil Justice Improvement Committee. John also serves on the board of trustees of the nonprofit Cleveland Baseball Federation, which provides opportunities for inner-city children to participate in athletic activities.