Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Liza Kessler has extensive experience in complex litigation with a particular focus on nationwide product liability cases. Her experience includes defending manufacturers of products such as cigarettes, recreational vehicles, paints, and chemicals. She appears in state and federal courts throughout the United States and coordinates the defense for clients with co-defendants in joint defense groups.

Liza's experience covers legal issues including conspiracy laws, public and private nuisance, medical monitoring, duty to warn, class actions, preemption, and liability from trade association activities. She works with a wide range of experts such as toxicologists, epidemiologists, statisticians, historians, economists, marketing and advertising professionals, oncologists, radiologists, and industrial hygienists.

She has defended The Sherwin-Williams Company in public nuisance suits brought by various governmental entities and the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in smoking and health litigation including medical recoupment suits by various state attorneys general and in class actions. She was also lead defense counsel in a case alleging birth defects in an employee's offspring from a chemical workplace exposure that resulted in a defense summary judgment verdict that was upheld on appeal.

Liza is the Partner-in Charge of the Columbus Office. She is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association and a Fellow of the Columbus Bar Foundation. Liza is actively involved in the community including serving on nonprofit boards such as the Wexner Center Foundation, a private nonprofit partner of the Ohio State University Board of Trustees, which was established to advance the interests of the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Areas of Practice

• Product Liability & Tort Litigation
• Product Response Team

Representative Cases

• Jones v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (Florida 2000)
• Lucier, et al. v. Philip Morris USA Inc., et al. (California 2003)
• Rose v. American Tobacco Co., et al. (New York 2005)
• The Sherwin-Williams Co. v. City of Columbus, 2007 WL 2079774 (S.D. Ohio) , (2008)

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

• Ohio State University

Published Works

• Tort Reform Often Lies in the Hands of State Supreme Courts, Practice Perspectives: Product Liability & Tort Litigation, 2008

Address

P.O. Box 165017
Columbus, OH 43216-5017

Phones

1.614.281.3852 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.614.461.4198 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com