Jeff defends clients in product liability and general liability disputes throughout the country. While working closely with clients and routinely operating under an alternative billing arrangement rather than the typical billable hour, Jeff achieves clients’ objectives by employing practical, efficient and strategic litigation tactics.
Jeff frequently represents service providers and product manufacturers in catastrophic loss, significant personal injury and wrongful death claims. He has handled matters involving a wide array of issues, including premises liability, industrial components and devices, personal protective equipment, roadway construction/design and fire suppression/alarm systems. Jeff guides clients responding to potential claims and handles all phases of litigation.
Representative Matters
Jeff provides counsel to his clients throughout the entire litigation process, including:
Claim response. Clients regularly contact Jeff after receiving notice of potential claims related to explosions, fires and other catastrophic events. Jeff immediately works to direct the claim and response process for these complex commercial and industrial losses. He helps clients identify possible liabilities and potential defenses, organizes necessary inspections and communicates with experts to get a complete picture of the situation. In many cases, Jeff can resolve the issue in the early stages, avoiding litigation altogether. For example, Jeff’s assessment of the role his client’s product played in a multimillion-dollar paper mill explosion involving a fatality and multiple injuries led to the adverse party abandoning its potential claims after the preliminary site inspection. Similarly, Jeff’s communication with a claimant regarding product installation and maintenance issues causing an extensive fire prompted the claimant to refocus its attention on the appropriate parties.
Pretrial work. From the initial complaint to summary judgment, Jeff represents clients’ interests by strategically drafting and responding to written discovery requests, coordinating fact and expert discovery and arguing motions. Jeff has extensive arbitration, mediation, and deposition experience. He has drafted briefs for successful dispositive motions in a wrongful death action and a multimillion-dollar property damage suit.
Trial. Jeff represents clients at trial when necessary. In one case, he co-tried a three-week personal injury matter in New York state court, where he argued motions, examined and cross-examined corporate representatives as well as expert and fact witnesses. Jeff was also on the trial team for a successful property damage case in Missouri state court.
Publications and Presentations
Document Management and Electronic Communication: Litigation Implications, Nebraska Chapters of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), February 11, 2020.
William C. Martucci and Jeffrey E. Elkins, Recent Missouri Decisions Define a New Era in Employment Discrimination, 66 Mo. B. J. 3 (2010).