Robert D. Brownson

A seasoned attorney and well-respected litigator, Bob brings vast expertise in insurance coverage and asbestos defense litigation. Bob is the Chair of the firm’s Insurance Coverage Practice Group. Leveraging his deep industry knowledge and significant trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States, he is known for winning cases.

Bob rises to the challenge of complex disputes, working diligently to achieve favorable resolutions efficiently and cost-effectively for clients. He applies unmatched insights and creative lawyering to difficult cases, developing innovative strategies and methods rather than following the predictable path. Bob is proud to have prevailed in numerous significant, contentious jury trials, often swimming uphill but winning the jury to his side. Objective, factually driven, and modest, Bob is a powerful and reliable resource.

Insurance Coverage

Bob has remarkable experience representing both insurance companies and policy holders. Proficient on both sides of the aisle, he has a competitive advantage and invaluable perspective. He counsels clients in commercial insurance issues involving coverage, recovery, and reconstruction of historical insurance policies, creating insurance coverage charts and matrices, and negotiating and designing multi-insurer-coverage claims-handling agreements.

He handles coverage litigation in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda involving:

• arbitration between primary and excess insurers;
• insurance coverage for Superfund sites;
• excess coverage for latent disease workers’ compensation liability;
• multi-trigger toxic tort vendors’ endorsement coverage under CGL policies;
• coverage under follow-form and manuscript excess and umbrella insurance policies, and “drop down” disputes among excess insurers for toxic tort liability; and
• surety bond funds control for public entity construction projects.

Asbestos Litigation

Bob knows asbestos litigation inside and out, serving as National Coordinating Counsel for numerous companies that are defendants in lawsuits around the country. He currently represents a leading ceiling tile manufacturer in asbestos personal injury, property damage, and other toxic tort litigation. Bob has handled asbestos cases in 37 states and Bermuda. He established his reputation as a winning litigator with major successes in state and federal jury trials in Maryland, West Virginia, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Illinois. He has supervised the defense of more than 100,000 asbestos personal injury cases for a gasket manufacturer, successfully resolving more than 70 percent of them. He has also managed the defense of more than 60,000 asbestos personal injury actions and 30 major asbestos property damage cases for fireproofing manufacturers.

Asbestos Bankruptcy Management and Consulting

Bob was appointed by Chief Judge Gregory Kishel of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Minnesota, to serve as Trustee of the API, Inc. Asbestos Settlement Trust. For more than 10 years, he has ensured the efficient and effective operation of the trust, for which he:

• develops and implements procedures to receive, process, and pay claims;
• manages the approval determination for all claims;
• prepares all annual and other reports required for the trust; and
• handles investments of trust assets.

In addition, Bob is a current and founding member of the Asbestos Liability Risk Analysis (ALRA) Group, a team of preeminent counsel who have handled and supervised the defense of more than 300,000 asbestos bodily injury cases throughout the United States.

Toxic Tort, Exposure, and Environmental Litigation

Bob represents defendants in the Midwest and throughout the United States in personal injury cases involving benzene, silica, styrene, ceramic fiber, and other chemical and particle toxic exposure. He’s a sought-after presenter and writer for insurance companies, trade groups, and scientific conferences regarding asbestos, benzene, indoor air pollution, EPA and OSHA regulations, medical monitoring, and emerging trends in toxic tort litigation.

Professional Liability

Bob successfully defends professional liability cases involving title insurance agents, surety bond disbursing agents, life insurance agents, and ERISA pension plan actuaries. He helps clients to manage problems early and provides aggressive litigation defense when necessary.