James W. Ozog

Jim Ozog has more than four decades of experience in product-liability defense and commercial litigation. He has achieved national recognition for his litigation experience, which includes handling cases in 28 states and trying product liability cases to verdict in nine states. Jim serves as national product-liability defense counsel for a number of national and international manufacturers in fire, explosion, and catastrophic burn cases, and he defends several food and beverage manufacturers. He also has significant experience defending toxic tort cases, including those involving exposure to asbestos, silicosis, welding fumes, and benzene. He also represents the transportation industry and affiliated insurance carriers as well as vehicle/component part manufacturers in catastrophic accidents and product liability cases.

Industries

Food and Beverage Manufacturing Construction Energy and Utilities Trucking and Automotive

Experience Highlights

Successful defense of a compressed-valve manufacturer in an explosion and rupture of a gas cylinder containing nitrous oxide resulting in a death and multiple catastrophic injuries
Successful defense of transporters and vehicle-/component-part manufacturers in cases involving tires/wheels, tread separations, truck brakes, cruise controls, seat belts, commercial drivers’ seats, and alleged unintended acceleration
Obtaining summary judgment in favor of a gas-valve component manufacturer by convincing a Pennsylvania court to apply Texas law in a personal-injury case involving an explosion at a youth festival that resulted in severe burns to four minors
Winning summary judgment dismissal through Daubert exclusions of expert testimony in fire and trucking product liability cases, including wrongful death and property damage claims in the case of Presley v. Lakewood Co. 702 F3d 450 (8th Cir. 2012), recently cited and relied upon in the 2014 edition of the Federal Evidence Manual
Establishing that summary dismissal was a correct sanction for a plaintiff’s spoliation of evidence in a products case
Recent product liability trial defense of a space-heater manufacturer in a Cook County trailer fire case involving four deaths and two personal injuries, a case that successfully resolved at the conclusion of trial through a high/low agreement
Winning summary judgment and Daubert exclusion of plaintiffs’ experts in a $2 million-plus Arkansas consolidated property loss/fire case involving the destruction of a theater and other businesses in a downtown historic district

Defending an international appliance manufacturer in a nationwide alleged breach-of-warranty case
Successfully defending a nationwide consumer class action over a recalled children’s toy, a Seventh Circuit decision that set favorable precedent for cases involving defective products

Prevailing on a motion for summary judgment in the defense of a design engineer against the owner and subrogating property insurance carriers in an $87 million casino-complex fire based upon the enforcement of waiver of subrogation provisions in the project construction contracts

Food-poisoning defense for two major national retailers in a number of cases related to freshness issues
Leader of the multi-state (Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa) defense team defending a food company in Salmonella milk poisoning cases that, at the time, were the largest food poisoning outbreaks in the U.S.
Defense of all Illinois cases as regional defense counsel regarding multi-district litigation concerning a dietary supplement
Successfully defending a retailer in civil and wrongful-death litigation arising from the 1982 Tylenol murders

Defense of benzene, welding fume, and gadolinium-exposure cases
Acting as regional defense counsel for a chemical-manufacturing company in the defense of plant worker asbestos cases

Honors & Awards

Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: AV Preeminent

Illinois Super Lawyers: Product Liability Defense, 2015–19

Illinois Leading Lawyers: Products Liability Defense Law, Toxic Torts Defense Law, and Commercial Litigation, 2012–19

Publications & Events

Co-Author, “The Eroding Distinction Between Strict Liability and Negligence in Illinois Product Liability Cases,” IDC Quarterly, June 2017
Co-Author, “The Distributor’s Statute: Proof Necessary to Reinstate Product Liability Claim,” Illinois Association of Defense Counsel Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2, Second Quarter 2015
Co-Author, “The Role of Medical Examiners and Forensic Pathologists in the Defense of Wrongful Death Cases,” The Voice, Defense Research Institute, July 16, 2014
Author, “The Admissibility of CPSC Publications in Product Liability Trials,” DRI’s The Voice, Vol. 6, No. 24, 2007
Author, “Asbestos Revisited,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2006
Author, “Passive Spoliation and the Plaintiff’s Duty to Preserve Evidence: Kaybylis v. Ford Motor Company,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2003
Author, “Investigating and Defending Claims of Electrical Shock,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2003
Author, “Public Nuisance and Product Liability,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2003
Author, “Debunking Extrapolation Post-Donaldson,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 4, 2002
Author, “Open and Obvious Dangers in Strict Liability,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2002
Author, “Gatekeeping in Design Defect Cases,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2002
Author, “Court Rejects IPI 400.07 in Design Defect Cases,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2002
Author, “First District Limits Application of Learned Intermediary Defense in Medical Device Cases,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2001
Author, “NFPA 921 and the Defense of Product Liability Cases,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2001
Author, “Second District Rejects Post-Sale Duty to Warn,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2001
Author, “Amended Federal Rules of Evidence Tighten Restrictions on the Admissibility of Lay and Expert Opinion Evidence,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2001
Author, “Defending Product Liability Cases in Illinois After the Best Decision,” IDC Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 4, 1998

Presenter, “The Evolving Field of Concussion Litigation and the Impact on Consumer Product Litigation — Manufacturers and Insurers Beware,” American Conference Institute Consumer Products Regulation and Litigation Conference, Chicago, June 12, 2014
Presenter, “The Defense Attorney at the Fire/Explosion Scene,” Propane Gas Defense Association, April 2013
Presenter, “Presenting Expert Opinions in Court: Educating Average Jurors,” Chicago Bar Association, June 2011
Presenter, “Don’t Cross Me — Successful Techniques and Considerations for Deposing Plaintiff’s Experts in Fire/Explosion Cases,” DRI Fire and Casualty Seminar, November 2010
Presenter, “NFPA 921 in the Courts: Extinguishing Evidentiary Challenges With NFPA 921,” National Fire Prevention Association National Conference, Chicago, 2009
Presenter, “Evidence Spoliation Issues in Propane Fire/Explosion Cases,” Propane Gas Defense Association, April 2009
Presenter, “Ethical Issues That Arise Between National and Local Counsel,” DRI’s Product Liability Conference, February 2008
Presenter, “The Admissibility of Expert/Opinion Testimony of Investigating Public Authorities in Fire/Explosion Cases,” DRI Fire and Casualty Seminar, November 2006