Staci A. Williamson
Partner
Experience
Staci is an experienced civil defense litigator who concentrates her practice on product liability litigation, including matters involving fires and explosions, product labeling and warnings, and other issues arising under the Consumer Product Safety Act. She currently serves as national counsel for a prominent consumer manufacturer. She also handles complex insurance coverage, professional liability, construction, premises liability, commercial transportation, and general negligence matters. Staci defends owners, construction managers, general contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals in construction litigation involving personal injury, property damage, and construction defects. Staci represents clients in state and federal courts throughout the United States in a variety of complex cases and regularly achieves summary judgment, including successfully defending one judgment on appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Staci provides clients with a rapid response to loss and works with investigators and qualified experts following catastrophic events. Staci has proved invaluable in reducing exposure and obtaining early claim resolution when warranted. Staci has successfully tried cases to verdict and has conducted multiple arbitrations in her career. She has achieved success in the courtroom, and positive resolutions of cases through mediation, arbitration, settlement negotiations and dispositive motion practice.
Related Areas
Industries
Experience Highlights
- Achieved 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
- Achieved a summary judgment victory in favor of a gas valve component manufacturer in a personal injury case involving an explosion at a youth festival that resulted in severe burns to four minors by convincing a Pennsylvania court to apply Texas law
- Successfully defended a nationwide consumer class action over a recalled children’s toy, a Seventh Circuit decision which set favorable precedent for cases involving defective products
- Achieved a summary judgment win 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
Honors & Awards
Illinois Super Lawyers, Rising Stars — Product Liability Defense, 2015–16
Background
Admissions
- Illinois
- U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Education
- Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2006
- Loyola University Chicago Law Journal
- Ohio University, B.A., cum laude, 2000
- The Ohio Review of Law and Ethics: Managing Editor
Professional Affiliations
- Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM)
News & Knowledge
Publications & Events
- “Connecticut Ponders Liability in the Absence of Evidence” (Co-Author), Law360, July 18, 2014
- “The Role of Medical Examiners and Forensic Pathologists in the Defense of Wrongful Death Cases” (Co-Author), DRI The Voice, July 16, 2014
- “Do Consumers Have Private Remedies for Violations of the Reporting Requirements Under the Rules of the Consumer Product Safety Act?” (Co-Author), DRI The Voice, Vol. 8, No. 29, 2009
- “The Duty of Vehicle Manufacturers to Protect Non-Occupants, and Construction Negligence and Toxic Torts” (Co-Author), IDC Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4, 2008
- “Standard of Care in Negligent Design Product Liability Cases, Existence of a Post-Sale Duty to Warn, the Admissibility of Post-Sale Product Improvements, and Due Process Analysis of Punitive Damage Verdicts: Jablonski v. Ford Motor Company” (Co-Author), IDC Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2010
RECENT INSIGHTS
September 13, 2019
April 18, 2019
April 18, 2019