Dale O. Thornsjo, Esq.

Dale Thornsjo focuses his litigation practice on the continually evolving insurance coverage and liability issues raised in construction, products liability, toxic tort and environmental matters.  He represents primary and excess/umbrella insurers in a wide variety of construction defect, trigger, allocation, duty to defend, “bad faith,” and “coordination of coverage” actions. He also continues his long-established practice of defending clients in mass tort, multiple-plaintiff or individual plaintiff cases in such diverse areas as asbestos, mold, damp buildings, building products, food adulterants and other substances.

In addition to his practice in Minnesota, Mr. Thornsjo has represented insurers, manufacturers and other entities in jurisdictions such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, South Dakota, and New York. He is a 1984 cum laude graduate of the William Mitchell College of Law. He is a member of the Defense Research Institute, its Insurance Law Committee, and that Committee’s Commercial General Liability Subcommittee.  As a member of DRI’s local arm, the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, he is a founding co-chairman of MDLA’s Insurance Law Committee, and a past chair of the MDLA’s Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee. He is also a member of the Federal Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Minnesota State Bar Association, and the Hennepin County Bar Association. His Firm is a member of the Primerus Defense Institute where he serves on the Executive Board of Primerus’ Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Committee.  He is a frequent lecturer and author on complex coverage and product liability matters, and has testified before various committees of the Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate on insurance coverage and bad faith issues.

Mr. Thornsjo chairs the Firm’s Insurance Coverage, and Toxic and Mass Tort, Practice Groups. He has been honored by his peers as an insurance coverage “Super Lawyer” for many years.

Bar Admissions

• Minnesota State Court (1984)
• Federal District Court, District of Minnesota (1984)
• Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (1987)
• Federal District Court, Western District of Wisconsin (1991)
• Federal District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (1994)
• Pro Hac Vice admissions in Federal Courts in the Eastern District of New York and the District of South Dakota, and in state courts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa

Author & Speaker

• Contractual Risk Management Through Insurance; MDLA’s 2007 Insurance Law Institute Co-Chair
• Railroad Contractor and Outsource Liability Coverage: Practical Considerations When Addressing Indemnification and Additional Insured Issues (2006)
• “Insuring” the Railroad’s General Liability Risks (2005)
• Environmental Issues for Schools: Mold, Lead, Toxic Building Sites, and Other Unmentionables
• Defense Considerations in Mold Litigation: Investigation, Causation, Mitigation & Remediation, Minnesota Defense (Fall 2002 and Winter 2003)
• Insurance Settlements: “Reality Sliced and Diced”, Techniques in Mediation, Arbitration and Settlement, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education (2002)
• Mold: The Litigation Blossoms, An Advanced Course, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association Seminar, Co-Chair (2002)
• Construction Considerations in Toxic Mold Litigation: Investigation, Causation, Mitigation & Remediation, ACI Conferences in Miami, San Francisco, New York, Miami (Co-Chair), and Toronto (2001 and 2002)
• Subrogation: The Insurer Strikes Back, or, “We Can’t be Left Holding the Bag, So It Has to Be . . . .”, ACI Conferences in Miami, San Francisco and New York (2001 and 2002)
• Winning Strategies for Litigating a Toxic Mold Case: A Multi-Perspective Roundtable (For the Defense), ACI Conference, San Diego (2001)
• Construction Litigation Defects: Defense and Coverage Considerations in Construction Mold Cases
• Insurance Coverage in Light of the New AIA Form A201
• Minnesota Landfill Cleanup Act: Ready or Not, Here It Comes: State’s Rights Under Minnesota’s Landfill Cleanup Act, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association Seminar (1998)
• Commercial General Liability Policies: Environmental Claims
• Minnesota Considerations for Environmental Insurance Coverage Claims
• Dropdown Issues in Excess Liability Policies
• Personal Injury and Advertising Injury Issues Raised in Commercial General Liability Policies
• Midwest Environmental Claims Association Annual Bodily Injury Law Update

REPORTED CASES

• In Re: Silicone Implant Ins. Coverage Litigation, 652 N.W.2d 46 (Minn. App. 2002), aff’d in part and reversed in part, 667 N.W.2d 405 (Minn. 2003), reh’g denied (Minn. Sept. 29, 2003)
• Continental Cas. Co. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 238 F.3d 941 (8th Cir. 2000)
• Ceridian Corp. v. SCSC Corp., 38 F.Supp. 1113 (D. Minn. 1999), aff’d, 212 F.3d 398 (8th Cir. 2000)
• Dow Corning v. Continental Casualty, 1999 WL 33435067 (Mich.App.1999)
• Hydrite Chem. Co. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 220 Wis.2d 26, 582 N.W.2d 423 (Ct. App. 1998)
• State v. Hydrite Chem. Co., 220 Wis.2d 51, 592 N.W.2d 411 (Ct. App. 1998)
• Westling Mfg. Co., Inc. v. Western Nat. Mut. Ins. Co., 581 N.W.2d 39 (Minn. App. 1998)
• Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Dow Chemical Co., 44 F.Supp.2d 847 (E.D. Mich. 1997), 933 F.Supp.2d 675 (E.D. Mich. 1996), 883 F.Supp.2d 1101 (E.D. Mich. 1995)
• SCSC Corp. v. Allied Mut. Ins. Co., 536 N.W.2d 305 (Minn. 1995)
• Sylvester Bros. Development Co. v. Great Cent. Ins. Co., 503 N.W.2d 793 (Minn. App. 1993), 480 N.W.2d 368 (Minn. App. 1992)
• Holmes v. Watson-Forsberg Co., 488 N.W.2d 473 (Minn. 1992)
• Souder v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 939 F.2d 647 (8th Cir. 1991)