Joseph A. Gerling, Esq.
PRACTICE AREAS:
- Products Liability
- Fire and Explosion Litigation
- Professional Liability
- Construction Law
- Insurance Coverage
HONORS:
- Earned the Martindale-Hubbell “A-V” peer-rated designation (legal ability “Very High to Preeminent” and general ethical reputation “Very High”)
- Listed in Who’s Who in American Law, Ohio Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America (Product Liability Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation)
REPRESENTATIVE LEGAL EXPERIENCE:
- Mr. Gerling has represented clients in significant civil lawsuits in the state and federal courts of Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. During the past 30 years, he has handled cases involving over 100 different industrial and consumer products, ranging from ladders and furnaces to hand guns and mobile homes. He has handled many cases involving fires and explosions, and the catastrophic injuries and property damage resulting from them. His background in chemical engineering involved work in the combustion of materials, expansion of gases and evaluation of pollutants. This has also led him to cases involving injury claimed from exposures to toxic substances such as asbestos, formaldehyde, insecticides, lead and other industrial chemicals.
- Mr. Gerling has also counseled clients on effective ways to avoid or limit product liability exposure and important items to include in product warnings and instructions. Mr. Gerling has also lectured on trial techniques and issues involving the use of technical experts in litigation.
REPRESENTATIVE ENGINEERING EXPERIENCE:
Mr. Gerling worked for Miles Laboratories and for Battelle Memorial Institute. His work at Miles Laboratories mainly involved evaluation of chemical components contained in the wastewater from a manufacturing and research facility in Elkhart, Indiana. Battelle Memorial Institute is one of the largest private contract research facilities in the world, with its principal office in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Gerling worked as a research scientist at Battelle on projects involving proposed EPA guidelines for air, liquid and solid waste from industrial facilities, such as electrical power plants, and on the desulfurization and combustion of coal.
EDUCATION:
- The Ohio State University, J.D., cum laude, 1977
- University of Notre Dame, B.S. Chemical Engineering, cum laude, 1974; Member, Tau Beta Pi, Engineering Honorary
BAR ADMISSIONS:
- Ohio, 1977
- United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, 1978
- United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, 1996
- United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, 1984
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
- Columbus Bar Association
- Ohio State Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- American Board of Trial Advocates
- Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys
- Columbus Defense Association (Past President)
- Defense Research Institute
- International Association of Defense Counsel – IADC National Trial Academy, Faculty, 2003
- The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association
Practicing: Business Litigation, Products Liability, Professional Negligence
