Asbestos Litigation Conference: Peripheral No More - The Increasing Prominence of Equipment, Gasket & Friction Defendants Speaker Profiles

Patrick J. Lamb
Partner, Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd
Chicago, IL
Phone: (312) 696-4449
Fax: (312) 873-3835
[email protected]


Practice: Legacy Liability Litigation, Complex Commercial Litigation

Experience: Pat counsels and litigates for clients in complex legacy liability and commercial disputes, and has served as lead counsel in cases in 18 states. He has extensive product liability and mass tort experience including representing target and peripheral defendants in asbestos and silica litigation, serving as national counsel for breast implant manufacturers, and representing chemical companies in exposure cases. He has investigated corporate histories covering half a century or more, and created management strategies that have minimized virtually limitless exposure.

For example, he is currently working with clients on so-called legacy liability matters, involving over $1 billion in acquisitions in litigation predicted to continue for a quarter century or more.

Based on his breadth of experience in the area, Pat has advised several companies on acquisition and divestiture issues. In addition, Pat has advised public clients on disclosure issues stemming from mass tort exposure.

Pat joined Butler Rubin in 2000, and was formerly a senior partner at Katten Muchin Zavis.

Bar Admissions: Pat is admitted to practice in Illinois, each of the federal courts in Illinois, the 7th Circuit, among others, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Memberships:
• American Bar Association, Section of Litigation
• Chicago Bar Association
• International Association of Defense Counsel
• Illinois Association of Defense Counsel
• Defense Research Institute
• Economic Club of Chicago








Michael L. Armitage
Mike Armitage is a partner at Waters & Kraus, LLP and is the managing attorney of its California office, based in Los Angeles. He is responsible for management of the firm’s cases in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mr. Armitage graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University in 1984 and obtained his law degree cum laude from the Tulane University School of Law in 1987, where he was also selected to Order of The Coif.

Mr. Armitage has spent the past four and a half years trying asbestos cases on behalf of plaintiffs in California. Prior to that he practiced in the areas of transportation law and commercial litigation in Long Beach, California and New Orleans, Louisiana. He has worked on cases pending in the state and federal courts of numerous states, as well as the United States Supreme Court and U.S. Ninth and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Since joining Waters & Kraus in 2000, Mr. Armitage has been responsible for verdicts on behalf of asbestos cancer victims totaling in the mid eight figures, including the Treggett v. Alfa Laval case in Los Angeles, which resulted in one of the largest single plaintiff verdicts in California asbestos litigation history. Mike also recently obtained a significant verdict ($6.6 million) on behalf of a Navy shipyard worker in the Williams v. Carver Pump Company case also tried in Los Angeles, which included a $2 million punitive damage award.

In addition to the Treggett and Williams cases, Waters & Kraus has been actively litigating other asbestos cases against equipment defendants and Mr. Armitage has been responsible for numerous of these cases in California.

Mr. Armitage also works in the firm’s pharmaceutical practice, as well as other toxic torts.