HarrisMartin’s Benzene and Toxic Tort Litigation Conference: The Ever-Expanding Docket, Recent Developments, and Future Trends Speaker Profiles

Howard E. Jarvis is a member of the firm whose primary areas of practice include toxic tort, environmental, product liability and insurance defense litigation. In his practice, he has served as either lead counsel or lead co-counsel in toxic tort and environmental litigation in Tennessee, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Mr. Jarvis is listed in The Best Lawyers in America© in the areas of Litigation – Environmental, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants. He was named the Best Lawyers' 2015 Knoxville Litigation – Environmental "Lawyer of the Year", the Best Lawyers' 2016 Knoxville Product Liability Litigation – Defendants "Lawyer of the Year", and has been named the Best Lawyers' 2017 Knoxville Litigation – Environmental "Lawyer of the Year". Mr. Jarvis has been recognized as a Top Rated Lawyer in Energy and Environmental Law in both 2012 and 2015. This rating is given to those who have achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating, the highest rating in legal ability and ethical standards.

On behalf of several petrochemical companies he has handled multiplaintiff toxic tort cases in various jurisdictions. These cases have involved both personal injury and property damage claims as a result of alleged chemical exposure. He has argued cases in the Tennessee Supreme Court and Tennessee Court of Appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Jarvis, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, graduated from The University of Tennessee in 1976, with a B.A. in history. He obtained his J.D. from The University of Tennessee College of Law in 1979. Mr. Jarvis is licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Jarvis is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the Knoxville Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Defense Research Institute and also a member of the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association. He has served as the chairman of the Fee Dispute Committee of the Knoxville Bar Association and was awarded the President's Award in 1997 for his service to the Bar. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. He served as the corporate chair for the 2016 and 2017 Knoxville area JDRF campaign. He is serving as the Fund A Cure Chair for the 2017 Knoxville area JDRF campaign.

Chad Mountain has extensive experience in complex litigation, including product liability, premises liability, environmental, mass tort and commercial disputes.

Chad has represented and defended numerous Fortune 500 companies from the petroleum, chemical and manufacturing sectors in jurisdictions across the country. He has tried cases in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Chad specializes in benzene and asbestos litigation. Chad’s clients rely on his experience in selection and preparation of fact, corporate, and expert witnesses, and development of litigation strategy.

With more than 16 years of experience, Eric Williams has handled large civil, toxic tort, environmental, and personal injury law cases. He has lived in Louisiana his entire life and is recognized as one of the top toxic tort attorneys in the state. Having built his practice from the ground up, Eric is meticulously organized and detail focused, using his excellent interpersonal and communication skills to personally handle each client's case.

Eric's primary caseload consists of benzene and asbestos mesothelioma cases. Skilled in technical chemical causation for cases including cancer, birth defects, and other diseases caused by chemical exposure and property, he actively practices in the following areas: Toxic Torts, Benzene Litigation, Mesothelioma Asbestos Cases, Environmental Litigation, Personal Injury, Occupational Diseases.

With trial experience stretching from the appellate courts to the state and federal districts, Eric's handled hundreds of Chemical Exposure Cases including, benzene, chromium, arsenic,mercury, crude oil, creosote, asbestos, and silica. Crude oil claims in the Eastern District of Louisiana as a result of the Murphy Oil spill which included property claims, personal injury, fear of cancer, mental anguish, loss of use and inconvenience. Environmental claims as a result of offsite pollution at three different wood treating facilities that included property claims, cancer, birth defects and other diseases.

Successfully handled the prosecution and defense in Daubert challenges in state and federal court involving experts in the fields of chemical fate and transportation, ground water contamination, contaminated water bodies, air modeling, industrial hygiene, warnings, regulatory matters, toxicology, epidemiology, oncology, hematology,hematopathology, occupational medicine, environmental statistics and psychology that involve environmental and toxic tort claims for property damages, cancer, birth defects and other diseases, fear of cancer, loss of use, inconvenience and mental anguish claims.