Robert D. Brownson is a partner and attorney in the firm of Brownson & Ballou, PLLP. Mr. Brownson practices in the areas of product liability, commercial, construction and surety bond, and insurance litigation.  For the past 18 years, Mr. Brownson has focused largely in environmental and toxic tort litigation.

Mr. Brownson specializes in representing defendants both in the Midwest and throughout the United States in asbestos personal injury and property damage litigation, personal injury cases involving mold, lead, benzene, silica, styrene, ceramic fiber, and other chemical and particle toxic exposure, and in groundwater cleanup and insurance coverage matters. These have included major suits by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and state regulatory authorities.

From 1987 to 1997, Mr. Brownson served as National Coordinating Counsel for a group of former asbestos fireproofing manufacturers in the asbestos personal injury and property damage litigation. In that capacity, he supervised the defense of over 60,000 asbestos personal injury actions and 30 major asbestos property damage cases. From 1989-2004, Mr. Brownson served as National Coordinating Counsel for an asbestos-containing gasket manufacturer and distributor in the asbestos personal injury litigation. In that capacity, he supervised the defense of over 110,000 asbestos personal injury cases, successfully resolving over 70,000 cases. From 1986 to present, Mr. Brownson has served as National Counsel for a leading ceiling tile manufacturer in the asbestos personal injury, property damage, and other toxic tort litigation.

Mr. Brownson has handled or supervised asbestos personal injury and property damage lawsuits in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Bermuda, and has tried to juries the leading asbestos property damage cases, in state and federal courts, in Maryland, West Virginia, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

Those cases include:

• State of Maryland v. Keene, et al., Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Maryland, No. 1108600.

• City of Kansas City v. W. R. Grace, et al., Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, Case No. VA 86-019615 Civil Docket B.

• In Re: State of West Virginia Public Building Asbestos Litigation, Circuit Court of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Civil Action No. 86-C-458.

• City of Wichita, Kansas, a Municipal Corporation v. United States Mineral Products Company, a New Jersey Corporation; and Asbestospray Corporation, a New York Corporation, U.S.D.C., D. Kansas, Case No. 89-1331.

• Board of Education for the School District of the City of Detroit v. Celotex, et al., Circuit Court of Wayne County, Michigan, No. 84-429634-ND

• Board of Education of the City of Chicago, et al. v. ACandS, et al.; Evanston Community Consolidated School District No. 65 v. ACandS, et al,; Board of Education of High School District No. 211 v. ACandS, et al., Cook County Illinois, Circuit Court, No. 92 L 9933; No. 92 L 99332; No. 92 L 9927.

• Mike Moore, Attorney General ex rel, State of Mississippi v. Flintkote, et al., Jackson County, Mississippi, Circuit Court, No. 89-5138 (2).

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Owns-Corning Fiberglas, et al., Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Superior Court, C.A. No. 90-3791-A

In addition, Mr. Brownson has been involved in several of the major class actions, Federal Court Multidistrict Litigation and consolidated personal injury trials in the asbestos litigation. Those cases included:

• In Re: Asbestos Products Liability Litigation (No. VI), Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, MDL Docket No. 875.

• In Re: Asbestos School Litigation, U.S.D.C., E.D. Pa., Master File No: 83-0268, (National class action for removal of asbestos from public and private school buildings).

• Central Wesleyan College, on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated v. Asbestospray Corporation, et al., U.S.D.C., D. South Carolina, Civ. No. 2: 87-1860-B, (National class action for removal of asbestos from public and private college and university buildings).

• Prince George Center, Inc., et al. v. United States Gypsum Company, et al., Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District, Civil Trial Division, May Term, 1986, No. 5388. (National class action for asbestos removal from all buildings owned by private owners leased to the federal government.)

• Carol Fletcher, et al., on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated v. Brooke Group, Ltd., et al., Mobile County, Alabama, Circuit Court, Civil Action No. CV97-913. (Employers' asbestos-related recoupment subclass co-counsel, national class action for all claimants for damages from smoking Liggett cigarettes).

• Consolidated New York Powerhouse Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation, New York County, New York, Supreme Court.

• Abate II  Consolidated Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Baltimore City , Maryland, Circuit Court (approx. 1500 plaintiff consolidated trial).

• Monongalia Mass II, Monongalia Mass III  Consolidated Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Monongalia County, West Virginia, Circuit Court (two separate consolidated cases each involving several hundred plaintiffs).

• In Re: Asbestos Cases III Consolidated Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Kanawha County, West Virginia, Circuit Court (consolidated trial involving several hundred plaintiffs).

• Conwed Corp. v. Union Carbide Corp. U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota Civ. No. 92-0088 (DDA/RLE)(subrogation case involving several hundred former workers occupationally exposed to asbestos at a northern Minnesota mill manufacturing ceiling tile).

Recently, Mr. Brownson has been involved as counsel in litigation ancillary to asbestos practice, representing landowners in legal malpractice cases against their former attorneys who mishandled asbestos-related legal matters.

Mr. Brownson has also been active in CERCLA (Superfund) and state law groundwater pollution damage recovery actions in Minnesota, Michigan, and New Jersey, and toxic tort actions regarding benzene, lead, indoor air pollution, mold and herbicides.

In addition, Mr. Brownson has participated in environmental insurance coverage litigation in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, including arbitration between primary and excess insurers, litigation involving insurance coverage for Superfund sites, litigation involving excess coverage for latent disease workers’ compensation liability,  multi-trigger toxic tort vendors’ endorsement  coverage under CGL policies, and “drop down” disputes among excess insurers for toxic tort liability. He has negotiated and designed multi-insurer coverage and claims handling agreements in toxic tort and environmental matters.

He has represented insureds, insurers, sureties, and agents in construction-related insurance coverage disputes. Since 1979, Mr. Brownson has been involved in construction litigation, construction disputes, and arbitration among owners, general contractors, subcontractors,  public entities, agents, and sureties.  He has represented, among others, the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, the St. Paul Public Housing Agency, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.  He has represented parties in commercial and construction-related arbitration matters, including surety bond funds control for public entity construction projects.

Mr. Brownson's current practice involves overseeing and managing asbestos and environmental litigation in numerous states with asbestos, environmental, and product liability trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States, and handling product liability, toxic tort, and construction-related insurance coverage matters.

Mr. Brownson has spoken to and written for insurance companies, trade groups, symposia, and scientific conferences  concerning asbestos, benzene, lead, indoor air pollution, EPA and OSHA regulations, medical monitoring, and emerging trends in toxic tort litigation. In 1997, he was invited by the Italian government to present concerning current and historical American government regulation of asbestos to a meeting of Italian scientists and legislators considering new Italian asbestos regulations to prevent mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer.

Mr. Brownson has been included in A Guide to Leading Environmental Lawyers, published by International Corporate Law, London, England.

Mr. Brownson has been elected a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Mr. Brownson is AV rated by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.

Mr. Brownson was selected by his peers in the Minnesota bar survey conducted by American Research Corporation as a Leading Minnesota Attorney, a designation available only to the top ten percent of attorneys in Minnesota, and, as such, is a Minnesota Member of the Network of Leading American Attorneys.

Mr. Brownson is a member of the LexisNexis Mealey's Publication Toxic Tort Advisory Council.

Mr. Brownson is a member of the Asbestos Trust Fund Services Group, an organization providing counsel with respect to the proposed federal legislation concerning asbestos claims.
 
 
     
Publications and Presentations

The following are representative presentations, papers, and invited participation at meetings:

• Note, Notice of Claim Requirement Under the Minnesota Municipal Tort Liability Act, 4 Wm. Mitchell Law Rev., Vol. 1, p. 93, 1978.

• IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) Publications, Inc., Lead Tech '94 Conference, A Mock Trial, Robert D. Brownson and Steven Hays, Chairman, Gobbell Hays Partners, Washington, D.C., October 19, 1994.

• IAQ Publications, Inc., Lead Poisoning Report, Vol. 4, No. 1, Mock Trial Demonstrates Uncertainty In Childhood Lead Poisoning Cases, November, 1994.

• IAQ Publications, Inc., Indoor Environment '95 Strategies for the New Era of Regulation, IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) Litigation: A Mock Trial, Parts I & II, Baltimore, Maryland, May 1-3, 1995.

• Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association (MDLA), Toxic Tort/Environmental Law Committee, GET THE LEAD OUT - The Toxicology of Lead Exposure, Cross Examination of the Plaintiff's Expert, Robert D. Brownson and Dr. Daniel Keyler, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 29, 1995.

• Invited Speaker, Natural Resources/Restoration Damages, Mealey's Toxic and Mass Torts: New Exposures Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 21-22, 1996.

• Invited Participant, Workshop on Recent Advances on Pleural Mesothelioma, Department of Clinical Science and Biology, University Turin (Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Biologiche-Universita di Torino) Turin, Italy, May 7-8, 1996.

• Participant, Workshop, Simian Virus 40 (SV 40): A Possible Human Polyomavirus, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, January 27-28, 1997.

• Mealey's Toxic Torts: New Exposure Conference 1997, The Mechanics of Environmental Health Surveillance and Medical Monitoring: A Checklist and Outline, Proceedings, pp. 315-26, Mealey's Publications, Inc., 1997.

• Presentation, Problems, and Pitfalls in Medical Monitoring:  Recent Developments, Mealey's Toxic Torts: New Exposures Conference 1997, Amelia Island, Florida, January 20-22, 1997.

• Presentation, SV-40-Contaminated Polio Vaccine Litigation, Mealey's Toxic Torts: New Exposures Conference 1997, Amelia Island, Florida, January 20-22, 1997.

• Invited Speaker, Current and Historical American Asbestos Regulations, 1st Italy - USA Conference on Malignant  Mesothelioma and Other Asbestos-Related Neoplasms, Belgirate, Novava, Italy, May 29-30, 1997.

• Proceedings, Current and Historical American Asbestos Regulations, 1st Italy - USA Conference on Malignant Mesothelioma and Other Asbestos Related Neoplasms, May 30, 1997, Monaldi Archives for Chest Diseases.

• Presentation, The Use of Experts to Mount a Daubert Challenge to the Plaintiff's Case, Mealey's Daubert & Expert Admissibility Conference, Amelia Island, Florida, February 25-26, 1999.

• Proceedings, Technical Issues: The Migration of Toxins to Surround Areas of People, Mealey's Daubert & Expert Admissibility Conference, pp. 401-28, Mealey's Publication, 1999.

• Invited Panelist, The Tobacco Defense in Asbestos Litigation: A Short Course, South Miami Hospital, Miami Florida, January 3, 2001.

• Presentation and Paper; Recent Developments in the Light Cigarette Litigation, Andrews Publications; Tobacco Litigation 2001; New Orleans, Louisiana, April 26-27, 2001.

• Presentation, Benzene State of the Art; The Defense Perspective, Mealey’s Benzene Litigation Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, October 17-18, 2005.
   

Education

• J.D., with honors, William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1979

• Editor, William Mitchell Law Review, 1978-1979

• Staff Member, William Mitchell Law Review, 1977-1978

• B.A., cum laude, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1975