GlobalTort : Commentary from lawyers and experts on mass torts, law, insurance and science

Kirk T. Hartley is a partner at Childress Duffy Goldblatt, a litigation boutique with offices in Chicago and Florida. CDG is focused on claims against insurers and commercial litigation. For over 25 years, Kirk's "legacy liability" practice has involved representing manufacturers in both commercial and tort litigation, with many of the issues related to obtaining the benefit of insurance coverage for various types of underlying claims.

On the defense side, Kirk has successfully defended a wide range of asbestos products (pipe insulation, floor tile, spray-on products, pumps, wire) in various underlying asbestos bodily injury suits and asbestos-in-buildings suits, including defeating class actions. On the plaintiff's side, Kirk has represented corporations in a class action against the federal government, and has tried multiple legacy liability arbitrations and lawsuits between businesses involved in disputes regarding rights related to insurance and indemnification obligations for the underlying tort cases.

Kirk’s insurance related work also includes working as part of teams negotiating coverage-in-place agreements with insurers. All areas of knowledge were put to use when Kirk was the team leader for his client's successful work in the Federal-Mogul asbestos bankruptcy to defeat an attempted misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars of “shared insurance” to pay for an inappropriate asbestos settlement proposed by a company claiming rights to insurance proceeds. Kirk also has assisted companies and other law firms with lobbying on asbestos legislation, with decisions on whether to accept offers from solvent and insolvent insurance schemes, and on product liability issues related to Sarbanes-Oxley, reserves, due diligence and contract issues in M&A transactions.

Steve Sellick is an experienced consultant specializing in the management of complex quantitative analysis in litigation matters, particularly projects in environmental, mass tort, and product liability claims. Mr. Sellick has evaluated such claims in the context of insurance allocation, internal management, cost allocation, cost recovery, and litigation risk analysis. He has also participated in studies involving regulatory economics, cost accounting, and financial analysis of the electric utility industry. Mr. Sellick has completed assignments for clients in the insurance, consumer manufacturing, electronics, aerospace, natural gas, pharmaceuticals, electric utility, and agricultural products industries.

Tim Greene has worked with organizations on operational, litigation, and compliance matters since 1993. He gained significant experience as a line manager (banking) and as a corporate staffer (manufacturing) prior to developing his consulting practice in 2000.

Greene attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee graduating with a B.A., an M.S. from the School of Engineering and a Ph.D. in Public Policy. At Vanderbilt, he won the Ingram Fellowship in Engineering Management and the inaugural Bridgestone/Firestone Fellowship in Environmental Policy. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses and has delivered professional and technical presentations at national conferences. His work has appeared in numerous books and journals including the Journal of Business Ethics and The Green Bottom Line: Environmental Accounting for Management. He is a licensed property & casualty insurance broker