Joe G. Hollingsworth
Joe G. Hollingsworth is one of the nation’s preeminent trial and appellate counsel in complex civil litigation and has been honored three times by The National Law Journal for the year’s Top Ten Defense Wins.
Mr. Hollingsworth represents major manufacturers in the defense of serial products liability claims involving thousands of claimants and various pharmaceutical, medical device, chemical, and consumer products, and defends cases involving alleged toxic and environmental torts and large commercial losses. He has conducted over twenty-five jury trials, ranging in duration from two weeks to over three and a half months. Over 100 opinions arising from his cases are published in the federal and state reporters.
In the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Mr. Hollingsworth recently obtained dismissal of claims brought by 3,200 Ecuadorian plaintiffs against DynCorp International for alleged crop, animal, and human health damages in connection with counternarcotics herbicide spraying operations in Colombia. In representing Novartis Pharmaceuticals in the Aredia®/Zometa® serial litigation, he and his team secured a defense verdict in nine trials, including both the first and second bellwether cases chosen for trial in the New Jersey consolidated litigation.
Mr. Hollingsworth served as lead trial counsel for Norfolk Southern in the largest single tort case in South Carolina history, in which a textile manufacturer sought hundreds of millions of dollars in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages for alleged property damage to its plants following a train derailment and chlorine release. After one month of an anticipated three-month trial, the parties agreed to a confidential settlement.
Mr. Hollingsworth appears as a lecturer in federal and state judge education workshops and related seminars, and is frequently consulted about strategies in complex litigation.
He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Chamber Litigation Center's Constitutional and Administrative Law Committee, a group that helps the Chamber select appropriate cases for amicus participation in the highest appellate courts in the country. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary society, recognizing excellence among litigation and trial counsel and representing less than one-half of one percent of all American lawyers. In addition to serving on the Atlantic Legal board, he serves on the Georgetown University Law Center Board of Visitors. and the board of Chesapeake Legal Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to using the law to improve the quality of the Chesapeake Bay.
Washington, District of Columbia 20005