Mike practices in the areas of high-exposure personal injury litigation and business litigation. He has been lead trial and appellate counsel on behalf of corporations and insurance companies in major injury and wrongful death cases involving claims of negligence, product liability, and labor law violations. He has extensive experience in state and Federal courts throughout the country. He has handled numerous lawsuits arising out of product recalls and provides advice to businesses on mitigating recall risk. He also counsels corporations on a variety of product liability issues, including adequacy of warnings and labels.
Mike has broad experience in business litigation matters, including contract actions, shareholder disputes, and business tort cases. He was previously the Litigation Practice Area Leader.
Much of Mike’s work in both business litigation and personal injury involves cross-border issues. He has been called as an expert witness in Ontario arbitration regarding New York State/Ontario conflicts of law.
Mike exclusively practices U.S. law and is admitted to practice in New York.
Representative Work
One of our clients, an industrial manufacturer, was sued for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty after terminating a distributor agreement. Following discovery, Hodgson Russ attorneys were successful in having the case dismissed on motion for summary judgment despite the fact that the plaintiff had gone out of business after the termination.
A Hodgson Russ client, a manufacturer of electronic security systems, was sued by a plaintiff who claimed to have suffered serious personal injuries after being shocked while exiting a security door controlled by one of our client's systems. Before discovery, we were successful in having the action dismissed on summary judgment based on expert affidavits.
A Hodgson Russ client sold an industrial byproduct that was ultimately used as a mineral supplement in feed. Due to dioxin contamination – which was ultimately traced to our client’s plant – the feed was recalled by the FDA. Our client was sued by numerous feed manufacturers for recall expenses. Those claims sounded in breach of contract, breach of warranty, negligence, and product liability. We were successful in having several of the causes of action dismissed and ultimately were able to settle the actions for far less than the damages claimed.
Recognitions
- Listed, Best Lawyers in America "Lawyer of the Year" (Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, Product Liability Litigation - Defendants) 2023
- Listed, Best Lawyers in America (Commercial Litigation; Product Liability Litigation - Defendants; Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants) 2013 - 2024
- Listed, Upstate New York Super Lawyers (Business Litigation) 2010 - 2023
- Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2017 - 2018
- Business First/Buffalo Law Journal Who's Who in Law, 2008
News & Insights
Civic
- Chair, Health Management Group, Ltd. board of directors
- Member and former chair, Horizon Health Services, Inc. board of directors
- Member and former chair, Horizon Village, Inc. board of directors
- Member, Buffalo Seminary board of trustees
- Former chair, Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service, Inc. board of directors
Professional
- Defense Research Institute
- Western New York Trial Lawyers’ Association board of directors
-
Bar Association of Erie County
-
Ontario Bar Association
