HeplerBroom News

Rebecca Nickelson, a partner in the firm’s St. Louis office, was part of a recent DRI podcast highlighting the exponential growth of the organization’s public service activities through its Philanthropic Activities Committee.

HeplerBroom LLC has elected these 5 new partners: Kevin Birkenmeier, Pamela Gamble, Charles Insler, Katie Jacobi, and Christian Willenborg, M.D.

Bharat Varadachari has been elected to serve on the Executive Board of the St. Louis County Bar Association. This is his third year on the board.

Rebecca Nickelson and Amy Johnson will be among the speakers at DRI’s Women in the Law Conference, which is being held in Coronado, California, on January 23-29. HeplerBroom is a sponsor of the conference.

Eric Hall, a partner in the firm’s Edwardsville office, was featured in a recent issue of the Illinois Business Journal.

Kathleen Hamilton and Bradley Zaffiri recently obtained summary judgment for a client in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (Timothy Farkas v. Overton Industries, Inc., et al; No. 4:17-CV-761 RLW).

In his most recent “Law Update” column for SIU Today, Rick Hammond explores the issue of when is an appropriate time for an insurer to demand appraisal and when might it be too late.

Rebecca Nickelson has been appointed Vice Chair of DRI’s Philanthropic Activities Committee.

Joseph T. Tripoli has joined HeplerBroom in its Chicago office as an associate attorney. Tripoli concentrates his practice in the area of civil defense litigation, with a focus on the defense of injury claims involving third-party liability and insurance/medical fraud. He is also experienced in general liability defense.

Thomas Magee, a partner in HeplerBroom’s St. Louis office, has been chosen as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in St. Louis by Thomas Reuters’ Super Lawyers.

Charles Insler has published an article in The Computer & Internet Lawyer on handling litigation under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

HeplerBroom is pleased to announce that Kelley Rhine and Kaitlin Salisbury have joined the firm as associate attorneys.

Six HeplerBroom attorneys have been named 2018 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, and four have been named Missouri & Kansas Rising Stars.

What happens when a plaintiff dies during litigation? Tammera Banasek and Matthew Brandabur have published an article in the IDC Quarterly that examines the potential impact of such an occurrence.

Michael Young and Bharat Varadachari will speak to St. Louis Chapter of CPCUs about new MO insurance statutes and their effect on liability coverage and bad faith claims.

Hepler Broomhas been ranked nationally as a 2019 “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers.

Leslie Odom will be one of three featured speakers at a Nov. 10 workshop on legal, professional, and crisis response issues for mental health professionals whose clients have had suicidal thoughts. The workshop is sponsored by Creve Coeur Counseling Associates.

HelperBroom represented Lone Star Industries Inc. in its sale of nearly 2700 acres from a former mining operation near Oglesby to the IL Dept of Natural Resources.

Being a member of ASCAP and a voting member of the Grammys gives Eric Hall an interesting perspective on the intersection of asbestos defense and music.

Susan Wagener will be one of the featured speakers at the American Nurses Association’s Illinois Professional Issues Conference, which is being held in Lisle, Illinois, on November 3. Wagener will encourage nursing professionals to advocate on their own behalf to protect and defend their nursing licenses.

At its recent annual meeting, the Missouri Bar honored HeplerBroom partner Larry Hepler for his 50 years of membership. Later the same day, the firm’s Edwardsville office held a congratulations party in his honor.

Three HeplerBroom partners—Jeff Hebrank, Troy Bozarth, and Kathy Hodge—were named to Leading Lawyers’ list of Top 10 business lawyers in downstate Illinois. HeplerBroom was the only law firm to have more than one attorney make the list.

On November 9, HeplerBroom is co-sponsoring an environmental seminar in Springfield IL on Illinois Water Laws and Regulations. Topics: Illinois water regulatory and enforcement updates, water issues affecting utilities and agriculture. Professional engineers can earn 6.5 PDHs; Illinois attorneys can earn 6.5 CLEs (1.0 Illinois Professionalism hour).

Glenn Davis has published an article for the League of Healthcare Experts that tackles the issue of healthcare information vulnerability.

A federal court recently denied class action certification to a former medical school faculty member of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. HeplerBroom partner Thomas Wilson is the lead defense attorney on the case.

Bharat Varadachari has co-authored an article for Claims Management Magazine stressing the importance of defense counsel preparing commercial truck drivers for deposition and trial testimony.

Managing partner Troy Bozarth was profiled recently in Leading Lawyers Magazine-Business Edition. The article details his path to becoming an attorney and his career at HB, especially his work with class action cases.

HeplerBroom is proud to announce that Kathy Hodge has been named to Leading Lawyers’ list of the Top 10 environmental lawyers in Illinois.

An Illinois appeals court recently overturned a $4.6 million verdict awarded a mechanic who claimed his mesothelioma was caused from asbestos-containing welding rods. The welding rods’ manufacturer, Hobart Brothers, was represented by Jeffrey Hebrank.

Rick Hammond, a partner in the Chicago office, has published another in his series of “Law Update” columns for SIU Today, the quarterly magazine published by the International Association of Special Investigation Units. In the article, Hammond details a Colorado hail damage case in which an insurer sought to have an award vacated on the basis that the client’s appraiser was not sufficiently impartial.

Glenn Davis, the lead partner for HBCyberGroup (HeplerBroom’s Cybersecurity, Data Breach & Privacy Protection team), will be a featured speaker at an upcoming League of Healthcare Experts “Lunch & Learn” seminar.

Linda Hay and Anne Oldenburg will be the featured speakers at two upcoming dental industry seminars. Continuing education credits are available for both seminars.

HeplerBroom and the Chicagoland chapters of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (CPCU) recently donated over $1,600 to the Ronald McDonald House Charity of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana. The monies were generated from the second annual insurance law and coverage seminar the two co-sponsored.

HeplerBroom was a proud sponsor of the eleventh annual St. Louis Diversity Job Fair. Rebecca Nickelson, a partner in the firm’s St. Louis office, recently met with numerous law students to interview them for Summer Associate positions with the firm. Kate Watkins and Zoe Gross, attorneys in the firm’s St. Louis office, attended the Job Fair Reception to welcome students before the interviews.

Brenda Baum, Meghan Kane, and Zachary Pashea were among 22 attorneys in the Third Judicial Circuit who volunteered their legal services to members of the public during the second quarter of 2018

HeplerBroom partner Glenn E. Davis has been named Best Lawyers 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” for Antitrust Law in the St. Louis area.

HeplerBroom LLC is proud to announce that 15 of its attorneys have recently been selected for inclusion in the 2019 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Michael T. Griffin has joined HeplerBroom in its Hammond, Indiana, office as an associate attorney

Partners Rick Hammond, Eric Moch, and Michael Young are scheduled to be the featured speakers at a Farm Bureau Special Investigations Unit seminar on August 16. The event is being held in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The St. Louis Business Journal has included HeplerBroom on its 2018 list of St. Louis’ largest law firms. The list includes local, regional, and national firms ranked by number of local licensed attorneys

Three of HeplerBroom's asbestos litigation partners--Brenda Baum,Eric Hall, and Rebecca Nickelson--will play key roles at HarrisMartin's annual Midwest Asbestos Litigation Conference, which will be held September 8 at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Louis.

A recent article by Jennifer Martin and Josh Houser, HB environmental law partner and associate respectively, tracks the history and uncertain future of clean construction and demolition debris landfills and uncontaminated soil sites in Illinois.

HeplerBroom recently hosted a one-day employment law seminar at the Edwardsville office. Topics covered included an array of employment law matters, including sexual harassment, EEOC investigations, social media in the workplace, internal investigations, and cybersecurity. Speakers were HeplerBroom attorneys who are experienced in navigating human resource compliance issues, as well as firm attorneys who have represented both employees and employers in employment-related litigation.

Melissa Brown’s recent HB blog post on an OSHA standard was re-published in the Energy and Environment Blog of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA). The post provides an update on the standards for respirable crystalline silica for general industry and for maritime and the applicable enforcement start dates.

Associate attorney Katie Jacobi has been named Vice-Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee for the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. She has also been named an Assistant Editor of the organization’s legal journal, IDC Quarterly.

HeplerBroom’s Edwardsville office sponsored a networking breakfast for southern Illinois members of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.

In a recent “Writer’s Corner” column for DRI’s For the Defense magazine, Michael Young and Katie Jacobi tackled the thorny question of how to decide when it is and is not helpful to deviate from standard grammar rules, particularly when an old rule is transitioning to something new.

Kurt Hentz has been awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Defense Research Institute (DRI).

In his Summer 2018 column for SIU Today, Rick Hammond explores a recent decision by the Court of Appeals of Washington that dramatically changes the landscape on the issue of imposing a duty of good on “all persons” engaged in the business of insurance.

HeplerBroom is pleased to announce that Katie Fulara Vinge and Jaime L. Padgett have joined the firm as associate attorneys. Vinge concentrates her practice on civil litigation, with a focus on construction injury and defect as well as professional liability cases. Padgett focuses her practice on complex civil litigation matters, including the defense of catastrophic bodily injury claims in construction, trucking, and premises liability cases.

Michael Reda, a partner in the firm, has been invited to join the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC).

Meg Fowler and Brad Zaffiri recently obtained a defense verdict on behalf of their insurance broker client in St. Louis County following a three-day jury trial.

Michael Young will discuss Insurance Issues in the 5th District at the June 8 Illinois Best Practice Series seminar entitled, “Civil Case Law Update, Insurance Issues and Ethics.” The seminar is sponsored by United States Arbitration & Mediation.

HeplerBroom welcomes second-year law students Christin Doyle, Elliott Kim, Robert Hartzer, Ayha Ibrahim, and Tara Knowlton to its 2018 Class of Summer Associates. HB’s 12-week Summer Associate Program introduces select law students to the firm’s legal practice, business model, and culture.

HeplerBroom is pleased to announce that Gordon K. Walton, principal and owner of Walton Law Group LLC, has joined the firm as a partner in the firm’s Chicago office. Walton focuses his practice on all aspects of insurance law, from coverage opinions through trial. He has over two decades of experience in a wide range of complex insurance matters and offers strategic advice to local and national clients on insurance matters regarding risk analysis and management, coverage analysis, and claims counseling and coordination.

Rebecca Nickelson spoke recently on a panel for the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) on the topic of “ISMs: Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Genderism – How Do We Move Forward?”

Aleen Tiffany and Jamie Rein recently secured summary judgment in a Northwest Indiana suit seeking $92 million in property and lost profit damages against a number of construction contractors and engineering firms. The suit arose out of the collapse of a stacker reclaimer in 2014, and dismissal was secured on behalf of the electrical contractor who had performed work on the stacker as part of a rehabilitation/upgrade project years earlier.

Rick Hammond will be one of the faculty members at the Litigation Management College, which is being held at the Chubb Hotel and Conference Center in Philadelphia on May 20-23. The College, which is sponsored by the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, has an international reputation for being the premier advanced training course for claims professionals.

Eric Hall, Lauren Collins, Willie Lyles, and Kate Watkins recently attended the 18th annual Unity Dinner. The sold-out event, which was held in University City, Missouri, was presented by the Missouri Asian-American Bar Association and co-sponsored by the Mound City Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis, the South Asian Bar Association of North America, and The Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Saint Louis. The Dinner recognizes and celebrates diversity and inclusion within the legal profession, as well as the strong bonds between the St. Louis area minority bar associations.

Michael Young’s article in the April issue of Coverage Opinions examines the history behind the 1976 Maryland Casualty v. Peppers decision, a case that helped establish one of the fundamental principles of insurance law, i.e. the right to independent counsel. The article was characterized by the newsletter as being “clever” and “impressive.”

Anne Oldenburg and Linda Hay will be the featured speakers at Legalities in the Dental Industry, a Dental CE Solutions seminar being held in Davenport, Iowa, on May 10, 2018. The program is aimed at restorative clinicians and their administrative staff and is intended to keep them up to date on the legal changes in the industry.

In an article in the March 2018 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal, Charles Insler examines the dual questions of why there has been a large increase in the number of cases involving Illinois’ 10- year-old Biometric Information Privacy Act and how to defend against them. Insler also notes that the majority of these cases are class actions, raising the potential for dramatically amplified damages.

On May 4, the public is invited to a free Law Day celebration at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville. This year’s theme is Separation of Powers, and Judges David Dugan (Madison County), John O’Gara (St. Clair County), and Richard Brown (Randolph County) will discuss the part that the judicial branch plays in enforcing and upholding the law.

Katie Jacobi and Zoe Gross are serving as panel moderators for an Illinois Defense Counsel Insurance Law Seminar, which is being held in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 3. The seminar will address how policyholders, defense lawyers, and insurance claims professionals can respond to, litigate, and settle claims and lawsuits involving liability coverage issues.

Partner Kathleen Hamilton and associate attorney Bradley Zaffiri recently obtained summary judgment for a client in a St. Charles County case. Plaintiffs alleged damage to their multimillion dollar home arising from the design and installation of an inadequate heating and cooling system in the room that housed their indoor pool. Because the contract at issue expressly disclaimed any liability for work done prior to its execution, and because the undisputed material facts demonstrated that the system was designed and installed in the home prior to that date, the Court found that HeplerBroom’s client was entitled to summary judgment.

Kathryn Modeer and Josephine Sangiorgio-Hirth were recently elected Chair and Chair-Elect, respectively, of the Women in the Legal Profession Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Michael Young and Katie Jacobi are scheduled speakers at day-long continuing legal education seminar on insurance coverage issues for Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education

In his most recent Law Update column, Rick Hammond outlines a fraud investigation case that illustrates the importance for both insurers and plaintiffs to preserve evidence as early as possible. (In the case discussed, that evidence was a cell phone.)

After a four-day trial, HeplerBroom attorneys Linda Hay and Matthew Brandabur secured a complete defense victory for their client, a dentist. The case involved a Plaintiff who, at the age of 19, had her wisdom teeth removed and alleged she suffered a bilateral lingual nerve injury. The undisputed medical evidence at trial was that Plaintiff had permanent numbness throughout the anterior two-thirds of her tongue. Plaintiff’s attorney, however, was unsuccessful in persuading jurors that the dentist was professionally negligent in the removal of Plaintiff’s wisdom teeth.

Greg Odom is chairing and Glenn Davis will be one of the speakers at the Spring Symposium, the flagship annual event for the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (IDC). Topics will include current and emerging cybersecurity threats, protecting a law firm and its clients from cybersecurity threats, responding to cybersecurity breaches, securing confidential medical information from breaches, insurance coverage issues arising from breaches, and ethical issues specific to cybersecurity.

Holly Whitlock-Glave recently obtained a summary judgment in a Cook County case involving an electrical subcontractor. Toward the end of the project, one of the drywall subcontractor’s employees tripped and fell over construction debris. Some of the debris contained unidentified tubes, plywood, and cords, and the drywaller sued the subcontractor as well as the mechanical and general subcontractors. Witnesses called by Whitlock-Glave testified that none of the tubes, plywood, or cords were electrical, relieving the subcontractor of its responsibility. Despite a late-appearing plaintiff’s witness, who claimed the unidentified tubes were “most definitely” electrical tubes, Whitlock-Glave was able to establish a solid argument that the witness’ information was merely speculative and not admissible at trial. The Court agreed and granted the summary judgement.

Glenn Davis was among the speakers at the recent “Leading Through the Breach” seminar in St. Louis, which was co-sponsored by HeplerBroom’s HBCyberGroup. Seminar attendees learned about practical steps to take to avoid, minimize, and respond to cyber threats and information security vulnerabilities.

Beth Bauer was one of the speakers at the 2018 Winter Meeting of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, which was held recently on Amelia Island, Florida. Bauer, a trial attorney, was the moderator of a panel discussing the best practices to keep litigation from becoming a mass action or other major exposure for a client or insurer. Other panelists included in-house counsel for Sherwin-Williams Paints and a claims manager from insurance company Sompo International.

Partner Kathleen Hamilton and associate attorney Brad Zaffiri obtained an opinion from the Missouri Supreme Court, affirming the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of HeplerBroom’s client. [Matthew Fogerty v. Larry Meyer, Missouri Supreme Court No. SC96030]. The ruling in this case changes Missouri law regarding co-employee liability and when one co-employee may sue another.

Michael Young and Katie Jacobi are scheduled to present sessions at two upcoming CLM (Claims and Litigation Management Alliance) events. Jacobi will be in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, on March 19 to discuss evaluating additional insured coverage and contractual indemnity issues. She and Young will discuss the impact of Missouri’s reformed 537.065 statute, which now grants liability insurers a right to intervene in certain suits, at a St. Louis CLM Chapter meeting on March 29.

Dede Zupanci will be one of the speakers at a March 15 medical malpractice seminar in Chicago. The seminar, entitled “New Trends in Medical Malpractice: From Conflict Checks to Trial,” is sponsored by the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. HB attorney Leslie Odom is co-chair of the event. The seminar will cover topics pertinent to medical malpractice attorneys of all experience levels and will address both pretrial and trial issues, including conflicts of interest, the Petrillo doctrine, and preparing defense witnesses for deposition. The Reptile theory and how to reach the jury with exhibits, demonstrative evidence, and technology will also be discussed. More information about the seminar is available here. Zupanci, a partner in the firm’s Edwardsville office, focuses her practice on the defense of medical malpractice litigation and healthcare regulatory matters. She has been named an AV Preeminent® Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, as well as an Illinois Leading Lawyer. Odom, an associate in the Edwardsville office, focuses her practice on healthcare defense litigation and professional liability. She has been named an Emerging Lawyer by Illinois Leading Lawyers Network.

Benjamin Wilson has co-authored a chapter in the new Eighth Circuit Appellate Practice Manual, 8th edition. Wilson’s contribution is Chapter 21 - Costs on Appeal, which he co-authored with the Hon. Mary R. Vasaly, Fourth Judicial District Court in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Aleen Tiffany and Holly Whitlock-Glave were among the featured speakers at a recent seminar on construction worker injuries. The seminar, sponsored jointly by the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (IDC) and the Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys (SOICA), was specifically geared toward attorneys who defend construction worker accident claims, as well as those who negotiate and draft construction contract safety provisions.

Medical records personnel, nurses, and administrators in the Chicago area are benefitting from a series of educational lectures on the legal importance of good medical documentation. The series, presented at multiple nursing and rehabilitation facilities, is being given by HB attorneys Anne Oldenburg, Susan Wagener, and Tammera Banasek. Topics covered include recent changes in federal and state laws regarding the production of electronic medical records, understanding the legal process, and major areas of litigation and ways to avoid them. Oldenburg, Wagener, and Banasek are all partners in the firm.

HeplerBroom is pleased to announce the addition of Amy E. Johnson as Attorney of Counsel in the firm’s Chicago Office. Johnson focuses her practice on insurance, personal injury and property damage, premises, and appellate law. She is a certified mediator and has 20 years of experience mitigating risk on coverage issues and high exposure or bad faith claims. She also has significant litigation experience in bad faith insurance claims, including a successful appeal record.