David R. Cohen
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HIGHLIGHTS
Appointments
- Special Master, In re Oral Sodium Phosphate Solution-Based Prod. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2066
- Special Master, In re Welding Fumes Prod. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 1535
- Special Master, Snap-On Bus. Solns. v. Hyundai Motor America, no. 07-CV-1961 (N.D. Ohio)
- Special Master, Banford v. Aldrich Chemical Co., Inc., Case No. 2003-CV-8704 (Montgomery Cty., Ohio Ct. Common Pleas).
- Senior Law Clerk, In re Sulzer Hip Implant Prod. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 1401
- Overseeing and resolving all discovery and e-discovery issues, both global and case-specific.
- Ruling on privilege issues (50,000+ documents in Welding Fumes MDL).
- Coordinating federal and state-court litigation.
- Negotiating Settlement Agreements between plaintiffs, defendants, and insurers.
- Designing claims administration process to pay settlement class.
- Serving as appellate reviewer of claimant settlement awards.
- Creating protocols and entering common benefit attorney fee awards.
- Monitoring and addressing ethical concerns.
- Drafting opinions for Judicial signature, ranging from pre-trial global Daubert issues
to post-trial case-specific JNOV motions. - Assisting Judges in courtroom during bellwether trials.
Duties
Organizations
- Academy of Court-Appointed Masters
- Charter Member
- Member, Board of Directors
- American College of E-Neutrals
- Charter Member
- Member, Board of Directors
- Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists
- Member
- Charter Class, Examination Certified E-Discovery Specialist
Publications
- Appointing Special Masters and Other Judicial Adjuncts: A Handbook for Judges (3rd ed. 2011).
- Editor and Contributor. To download a copy of this Bench Book, click HERE.
- Cohen's Special Master Case Reporter
- Editor and Publisher. To view this month's Reporter, click HERE.
Judicial References
- Honorable Kathleen McDonald O’Malley, Federal Circuit Court of Appeals
- Honorable Dan Aaron Polster, United States District Court
- Honorable Jack Zouhary, United States District Court
- Honorable David Dowd, United States District Court
- Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr., United States District Court
- Honorable John Adams, United States District Court
- Honorable Sul Ozerden, United States District Court
- Honorable Ann Aldrich, United States District Court (deceased)
FULL RESUME
Education
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Juris Doctor Magna Cum Laude, 1991
- Law Review Notes Editor
- Honors, Order of the Coif
- Class Rank – top 3%
- American Jurisprudence Award (three times)
University of Michigan Honors College
Bachelor of Arts with Distinction, 1981
- Double Major in Economics and Psychology
- Class Honors – three years
Experience
Special Master, In re: Oral Sodium Phosphate Soln. Prod. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2066, 2009 - present
- Appointed by the Honorable Ann Aldrich to oversee all aspects of a mature, mass tort Multidistrict Litigation, including (a) settlement negotiations involving complicated insurance coverage issues; (b) administration of the claim payment process, requiring distribution of several hundred million dollars; and (c) determination of common benefit fee awards. Appointment continued after the Honorable Dan Aaron Polster inherited the MDL.
Special Master, In re: Welding Fumes Prod. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 1535, 2004 - present
- Appointed by the Honorable Kathleen McDonald O’Malley to oversee all aspects of a mass tort Multidistrict Litigation involving 12,000 individual actions from across the country, including putative class actions. Duties include all discovery oversight, drafting case-specific and global MDL opinions, and assisting Judge at trial. See In re: Welding Rod Prods. Liab. Litig., 2004 WL 3711622 at *3 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 10, 2004) (Order of Appointment describing my duties).
Special Master, Snap-On Bus. Solns. v. Hyundai Motor America, 07-CV-1961 (N.D. Ohio), 2010 - present
- Appointed by the Honorable John R. Adams to oversee discovery and privilege issues in a complex, multi-party indemnity action that ensued after patent litigation.
Mediator and Special Master, 2005 - present
- Example subject matter: hired to mediate settlement of a lawsuit brought by a certified plaintiff class against a chemical company for damages related to a manufacturing plant explosion. After successful mediation, served as Special Master determining individual settlement awards to claimant sub-class. Banford v. Aldrich Chemical Co., Inc., Case No. 2003-CV-8704 (Montgomery Cty., Ohio Ct. Common Pleas).
Senior Judicial Clerk, In re: Sulzer Hip Prosthesis Prod. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 1401, 2001-04
- Helped supervise all aspects of this product liability Multidistrict Litigation, which was ultimately settled for over $1 Billion, payable to an opt-out, nationwide settlement class of about 40,000 members. See In re: Sulzer Hip Prosthesis and Knee Prosthesis Liab. Litig., 268 F.Supp.2d 907 (N.D. Ohio 2003) (summarizing the history of the case in the context of entering common benefit attorney fee awards).
Senior Judicial Clerk, Northern District of Ohio
- Honorable Kathleen McDonald O’Malley, 1994-1996 and 1997-2004
- Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr., 1996-1997
- Honorable Ann Aldrich, 1991-1992
- Contacted by Judge O’Malley directly after she was appointed to the federal bench, invited to serve as her judicial clerk and assist her with all aspects of forming new chambers procedures.
Associate Attorney, Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, 1992-1994
- Specializing in commercial litigation in trial and appellate courts. Annual performance review ratings of “superior.”
Before Law School, 1982-1989
- Assistant Product Manager, Progressive Insurance Company
- Managing high-risk truck programs.
- Commercial Leasing Agent, M.H. Hausman Company
- Specializing in retail leases and property sales.
- Vice President, Infomat, International
- Two-person start-up technology and advertising company.
Professional Activities
Academy of Court-Appointed Masters
- Board of Directors 2009 - present
- Charter Member, 2004 - present
- Publications Committee Co-Chair, 2005 - present
- Membership Committee, 2010 - present
American College of E-Neutrals
- Charter Member
- Member, Board of Directors, 2011 - present
Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists
- Member
- Charter Class, Examination Certified E-Discovery Specialist
The Sedona Conference
- Core Work Group Member, Mass Torts & Punitive Damages, 2008 - present
- E-Discovery Dispute Resolution Program For Special Masters & Mediators
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
- Assisting the Honorable William S. Duffey, Jr. with design and content of private Intra-Net resource website for MDL Transferee Judges
American Inns of Court
- Member, 1992 - present
- Program Committee Member, 2000 - 2001 and 1996 - 1997
- Membership Committee Co-chair, 1995 - 1997
- Co-authored a six-part program, entitled “When a Lawyer and Her Client are Both Indicted,” which is now listed in the National American Inns of Court Program Library Catalog.
Federal Bar Association, Judiciary Division
- Member, 1998 - present
- Board of Directors, N.D. Ohio Chapter, 2004 - 2008
- National Convention 2000 Steering Committee, 1998 - 2000
- Continuing Legal Education Sub-Committee, 1998 - 2000
Associate Adjunct Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University Law School
- Teaching Pretrial Practice to third-year students. Consistent student evaluations of "excellent."
Licensed Instructor, Ohio Peace Officers Training Council
- Teaching trial testimony to City of Cleveland Police Cadets.
Professional Admissions
- Ohio Supreme Court, Atty. No. 0055347
- Colorado Supreme Court, Atty. No. 022420
- United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
- United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
- United States Supreme Court
Other Honors
- Life Member, Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference
- Life Member, Judicial Conference of the Eighth Judicial District of Ohio
- 2008 Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel
Publications (examples, complete list available upon request)
Appointing Special Masters and Other Judicial Adjuncts: A Handbook for Judges (3rd ed. 2011)
- Contributor and Co-Editor; published by the Academy of Court Appointed Masters. In 2006, with the assistance of the Federal Judicial Center, this Bench Book was distributed to every Federal Judge. To download a copy of this Bench Book, click HERE.
David R. Cohen, Note, Judicial Malpractice Insurance? The Judiciary Responds to the Loss of Absolute Judicial Immunity, 41 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 267 (1990)
- This Note received national attention: Are Judges Overcharged for Insurance? Law Review Article Says Premiums Are Too High, The National Law Journal at 10 (March 19, 1991).
Judicial Opinions
- A complete list of published judicial opinions I helped draft is available upon request. Six examples:
- In re: Welding Fumes Prods. Liab. Litig., 364 F.Supp.2d 669 (N.D. Ohio 2005) (in a matter of first impression, concluding plaintiffsí claims for failure to warn were not preempted by federal law) (the Supreme Court quoted this opinion with approval in Altria Group, Inc. v. Good, 129 S.Ct. 538 (2008) (Thomas, J., dissenting); further, this opinion was discussed at length with approval in Richard C. Ausness, The Welding Fume Case and the Preemptive Effect of OSHA's Hazcom Standard on Common Law Failure-to-Warn Claims, 54 Buff. L. Rev. 103, 119 (2006)).
- In re: Sulzer Hip Prosthesis and Knee Prosthesis Liab. Litig., 268 F.Supp.2d 907 (N.D. Ohio 2003), affirmed, 398 F.3d 778 (6th Cir. 2005) (entering common benefit attorney fee awards following $1 Billion MDL class action settlement) (on appeal, the Sixth Circuit complimented the "holistic and reasonable nature of the court's analysis").
- Doughty v. City of Vermilion, 118 F.Supp.2d 819 (N.D. Ohio 1999), affirmed, 2000 WL 1478388 (6th Cir. Oct. 4, 2000) (dismissing an exotic dancer’s First Amendment claims, brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983) (on appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals stated this opinion was "well-reasoned" and wrote that, "[b]ecause the reasoning that supports the judgment in the defendants’ favor has been clearly articulated by the district court in a thorough and comprehensive opinion, the issuance of a detailed written opinion by this court would serve no useful purpose").
- Ohio Hosp. Ass’n v. Shalala, 978 F. Supp. 735 (N.D. Ohio 1997), reversed in part, 201 F.3d 418 (6th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1071 (2001) (examining subject matter jurisdiction in a lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act) (on appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals noted this opinion was "extensive and very helpful").
- Weatherchem Corp. v. J.L. Clark, Inc., 937 F. Supp. 1262 (N.D. Ohio 1996), affirmed in part and vacated in part, 1998 WL 854427 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 7, 1998) (declaring two patents invalid) (on appeal, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals characterized this opinion as “thorough and legally sound”).
- Rose v. Village of Peninsula, 875 F. Supp. 442 (N.D. Ohio 1995) (analyzing separation-of-powers issues and finding a village mayor’s court unconstitutional) (the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in DePiero v. City of Macedonia, 180 F. 3d 770, 780 (6th Cir. 1999), adopted fully the Rose analysis, calling it “articulate and persuasive”).
Speaking Engagements
- 2011 Louisiana State Bar Association Mass Tort Symposium
- 2011 Annual Conference, Academy of Court-Appointed Masters
- 2010 HarrisMartin DePuy Hip Implant Litigation Conference
- 2010 Federal Bar Association, Northern District of Ohio
- 2010 HarrisMartin Toyota Recall Litigation Conference
- 2009 Federal Bar Association, Northern District of Ohio
- 2009 Annual Conference, Academy of Court-Appointed Masters
- 2009 Annual Conference, Ohio Association for Justice
- 2008 ALI-ABA Mass Litigation Conference
- 2008 Federal Bar Association, Northern District of Ohio
- 2008 Annual Conference, Association of Defense Trial Attorneys
- 2007 Bench Bar Conference of the U.S. District Courts for the N. & S. Districts of Ohio
- 2006 Federal Bar Association, Northern District of Ohio
- 2004 & 2000 Sixth Circuit Judicial Conferences
- 2003 & 2002 American Corporate Counsel Association’s National Annual Conferences
- 2003 Judicial Conference of the Eighth Judicial District of Ohio
- 2002 ALI-ABA National Patent Law Seminar
- 2003-2005 National Institute for Trial Advocacy
Civic Activities
Anti-Defamation League- Regional Board of Directors, 2001 - present
- Member, Civil Rights Committee, 1998 - present
- Member, Nominating Committee, 2003 - 2005
- Invitee, Steinberg Leadership Institute, 1998 - 2000
- Board of Directors, 2002 - 2008
- Chair, Social Action Network Committee, 1998 - 2003
- Member, Community Relations Committee, 1998 - 2003
- Invitee, Mandel Course for Advanced Leadership, 2001 - 2002
- Team Leader, Young Leadership Division, 1996 - 2000
- Member, Volunteers in Action Committee, 1996 - 2000
- Board of Directors, 2002 - 2004