Environmental Law Other

Kevin Fitzgerald was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and is proud of his Midwestern roots and work ethic. Although neither of his parents are attorneys, Kevin jokes that he was “raised” by plaintiffs’ lawyers. He first began working at a plaintiff’s injury law firm when he was fifteen years old and a sophomore in high school. For the ten years prior to attending law school, Kevin served as a litigation assistant at a national law practice where he worked closely with the firm’s trial team representing clients injured by asbestos-containing products. Kevin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Minors in Geology and Geography from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Kevin attended the University of Maine School of Law where he graduated with honors. During law school, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Ocean & Coastal Law Journal. Kevin was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in Land Use and Local Government Law, an outstanding scholastic achievement award in Environmental Law, and the Horace S. Libby Memorial Scholarship. In 2015, Kevin founded the Fitzgerald Law Group, LLC where he continues to concentrate his practice in representing men, women and children injured by medical devices, prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, asbestos, and in wrongful death and serious personal injury cases. Prior to founding the Fitzgerald Law Group, LLC, Kevin worked for another national mass tort law firm for fourteen years, serving as its managing attorney from 2008 to 2015. During his career, Kevin has played an integral role in developing, commencing and litigating significant injury cases from the initial case investigation stage through trial. He has taken or defended hundreds of depositions of plaintiffs, corporate employees, liability and causation experts, sales representatives and other key witnesses. He has helped identify experts in numerous disciplines and assisted in preparing their testimony for deposition and trial. He has also served as a member of the plaintiffs’ trial team in four national pharmaceutical drug cases, including Schedin v. Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al. in which the jury returned a $1.6 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Over the last fifteen years, Kevin has represented thousands of clients in a wide array of medical device and prescription drug cases as well as other consumer protection matters including Actos, Arava, Avelox, Baycol, Bextra, Biomet Hip Implants, Byetta, Celebrex, Depuy ASR & Pinnacle Hip Implants, Effexor, Ephedra, Fen Phen, Fleet Phospho-Soda, Fosamax, Gadolinium, Levaquin, Lipitor, Mesothelioma, Mirena IUD, Nuvaring, Ortho Evra, Phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Pradaxa, Pravachol, Rezulin, Risperdal, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Stadol, Stryker Rejuvenate & ABGII Hip Implants, Talcum Powder, Testosterone Replacement Therapy (“Low-T”), Transvaginal Mesh, Trovan, Viagra, Vioxx, Xarelto, Yaz, Zicam, Zimmer Hip Implants, Zithromax, Zofran, Zoloft, Zometa and Zyprexa. In addition to pharmaceutical and medical device cases, Kevin has experience handling wrongful death, personal injury, data breach, Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA), and consumer protection cases. Kevin lives in Portland, Maine with his wife, who is also a lawyer, and their three children. The family are members of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Portland. When he is not working late, he enjoys cooking, hiking and fishing throughout the State of Maine, coaching youth athletics, and cheering on his favorite Cleveland sports’ teams.

Sam Blink is the Founder and Managing Member of Midtown Legal. He is a member in Midtown's Business Litigation and Dispute Resolution and Corporate and Business Transactions Practice Groups. Sam defends businesses and their owners, directors and officers in governmental investigations and related enforcement actions. He preserves his clients’ reputations and resources while representing them through all stages of disputes, from pre-litigation investigations through administrative proceedings, trial and appeal. Sam focuses this part of his practice on environmental, consumer protection and securities investigations. He also has extensive experience representing contractors in construction disputes in court and arbitration. He both defends contractors in mostly construction defect cases and pursues collection efforts on behalf of his contractor clients. Sam also regularly represents businesses in contract litigation and business owners in corporate and partnership disputes. Sam routinely guides companies in various corporate and commercial transactions, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, capital raises and corporate governance matters. He represents businesses in connection with complex contract negotiations, including SaaS agreements, complex commercial real estate agreements, licensing agreements, distribution agreements, independent contractor and employment agreements, and technology agreements. Sam is a business owner, being the founder of Midtown Legal and is the owner and partner of multiple other business ventures. He uses this experience to practically represent his clients and provide what business owners actually want out of their legal representation. When Sam is not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and son. He enjoys golfing and watching all sports. He is an avid traveler, reader, hiker and a less avid fisherman and carpenter.

Welcome to Clark Law and Associates, LLC. We are attorneys/lawyers based out of Portland Oregon, centrally located in the 97239 area code. The advantage of having five attorneys and legal assistants is that we regularly confer with each other about our cases and seek invaluable peer input from each other, so you receive the best representation possible.

Grant’s Law Firm is uniquely positioned to advise individuals, start-ups and small business clients, to offer them premium, individualized legal services without a premium price. We use advanced office techniques and technologies to reduce staffing needs and employ other cost-saving measures to reduce our overhead. When you need a practitioner with a very specialized focus, we retain experienced colleagues having that particular expertise on a contract basis. Thus, our clients receive large firm, top-notch legal advice, but at reasonable small firm prices. The cornerstone of our success is the quality relationships that we maintain with clients. Grant’s Law Firm can help you form and file your business structure from start to finish, whether you have selected a corporation, a limited liability company (LLC), or a partnership. We recognize that business owners are not only concerned with the everyday operations of their business, but with also having to prepare for its future. We are dedicated to providing hands-on, client-focused service to the people and businesses of Riverside County, Orange County, and Los Angeles County.

James N. Scarff, II, is a transplant from Jackson, Mississippi, where he was born and raised. After high school he initially played football at the University of Mississippi until an injury ended his football career. He then transferred to Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi where he would receive his Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in May 2003. Shortly thereafter, James received his Master of Business Administration degree from Millsaps College in May 2005. While at Millsaps College he received the Millsaps Award, Endowed Scholarship, and the Dean’s Scholarship. In August of 2005, James began law school at Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi. While in law school, James was a member of the Environmental Law Society and one of the founding members of the Sports & Entertainment Law Society, while managing to stay on the Dean’s List. After graduating in the top quarter of his law school class, James went to work for The Penton Law Firm out of Bogalusa, Louisiana where he practiced Mass Tort Litigation. His firm also served on the Plaintiff Steering Committee (PSC) for those harmed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His main focus at the firm was global pharmaceutical settlements and Multi-District Litigation (MDL). Those cases included Vytorin, Vioxx, Celebrex, Viagra, DPC Arizona, and other mass tort actions. Over $400 million in settlement funds was distributed. In June 2009, James moved back home to his roots in Jackson, MS and started his own practice. At Scarff Law Firm, LLC, James took on personal injury cases, domestic/family law cases, DUI, criminal defense, and business transactions. At that time, he was also general counsel for three separate businesses. While continuing his own practice, James became a trial lawyer associate at The McRae Law Firm, PLLC, in May 2012 and worked on briefing appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court as well as Federal Court in the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi. In December 2015, James reconnected with his old high school sweetheart who had moved to Omaha, Nebraska after college. After a brief courtship, he married Emily Knight Scarff in May 2017 and promptly moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Where he shares a blended family with his wife. He has two step-sons, Hayden and Hudson Koesters, and a new addition to the Scarff Family came in September 2018, Colt Hayes Scarff. James also has a daughter, Emery Rose Scarff, who resides with her mother back in Mississippi.

The Law Offices of Attorney Patricia (Pat) Cresta-Savage offers clients the advantage of an experienced attorney with over 20 years of advisory and courtroom litigation experience providing independent legal representation in civil actions, civil rights, and criminal defense. She is a licensed member of the bar in DC, MD and NH, and can represent clients in several different courts. In CRIMINAL DEFENSE, she has effectively represented those charged in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New Hampshire with many different types and degrees of crimes, including but not limited to serious offenses such as: felony murder, assault with intent to kill, armed robbery, carjacking, possession and/or distribution of controlled substances, felon in possession of firearms, embezzlement, credit card fraud, as well as lesser criminal charges of many kinds. In CIVIL RIGHTS, she has successfully represented clients in civil actions concerning police brutality, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, race discrimination, and employment law. She was co-counsel in a landmark Maryland decision concerning the unconstitutional retroactive application of sex offender registration law: Doe v. Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services, 430 Md. 535, 62 A.3d 123 (2013)

Henry David Thoreau said it best by stating, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Robert (“Rob”) Titus is one of the rare people that will die with no songs left in his heart. A natural extrovert with a passion for the courtroom, Rob’s greatest asset is his ability to connect with people. Out of law school, Rob worked at one of the biggest oil companies in America as a landman. He ended up as in-house counsel in Kansas working for a top-ten oil producer. The great oil crash of 2015 hit the country hard, and Rob especially. He left the oil business and joined a firm that specialized in suing gas companies. In three years, Rob assisted several royalties owners to achieve multi-million dollar settlements for underpayment of natural gas royalties, with his efforts culminating in a ten-million-dollar settlement on behalf of a class of royalty owners in three Colorado counties. After spending time in private practice, Rob saw a disturbing trend. Far too many of the litigants he saw in court were self-represented. Worse still, most of them could achieve their case goals with quality representation, but could not afford a lawyer. Then Rob considered creating a law firm that would eschew the traditional model and bring legal service to everyone. And out of the desire to buck the trend, Titus Law Firm, LLC was born. Rob lives in Kansas City with his wife Abby, his two children, Lily and Lincoln, and their two Labrador retrievers. You will find him with his kids exploring the lakes and hiking trails of Kansas and Missouri. He is a published author and a proud graduate of the University of Texas English Honors Program. When he is not at work, you will find Rob at a Texas football game, always mistakenly believing that this will be the year Texas brings in a title (it has been a long, dark decade that Rob has nicknamed “the Wilderness”).

Born in the tiny coal-mining community of Williamson and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, by blue-collar working-class parents who placed a premium on hard work, honesty, and personal integrity, Bernie Layne of Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC learned from an early age that his path to success would have to be paved with over achievement. While both of his parents grew up in abject poverty that can only be understood or imagined by those who have experienced day-to-day life in ‘coal camp’ housing in southern West Virginia, they became acutely aware of the value and necessity of education and sweat equity as a means of rising above their circumstance. It is from this culture and environment that Bernie’s parents instilled in him, and his two sisters, to never forget where they have come from and to always use their God-given talents and abilities to help people around them who are disadvantaged, hurting, disabled, destitute, or who are being abused by those in a more powerful position than themselves in society. Growing up in Parkersburg, just across the river from Marietta and Belpre, Ohio, he gained a deep, abiding respect for the hardworking people on both sides of the border. Rising from the social position of an ‘underdog,’ it isn’t hard to understand how Bernie has come to embrace these roots by becoming a highly successful legal advocate and defender of the rights of injured working-class West Virginians and Ohioans. A Strong Competitive Spirit As you can imagine, it takes tremendous family support and lots of competitive spirit to become one of only a few college graduates in his family and to become the first lawyer in his immediate or extended family. That love for competition was introduced to him as a child, by his father, an accomplished sportswriter at the Williamson Daily News. Bernie developed a love for the game of basketball and baseball and eventually earned a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia. As a college student-athlete, Bernie was introduced to the importance of academic and athletic discipline, teamwork, handling success and overcoming failure. As his dream of playing professional baseball faded, his commitment to personal development and higher education strengthened. Before leaving UC, Bernie was named the Ivor F. Boiarsky Award Winner, which annually recognizes the top Political Science Student in the graduating class, won a statewide award for his senior thesis, in the area of Public Law Policy, on the pitfalls and environmental evils associated with an inadequate and corrupt strip mine permitting system in West Virginia, was voted by his peers as the Student Body President and was chosen by the administration to deliver the commencement address on behalf of his graduating class, while sharing the stage with the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. Inspired to help the disadvantaged Using his undergraduate success as a springboard, Bernie went on to attend graduate school at The Ohio University, where he received a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology. After graduate school, Bernie returned to Appalachia where he worked with elderly and disabled individuals through the Title 19 Medicaid Waiver Program in Southern West Virginia. The year spent working with catastrophically injured people through Title 19 firmed his resolve and commitment to make a difference in the lives of the hardworking citizens of this state. This experience made Bernie aware of the obstacles that face disabled and poverty-stricken individuals and the myriad of statutory and legal hurdles they face, while unable to afford adequate legal assistance to address their needs. Bernie’s disappointment in the legal system and its treatment of handicapped, disabled, and elderly individuals led him to attend law school at The University of Dayton School of Law where he graduated with his Juris Doctor in the Spring of 1999. After finishing law school, Bernie remained in Dayton as a judicial extern for The Honorable Barbara Gorman, the first female judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. In the years following his law school graduation, Bernie has remained committed to preserving the rights of injured and disadvantaged citizens of our state and has limited his practice to cases which involve people who have been injured due to the negligence of another person, corporation or governmental body. Throughout his career, he has successfully taken on big corporate asbestos producers who exposed plant workers and pipefitters to deadly and cancer-causing asbestos fibers. He has successfully confronted coal mining companies that deliberately injured workers through a neglect of OSHA regulations and state laws designed to protect this state’s workers. Further, Bernie has successfully resolved wrongful death cases involving children, medical malpractice and poorly designed products by large corporate interests who chose to place profits as a priority over the safety of our citizens. In 2021, Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC expanded to a new office in Columbus, OH. For Bernie, who earned both of his graduate degrees in Ohio and has many close family members in Columbus and the surrounding towns, this was a homecoming of sorts, an opportunity to advocate for hardworking people throughout both Ohio and West Virginia. Recognized by his peers Bernie’s success and achievement have been greatly rewarded as he and his partners have built an accomplished law firm at Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC. His professional attributes and success have also been noticed by his trial lawyer peers. In 2005, he was given the Distinguished Service Award by the West Virginia Association for Justice (WVAJ), which is a group that represents the interests of the injured and disabled in West Virginia. Attorney Layne has been a member of WVAJ and the American Association for Justice for more than a decade. He is past president of WVAJ, serving from June 2013 to June 2014. He has also served on the WVAJ Executive Committee (nine years), the WVAJ Board of Governors and as a member of the LAWPAC organization. He was recently invited to join the prestigious, Southern Trial Lawyers organization and has been apponted to The Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center where he serves on its Executive and Building & Grounds Committees. Additionally, he served a two-year stint as a member of the West Virginia Bar Association’s Judicial Campaign Advertising Committee, which sought to regulate unfair, unethical and untruthful advertising during judicial campaign election cycles. In 2013, he was appointed to the University of Charleston Board of Trustees and served on the Executive and Outreach Committees within that board. He is now serving his twelfth year on the board. In 2014, he was named Alumnus of the Year at the University of Charleston. In 2017, he was appointed chairman of the Welch Challenge Campaign, an $8 million fund-raising initiative at the school. Also in 2013, Mr. Layne received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating attorneys can achieve from that organization. Only 2% of all practitioners nationwide earn that rating. In 2018, Bernie was selected to the West Virginia Super Lawyers list by his peers. Bernie has obtained several significant verdicts and settlements and has been granted membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. On a community level, Bernie recently completed a seven-year term on the Putnam County Career and Technical Center’s Healthcare Advisory Board, on which he worked with other community leaders to design, implement and guide the LPN Nursing Program at the school. His efforts in this area are consistent with his desire to work toward broad based community and rural health care initiatives which support healthcare for the underprivileged throughout our state’s communities.

Daniel was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia. He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas, and he holds a Master of Healthcare Administration from Seton Hall University and a Master of Business Administration, with a concentration in International Business, from the University of Texas at El Paso. Daniel holds a double certification in Healthcare Compliance and as a Compliance and Ethics Professional. Daniel manages the Law Office of Daniel R. Crumby, LLC, where he focuses on complex litigation and business law including white-collar defense; defense of corporate, and individual clients in state and federal courts around the country; medical malpractice; nursing home and elder abuse; healthcare compliance and investigations; personal injury, and criminal law. Prior to starting his practice, Daniel worked at a mid-sized law firm in Atlanta, and he specialized in criminal and civil healthcare-related white-collar cases, medical malpractice, healthcare compliance, internal investigations, and defending insurance companies and their insurers in complex cases, including lawsuits filed against skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. Immediately prior to working at a civil defense firm, Daniel defended the United States and its agencies in federal and state courts, and he served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Georgia and the Western District of Texas. As a federal prosecutor, Daniel directed and prosecuted numerous cases including healthcare fraud, bank fraud, procurement fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud, theft of government funds, drugs and alien smuggling, child exploitation, human and sex trafficking, and other criminal violations. In 2014, Daniel received a Commendation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Director, James B. Comey. Daniel previously served in the United States Army as military police and as a Judge Advocate General (“JAG”) officer in a variety of assignments before resigning his commission as a Captain. The Army twice awarded Daniel the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medals, Army Achievement Medals, and the Fort Bliss Ambassador Award, among others, for his military service. Daniel is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, State Bar of Texas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Georgia and the Western District of Texas.

John Vukmanovic is the co–founder and a partner of Delman Vukmanovic LLP. John is highly regarded among his peers in the legal communities of Los Angeles and Orange counties. His highly aggressive, yet sensible approach to civil litigation routinely yields successful outcomes for his new and returning clients. Top Civil Litigation Lawyer in Los Angeles and Orange County As a “bulldog” litigator and consummate trial attorney, John’s comprehensive background in civil litigation comprises a long string of successful outcomes for clients facing complex business and real estate litigation, as well as employment, professional liability and intellectual property disputes. While each case is different, John approaches all civil disputes the same way: striving for maximum effectiveness and leverage in civil litigation while maintaining efficiency. Large Firm Litigation Experience John acquired his early legal experience in the insurance industry, subsequently rising to prominence as an attorney with the large national law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP, and later with the high–profile business and entertainment litigation firm of Freedman & Taitelman, LLP. His experience makes him uniquely qualified to understand his clients’ challenges, and to achieve their ultimate goals. Community Involvement John proactively dedicates a significant amount of time assisting individuals of limited means in pro bono matters and devotes energy to a range of charitable organizations in the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas. Recognized for Superlative Results and Service as Business Litigation Attorney Among his achievements, John has been ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a “Litigation Star” and named by Los Angeles Magazine as a Southern California “Super Lawyer” in Business Litigation. “Super Lawyers,” a peer–designated honor, is bestowed upon only the top five percent of lawyers practicing in California. In addition, John has been awarded Martindale–Hubbell’s Client Distinction Award, an honor conferred by his clients in appreciation of John’s value in quality of service, communication skills, and professional diligence.