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Joe Hovermill chairs the firm's Mass Torts Practice Group. Joe's practice focuses on litigation involving multiple parties, multiple claims and allocation of liability among related corporate entities. He supervises the day-to-day management of mass torts nationally for a publicly-traded manufacturing client, coordinating discovery, company witnesses, documents and trial. Mr. Hovermill also acts as liaison counsel in mass torts brought in the Mid-Atlantic region, coordinating the defense of such suits with plaintiff’s counsel, courts and multiple defendants. He has conducted or supervised numerous forensic product-line investigations relating to claims arising out of products manufactured many decades before, often by divested or now non-existent companies. Mr. Hovermill defends mass torts alleging occupational exposure to a variety of allegedly toxic substances, including asbestos, silica, vinyl chloride, benzene, nickel, lead and perchlorate. Mr. Hovermill also regularly represents policyholders (including a number of large publicly-traded and privately-held companies) in insurance coverage and/or insurance-related disputes arising out of a variety of insurance policies. He conducts numerous forensic insurance coverage investigations, locating lost insurance policies or secondary evidence of coverage issued decades ago. Mr. Hovermill also represents and advises policyholder clients on insurance coverage and risk management issues relating to claims arising out of exposure to asbestos, silica, mold and other allegedly toxic substances associated with liability and first-party policies. Finally, Mr. Hovermill assists business clients in the retention and analysis of their Directors and Officers liability coverage. Outside the products liability and insurance areas, Mr. Hovermill’s practice encompasses a range of complex civil matters including nationwide/statewide class action litigation and business disputes. He is regional counsel to a large financial services company for all lawsuits brought in the region arising out of that company’s credit card operations. Also, Mr. Hovermill regularly represents clients before a variety of federal agencies with jurisdiction over the areas of his practice, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. Practice Areas: Commercial & Business Litigation Class Actions Commercial Litigation Insurance Recovery & Risk Management Coverage Disputes & Litigation Coverage Evaluations & Forensic Coverage Investigations Insurance Asset Management Risk Prevention & Management Life Sciences, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Mass Torts / Environmental Asbestos/Occupational Exposures Class Actions Products Liability CPSC & Other Regulatory Compliance Industrial Machinery Litigation Bar Admissions/Court Admissions:District of Columbia Maryland United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit United States District Court for the District of Maryland United States Supreme Court Education:University of Maryland, J.D. 1993, Summa Cum Laude, Order of the Coif, Editor, The Maryland Law Review. University of Maryland Baltimore County, B.A. 1990, Summa Cum Laude. Affiliations, Associations and Special Achievements: American Bar Association: Trial Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Business Torts Committee, Vice Chair Baltimore City Bar Association Baltimore County Bar Association Defense Research Institute, Inc. Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc. Maryland State Bar Association Publications: A Conflict of Laws and Morals -- The Choice of Law Implications of Hawaii's Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages, 53 Md.L. Rev. 450 (1994). Are Mold Claims Excluded from Your CGL Policy? Mealey's Litigation Report: Mold Vol. 1 No. 3 (March 2001). Defending the Toxic Tort Class Action with a Preemptive Motion to Dismiss, For the Defense Vol. 43, No. 8 (2001). Forensic Insurance Investigations: Finding Coverage in Old Policies, DRI Industry-Wide Litigation Subcommittee Newsletter (June 2003). Good Samaritan Statute -- Emergency Medical Technicians: Survey and Analysis, 51 Md.L.Rev.815 (1992). High Crimes or Misdemeanors: Avoiding Legal Brawls From Bar Room Brawls, The Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc. (Winter 2005). Mold Claims May be Excluded from Your CGL Policy -- 2002 Update, Mealey's Litigation Report: Mold (May 2002). Unexpected Hazards: When Renovation Becomes Remediation, Multifamily Executive Vol. 6, Issue 10 (2001). Without Consent: Establishing a Corporation Successor's Rights to the Predecessor's Insurance Coverage, 37 Torts & Insurance Law Journal 1, 105 (2001). Not Thy Brother’s Keeper: Who’s Duty is it?, For the Defense (October 2005). Start Thinking of your Insurance as an Asset, Rather than a Liability, Baltimore Business Journal (September 24-30, 2004) (November 03, 2005). Speaking Engagements: Could Your Tenants Turn Mold Into Gold? Maryland Multi-Housing Counsel (July 2001). Found Money in a Tight Economy: Identifying and Managing Your Historic Insurance Assets, National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (September 2003); New Orleans, Louisiana (June 2003). Impact of Insurance Coverage and Trial of a Mold Case, Mealey’s Mold Litigation Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (May 2002). Insurance Coverage and Claim Prevention Issues: Mold, the Next Asbestos? Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc., Chesapeake Chapter (September 2001). It's 2003, Do You Know Where Your Insurance Policies Are? National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Chicago, Illinois (2003). Keeping Up With the Rapidly Evolving Practice in Class Actions and Mass Torts, National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Chicago, Illinois (March 2003). Managing Outside Counsel Through Proven Reporting Structures, National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes that Cost You in Court, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (September 2003). Saving Defense Costs Through Joint Defense Groups Without Giving Up Necessary Control, National Association of Manufacturers: Products Liability: Avoiding the Mistakes That Cost You in Court, Chicago, Illinois (2003). Securing Predecessor Insurance Coverage, RPM International Inc. Third Annual Corporate Counsel Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland (May 2003). The Cost of Taking Ownership - Facing Successor Liability Issues in Asbestos Litigation, Mealey’s National Asbestos Litigation Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (September 2005). Home | The Firm in Focus | Industries | Practice Areas | Our Team | Diversity | Recruiting | Office. |
