About

Dean P. Laing is the President and Managing Shareholder of the law firm of O'Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong & Laing S.C., a 40-attorney firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has been with the Firm for more 36 years, since graduating cum laude from Marquette University Law School in 1983. Mr. Laing has been recognized by members of the bar and judiciary as one of Wisconsin’s top trial attorneys.Among numerous high-profile cases in which he has been involved, Mr. Laing was the lead trial attorney for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. in a lawsuit relating to the construction of the retractable roof of Miller Park (the home of the Milwaukee Brewers), which Judge Kitty K. Brennan called "the biggest case [Milwaukee] County has ever seen." The case, filed by the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, sought $50 million in damages from Mitsubishi for alleged defects in the retractable roof constructed by Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi denied liability and filed a counterclaim seeking additional costs incurred in constructing the roof due to material changes made to the roof's design after Mitsubishi bid the job. The case involved claims of $140 million, and generated the taking of 162 depositions in three countries, the production of 2.9 million pages of documents, the filing of 96 substantive motions, and several trips to the appellate court. After three days of mediation involving 22 attorneys from seven states, a settlement was reached one week before the scheduled trial, resulting in Mitsubishi paying nothing on the Baseball Park District's claims and receiving $18 million on its counterclaim.In another high-profile case handled by Mr. Laing, he represented a bank being sued by Koss Corporation in connection with an embezzlement by one of Koss’s employees, Sujata Sachdeva, who obtained $17 million of the embezzled funds from Koss’s accounts at the bank. Ms. Sachdeva embezzled a total of $34 million from Koss, which is the ninth largest embezzlement in U.S. history. Koss sought $42 million in damages from the bank, alleging that the bank acted in bad faith under the Uniform Fiduciaries Act by failing to detect the embezzlement. After more than five years of litigation, Koss’s case was dismissed by the trial court on summary judgment in 2016, which ruling was affirmed by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on December 12, 2017 and subsequently affirmed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on January 29, 2019. The bank paid nothing on Koss’s claims.During his career, Mr. Laing has obtained more than 20 million-dollar settlements and jury verdicts for his clients, including the following:$24.7 million (medical malpractice) (co-counsel)$18.0 million (construction)$5.6 million (legal malpractice)$5.4 million (corporate fraud)$5.3 million (breach of contract)$5.1 million (breach of contract)$3.5 million (insurance coverage)$3.1 million (medical malpractice)$2.6 million (insurance)$2.2 million (forklift accident)$2.1 million (breach of contract)$2.0 million (Americans with Disabilities Act)$1.7 million (product liability)$1.6 million (breach of Asset Purchase Agreement)$1.5 million (medical malpractice)$1.4 million (medical malpractice) (co-counsel)$1.3 million (insurance coverage)$1.3 million (breach of contract)$1.2 million (wrongful death)$1.2 million (truck accident)$1.2 million (motorcycle accident)$1.1 million (breach of contract)$1.1 million (prepayment penalty)$1.1 million (auto accident)Mr. Laing is board certified in Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and is a frequent author and speaker on legal issues involving evidence, torts, insurance and trial tactics. He has authored 41 journal articles and book chapters, including the Evidence Chapter of the Wisconsin State Bar's annual book entitled Annual Survey of Wisconsin Law each year (but two) from 1987 to 2016; been an invited speaker at 28 legal seminars/workshops; and been counsel in 69 published/reported decisions, some of which made new law.Mr. Laing's personality and trial skills have allowed him to be one of a select few attorneys who have been able to successfully practice both commercial litigation and personal injury litigation. In addition to representing Fortune 500 companies and other variously sized companies in their commercial litigation needs, Mr. Laing represents severely injured persons in prosecuting their personal injury claims. His passion for those cases is partially derived from his having two brothers with cerebral palsy. As a result of growing up in that environment, Mr. Laing understands what families go through in caring for loved ones with special needs, and is able to communicate that to insurance companies, defense counsel, judges and juries.Mr. Laing can be reached at 414-276-5000 or [email protected] 

Practices Areas

Litigation

Personal Injury

Language

English

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