David J. Butler

David is a business trial lawyer with extensive experience in complex civil litigation, mass tort class actions and multi-district litigations.

David brings his proactive approach to challenging, specialized casework. He concentrates his practice in federal court, representing companies in a wide range of nuanced, commercial and mass tort legal matters. He also routinely serves as local counsel in federal court.

A critical member of the Taft litigation team, David’s experience includes leading the firm’s special counsel team for a large Ohio agency, handling high-stakes business, healthcare fraud and abuse and construction litigation, and headline-making mass tort environmental and pharmaceutical cases. When the state of Ohio faced tobacco litigation, he and the Ohio team helped secure a record-setting $10 billion settlement for the state.

• Counsel in multi-district litigation involving claims of thousands of individuals exposed to a chemical in their drinking water (“C8”) that has been linked to causing six serious diseases (including two types of cancer) in humans.
• Represents governmental entities in lawsuits against the distributors and manufacturers of opioid pain medications.
• Member of the firm’s special counsel group for the state of Ohio in the “national tobacco litigation,” contributing significantly to the record setting $10 billion settlement for the state of Ohio.
• Represents large Ohio state agency in two lawsuits, including a purported class action, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars of alleged premium overpayments.
• Represents an owner of a municipal power company in construction litigation concerning large power plants.
• Represented an international lawn and garden company in successful enforcement actions involving Lanham Act violations and trademark/trade dress infringement.
• Represented an international construction and consulting company in a fraud and breach of contract lawsuit, resulting in a favorable ruling on summary judgment and ultimate favorable settlement.
• Represented a Fortune 500 company in the successful defense of a disappointed bidders’ fraud and open meetings act challenge to the state award of an eight year, $45 million contract to provide electronic benefits transfer services to more than 450,000 Ohio food stamp recipients.