Ronald B. Lee

For more than 40 years, Ron has defended clients facing multi-million dollar product liability and toxic tort claims throughout the country: food-flavoring producers, transportation businesses, consumer products manufacturers, oil and gas producers, heavy equipment and rental companies, insurance companies, and others. He has particular strengths in resolving complex lawsuits involving catastrophic injuries.

Ron's involvement with food-flavoring litigation dates to the first cases. He currently acts as national coordinating counsel in diacetyl litigation and has negotiated to resolve hundreds of flavoring disputes in this role. He has also served as national coordinating counsel on latex glove lawsuits and mold litigation.

Ron's clients count on his clear and comprehensive communication to guide their decisions and shape their strategies. They trust his assessments of risks and developments throughout the litigation. And they look to him to defend their interests in tragic cases involving catastrophic injury and death as he did in a recent Federal lawsuit over a fire that led to the deaths of four people. Ron successfully prevented unqualified testimony linking his client, a product manufacturer, to the tragic fire, and the claim against his client was dismissed in a ruling upheld on appeal.

Experience

• Trials include defense verdicts in an intentional tort claim involving a permanent injury to the arm of a worker and truck accidents involving wrongful death and quadriplegia
• Defended two separate double amputee cases involving a transportation company
• Defended a product manufacturer in a fire involving four deaths including two minors. The case involved ongoing Daubert issues
• Defended three separate wrongful death actions involving horrific facts with allegations of driving under the influence. Each case involved defusing very volatile facts and avoiding multi-million dollar judgments
• Defended an oil and gas well operator in case involving alleged injuries to person and property from drilling and fracking, including personal injury, medical monitoring, hydrogeological issues and property damage
• Obtained summary judgment for an equipment rental and security company in a traumatic brain injury and death case
• Defended an installer of cable barrier systems on highways from an incident involving a decapitation of a young father of two minor children
• Defending a class action involving claims of toxic exposure from a lithium fire

Services

• Emergency Response & Crisis Management
• Environmental Law & Regulation
• Oil, Gas & Mineral Rights
• Liability Defense
• Insurance Coverage
• Product Liability & Mass Torts
• Professional Liability Litigation

Industries

• Insurance
• Transportation & Logistics

1. The University of Akron School of Law, J.D.
   • Akron Law Review, Editor 
2. The University of Akron, B.S.
   • magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

1. Ohio

Court Admissions

1. U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
2. U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
3. U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
4. U.S. Tax Court

• AV® Preeminent™ rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
• Selected as an "Ohio Super Lawyer" by Ohio Super Lawyers magazine (2004 & 2005, 2007-2018)
• Named The Best Lawyers in America® Akron "Lawyer of the Year" for Product Liability Litigation - Defendants (2013, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2025)
• Named to The Best Lawyers in America® for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (2007-2025); Product Liability Litigation - Defendants (2007-2025)

Professional Affiliations

• Akron Bar Association
• Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys (OACTA)
• The Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC)
• Ohio State Bar Association