Dale Markland

Biography

Dale has tried more than 200 cases to a verdict in state and federal courts. Dale has a national practice and has defended cases pending throughout the United States. In certain recurring types of litigation, Dale has served clients as national consulting counsel and regional counsel. His practice focuses on litigation in which engineering, medical, scientific and other technical issues are of particular significance, including the defense of product liability actions, and the defense of toxic and environmental tort actions. This practice includes the defense of mass torts and catastrophic injury cases.

Prior to founding Markland Hanley, Dale was a long time partner in the law firm of Vinson & Elkins LLP. He is a former head of that firm’s Product Liability Practice Group.

Dale has been recognized by his peers as one of “The Best Lawyers in America” in the Field of Products Liability, has been selected as one of “Texas’ Best Lawyers” in the Field of Product Liability Litigation, has been named as one of “Texas’ Top Rated Lawyers” by the Martindale-Hubbell organization, has been chosen by his peers as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas,” and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in the Field of Products Liability. Dale has been named “Dallas Product Liability Litigation Lawyer of the Year for 2012” by Best Lawyers. Dale has been named a Fellow in the Texas Bar Foundation. Such Fellows are nominated by Texas Bar members and are selected from 1/3 of 1% of the membership of the State Bar of Texas based on an outstanding record in the legal profession and on commitment to support the community at large. Dale has been rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory every year since 1980. Dale was in the initial group of outside counsel invited by the Products Liability Advisory Council, Inc. to become a sustaining member of that organization. Dale has been given the “Bulldog Award” for being “cool but tenacious in the pursuit of excellence” by client, Navistar, Inc.

Dale has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, semiconductor, electronics, heavy truck, automobile, automotive components, cosmetics, hair preparations, anesthetics, industrial gas, medical device, chemical, petrochemical, and pesticide industries. He has also represented alleged hazardous waste generators.

Dale has a particular interest in representing clients that are in the most advanced technology industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, the biotechnologically and biogenetically engineered products industries, the computer and computer chips industries, the electronics industry, the artificial intelligence industry, “smart car” and other “smart” products industries, industries involving products relying on robotics, and industries utilizing nano technology.

Dale has unparalleled experience in defending heavy truck manufacturers in catastrophic injury cases, including post crash fuel fed fire cases, crashworthiness cases, cases involving occupant protection systems of all varieties and braking system cases, including those involving anti-lock braking systems.

Dale Markland’s Representative Experience*

Representative Pharmaceutical, Toxic Tort and Mass Tort Experience

• Represented major pharmaceutical manufacturer in a multitude of suits arising from the use of a prescription anti-obesity (anorectic) medication alleged to have caused an increased risk of valvular heart disease and pulmonary hypertension, particularly in women. The law firm at which Dale practiced at the time of this mass tort and MDL litigation served as regional counsel for the manufacturer of the medication, and Dale was among the partners principally involved in its defense. Over 50,000 product liability lawsuits were filed, and estimates of total liability ran as high as $ 14 billion
• Disposed of products liability claim against pharmaceutical manufacturer in which it was alleged that a seven year old boy died due to ingestion of a pharmaceutical product through the client’s providing a $200,000 memorial contribution in memory of the deceased child
• Disposed of potential products liability lawsuit in which injured party alleged that she had contracted hantavirus through ingestion of a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s product, by suggesting that the injured party go through a testing process conducted by a world’s leading authority on hantavirus, which testing process led to the conclusion that the injured party was, in fact, not suffering from hantavirus. No lawsuit was filed
• Defended multiple cases involving injection of pharmaceutical manufacturer’s pantopaque containing radiological substance into patients who alleged a defective condition in the product
• Defended hundreds of toxic tort cases involving silica and asbestos containing products
• Served as lead trial counsel in what is believed to be the first silica exposure-related product liability case tried in the country; the case was tried to a successful defense verdict in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• Obtained summary judgment in Gregg County, Texas in a products liability case in which it was alleged that renal cell cancer arose from exposure to diesel fuel
• Obtained voluntary dismissals in series of cases filed by a prominent plaintiff’s law firm in Orange County, Texas and Hidalgo County, Texas in which injuries from diesel fuel exposure were alleged
• Settled a products liability toxic tort case involving inhalation of carbon monoxide with alleged brain and neurological injuries filed in the U.S. District Court, Marshall, Texas, for $300,000. The plaintiff had been declared totally and permanently disabled by the United States Social Security Administration and by the Texas Worker’s Compensation Commission
• Defended mass tort cases involving alleged exposures to hazardous wastes emitted from hazardous waste disposal facility
• Tried a products liability toxic tort case pending in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas in which the plaintiff had contracted the fungal disease of coccidioidmycosis and was near death for over a year suffering from the disease. Although the jurors found for the plaintiff, they assessed damages at something in the range of only $70,000
• Represented major tire manufacturer in high profile mass tort litigation involving tires which were recalled in national recall program
• Defended cases involving injuries arising from the application of hair preparations, including dyes and permanent solutions, and from the use of cosmetics
• Represented clients in cases involving alleged exposures to acrylates; ammonia; asbestos; benzene; carbon monoxide; chromium, chlorine gas, clays; dibro-chloropropane (DPCP); the pesticide Dursban (chlorpyrifos); diesel exhaust; endemic fungus; ethyl monochloracetate; formaldehyde; hydrochloric acid; industrial glass; iron, lead; manganese; nickel; nylon; Piperazine; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polyurethane; polyvinyl chloride; refractory materials, silica; sulfuric acid; talc; toluene diisocynate; vinyl chloride monomer; and alleged exposures to a wide variety of hazardous wastes
• Defended class action suits
• Researched hazardous waste generators’ liability and authored a major work on that subject
• Defended cases involving multiple chemical sensitivities
• Defended claims regarding the cancer-producing nature of products and claims of fear of increased risk of contraction of cancer
• Defended major case involving toxicity of burning materials
• Defended cases involving indoor air quality
• Experience in toxic torts includes experience in cases dealing with workplace exposures, accidental releases, building exposures, hazardous waste disposal site cases and intentional pollution cases
• Named as a potentially responsible party in an EPA investigation of a site where asbestos abatement materials were left unattended; Dale’s asbestos-containing kitchen floor tile, which was removed by a certified asbestos removal company during home renovation, was found among the forsaken asbestos materials at the site
• Developed extensive knowledge of disease processes and injuries, including cancers, neurologic injuries, heart valve disease, primary pulmonary hypertension, systemic lupus erythematosus, adult respiratory distress syndrome, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, scleroderma, rheumatoid lung, mixed connective tissue disorders, autoimmune disease, silicosis, asbestosis, sarcoidosis, coccidioimycosis, histoplasmosis, and other widespread systemic diseases

Representative Products Liability Trial Experience

• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a products liability case filed against a heavy truck manufacturer in which the quadriplegic plaintiff alleged a defective design of the seat belt system and of the truck’s cab and sought $160 million in damages; the defense verdict was named by the National Law Journal as one of the outstanding “Defense Verdicts of the Year”
• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Marshall, Texas, a products liability case filed against the manufacturer of a rotary cutter which passed over a 5 year old boy, killing him
• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Marshall, Texas, a products liability case filed against the manufacturer of a heavy front end loader where the loader arms descended onto the plaintiff and rendered him quadriplegic
• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Dallas, Texas, a products liability case filed against the manufacturer of a cornheader where the plaintiff was rendered a triple amputee
• Tried to a defense verdict in Tucson, Arizona, a products liability case involving claims of interior crashworthiness of a heavy truck filed against the manufacturer of the truck by a plaintiff rendered quadriplegic in an accident involving a change in the occupant speed at impact of only 5 miles per hour
• Tried to a defense verdict in Fort Worth, Texas, a products liability case filed against a crane manufacturer; in the accident the jib of the crane failed, one man was killed and several were injured; Dale Markland argued that although the jib admittedly contained weld defects, these defects were not the cause of the death and injuries
• Tried to a defense verdict in Dallas, Texas a products liability case filed against a crane manufacturer which involved a decapitation
• Tried to a defense verdict in United States District Court in Tyler, Texas a products liability case filed by plaintiff with severe respiratory disease; it was alleged that the defendant’s silica-continuing product caused the respiratory disease
• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Dallas, Texas a products liability case filed against an automobile manufacturer in which the plaintiff was permanently and totally disabled when, during rapid braking of the vehicle, the plaintiff suffered severe back, hip and leg injuries
• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Fort Worth, Texas products liability case involving alleged defects in a scissors lift platform
• Tried to a defense verdict in Fort Worth, Texas a serious back injury products liability case
• Tried to a defense verdict in the United States District Court in Dallas Texas a serious back injury products liability case
• Tried a products liability case in the United States District Court in Marshall, Texas, for a heavy truck manufacturer which involved the deaths of multiple teenagers, and obtained an instructed verdict for the client at the close of plaintiff’s case
• Tried a products liability death case against a heavy equipment manufacturer in Beaumont, Texas, and obtained instructed verdict for the client at the close of plaintiff’s case
• Tried in Chicago, Illinois, a products liability case involving a utility tractor rollover and the death of the tractor operator. Although the jury found the tractor defective due to lack of a rollover protection structure, and assessed very significant damages in the case, the comparative fault assigned by the jury to the operator of the tractor was so great that the client paid virtually nothing in damages in the case
• Tried a products liability case involving death by burning in Beaumont, Texas for a heavy truck manufacturer; the case was settled before final arguments began when the plaintiff’s attorney accepted the defendant’s initial minimal settlement offer which was still on the table
• Tried a products liability case in Henderson County, Texas; the jury came back with a verdict of $225,000 for a widow with 4 small children after the judge gave the jurors 13 different ways to find the defendant liable and where the jury found the defendant liable in one of the thirteen ways. The lowest settlement demand ever received by the defendant was $2,000,000; the case was settled for under $225,000 after the verdict

Representative Products Liability Non-Trial Experience

• Obtained summary judgment for heavy truck manufacturer in wrongful death case pending in Harris County, Texas in which the truck’s left forward drive axle shaft and attached wheels and tires separated from the truck and struck plaintiff’s decedent’s windshield, killing him instantly
• Obtained summary judgment for heavy truck manufacturer in a case pending in Dallas County, Texas involving loss of the truck’s front wheel which collided with plaintiff’s pickup truck
• Obtained for heavy truck manufacturer in noteworthy products liability death case involving the anti-lock braking system on the truck pending in the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, a dismissal by plaintiffs of all claims against the client; the United States Supreme Court had previously rendered an opinion relative to the case on preemption issues
• Obtained for defendant tire manufacturer the court-imposed sanction of dismissal of plaintiffs’ case from United States District Court of Southern District of Indiana in products liability case involving recalled tire and alleged neurological injuries to plaintiff
• Obtained summary judgment for school bus chassis manufacturer in a products liability case pending in Hood County, Texas involving a school bus which ran over and severely injured a school child
• Obtained voluntary dismissal for product manufacturer in a products liability case pending in Tulsa County, Oklahoma involving a tree trimming manlift mounted on a truck chassis in which the manlift collapsed and injured the occupant
• Obtained non-suit of claims arising in products liability case pending in Maverick County, Texas in which brake components flew off a heavy tractor/trailer rig, struck a vehicle, hit the driver and allegedly caused significant brain injury
• Obtained a voluntary dismissal of plaintiff’s claims against a school bus chassis manufacturer in a case pending in Randall County, Texas involving severe internal injuries to a school child whose body impacted the seat back in front of the position he was sitting in on the bus
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of paraplegic plaintiff’s claims against tire manufacturer in case involving recalled tire pending in Orange County, Texas
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of claims of plaintiff whose case was pending in Orange County, Texas and who allegedly suffered serious neck and neurological injuries in rollover accident involving a recalled tire
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of burned plaintiff’s claims against vehicle manufacturer in post crash fuel fed fire case pending in Davidson County, Tennessee
• Obtained summary judgment for vehicle manufacturer in post crash fuel fed fire products liability death case pending in Tarrant County, Texas
• Obtained non-suit from plaintiff’s counsel in post crash fuel fed fire death case pending in Galveston County, Texas
• Obtained summary judgment in products liability crashworthiness case involving partial paraplegic pending in Harris County, Texas
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of products liability death case pending in Tarrant County, Texas involving death of young man driving a passenger vehicle which nearly ran into a heavy truck
• Obtained dismissal of products liability case filed in United States District Court, Western District of Texas, Waco Division involving alleged farm tractor fuel geysering leading to serious burns to plaintiff
• Obtained voluntary non-suit in products liability case filed in Bowie County, Texas
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of products liability case pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division
• Obtained summary judgment in products liability case pending in County Court at Law of Dallas County
• Obtained summary judgment in post crash fuel fed fire case pending in Harris County, Texas
• Obtained summary judgment for manufacturer and transporter of industrial products in products liability case pending in Dallas county, Texas suit involving worker who was crushed to death when manufacturer’s product fell from a flatbed trailer during unloading
• Obtained dismissal of products liability case filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division
• Obtained summary judgment for a heavy truck manufacturer in crashworthiness case pending in El Paso, Texas
• Settled a products liability tractor rollover death case filed by prominent east Texas attorney in McLennan County, Texas District Court for $75,000
• Settled a products liability case pending in United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in which a vehicle which was subject to a national steering recall campaign (and which vehicle had been in the hands of a dealer twice during the recall without the dealer correcting the steering problem) for approximately $4,000
• Settled post-crash fuel fed fire case pending in El Paso County, Texas with survivors of deceased driver for $15,000
• Settled a products liability case pending in Collin County, Texas in which a front end loader descended on a young boy smothering him in a pile of sand for $25,000
• Settled products liability death case pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Pecos Division involving a farm tractor rollover for $100,000
• Settled post crash fuel fed fire and crashworthiness products liability death case filed in Jefferson County, Alabama by prominent southeastern United States plaintiffs’ law firm for $205,000
• Settled post crash fuel fed fire products liability death case in a case pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas at beginning of trial for $200,000
• Settled post-crash fuel fed fire case pending in El Paso County, Texas for $200,000
• Settled crashworthiness products liability death case pending in Johnson County, Texas for $295,000. Plaintiff’s counsel had approximately $150,000 in costs in the case and there were three plaintiff’s counsel and four plaintiffs to split the settlement money between
• Settled post crash fuel fed fire products liability death case pending in United States District Court, Southern District of Iowa for $21,500 before a single deposition had been taken and with minimal expense to client
• Settled post crash fuel fed fire products liability case involving severe burns pending in Yellowstone County, Montana for $45,000 with very little expense to the client in case
• In a products liability death case involving crashworthiness issues filed in Hidalgo County, Texas by a prominent south Texas plaintiff’s counsel—after significant undermining all of the plaintiff’s four liability experts’ opinions through cross-examination at depositions, following the striking of portions of the plaintiff’s experts’ testimony, following the determination by the plaintiff’s counsel to withdraw one of their major experts as a testifying expert, and following the preparation of extremely strong Daubert type motions to strike virtually all of the remaining experts’ key opinions, plaintiff’s counsel moved from a pre-expert deposition demand of $20,000,000 for settlement to a settlement for a low confidential amount
• Settled post crash fuel fed fire case involving death by burning pending in Dallas, Texas filed against heavy truck manufacturer for $5,000
• Obtained release of all claims from survivors of and estate of deceased truck driver in crashworthiness case filed against major truck manufacturer in Dallas, Texas for the settlement amount of $13,000, after very minimal expenditure of client’s funds in the defense of the case
• Settled products liability death case involving allegations about absence of a tractor rollover protection system in a case filed in Monroe County, Arkansas for $60,000
• In crashworthiness products liability death case pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, settled for $90,000 after very little expense to the client
• Obtained settlement and full release of liability with clients paying nothing, for hot water heater manufacturer and thermostat manufacturer in products liability case involving extensive property damage due to alleged thermostat malfunction and resulting flood
• Settled a products liability case filed against manufacturer of container used to hold hot wonton soup which spilled leading to 5 year old boy’s severe burn injury to his genital area for $8,000
• Settled death case involving a farm tractor rollover filed in Duval County, Texas by a prominent south Texas plaintiff’s lawyer for $350,000
• Obtained $1,200,000 settlement, on the eve of trial, for the plaintiff, a young mother suing on behalf of herself and her toddler, in case in which the child was injured while under the care of the defendant daycare facility and the facility subsequently failed to inform the mother about the child’s accident and injury
• Represented clients in automotive products liability cases involving restraints, post-collision fuel fed fires, unexpected acceleration, crashworthiness, anti-lock braking systems, and the design of many automotive components

Other Significant Experience

• Defended clients in cases involving quadriplegia, paraplegia, brain damage, severe burns, amputations and fatalities
• Tried cases in such pro-plaintiffs jurisdictions as Marshall, Henderson, Brownsville, and Beaumont, Texas; Cook County, Illinois; Riverside, California and West Palm Beach Florida

Activities and Recognition

• Recognized by peers as one of “The Best Lawyers in America” in the Field of Products Liability
• Selected by peers as one of “Texas’ Best Lawyers” in the Field of Product Liability Litigation
• Chosen by peers as one of “The Best Lawyers in Dallas”
• Named “Dallas Products Liability Lawyer of the Year for 2012” by Best Lawyers
• Listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in the Field of Products Liability
• AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory every year since 1980
• Recipient of Navistar Inc.’s “Bulldog Award” for being “cool but tenacious in the pursuit of excellence.”
• Sustaining Member of The Products Liability Advisory Council, Inc. since the first year that sustaining members were invited into that organization
• Selected for recognition in Who’s Who in American Law
• Fellow – Texas Bar Foundation. Such Fellows are nominated by Texas Bar Members and are selected from 1/3 of 1% of the membership of the State Bar of Texas based on an outstanding record in the legal profession and on commitment to support t he community at large
• Member – American Bar Association, its Section of Litigation, and the Section of Litigation’s Product Liability Committee, and that committee’s Pharmaceutical Subcommittee and its Biotech Subcommittee
• Member – Defense Research Institute and its Diversity Committee, its Drug and Medical Device Committee, and its Product Liability Committee
• Member – Texas Association of Defense Counsel
• Author: Several articles in the field of product liability
• Author: Consequences of Non-Compliance with Medicare Secondary Payer Act, Corporate Compliance Insights Web Site, June 2010
• Attended: Biotech Primer—Bioimmersion three day course relating to biotechnical issues, including DNA, genomics, genetic engineering, and cloning; Nanotex USA 08 Dallas conference during International Nanotechnology Week entitled “Accelerating Nanotechnology Commercialization Conference and Expo”; Annual A.C.I. Drug and Medical Device Litigation Course, for years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008; Year 2000 SAE Heavy Vehicle Rollover Toptec Seminar and Heavy Vehicle Rollover Demonstration; Joint Workshop on Liability Issues in Advanced Vehicle Control and Automated Highways Systems; The International Conference on Crystalline Silica Health Effects held in Baltimore in 1994; The International Pneumoconiosis Conference held in Pittsburgh in 1988

Education and Professional Background

• The University of Texas, B.A. with High Honors and Special Honors in Government, 1971 (Phi Beta Kappa; Pi Sigma Alpha; Phi Eta Sigma)
• The University of Texas School of Law, J.D. with Honors, 1974 (Order of the Coif; named “Outstanding Graduate of 1974” by The University of Texas chapter of Phi Delta Phi)
• Admitted to practice: Texas, 1973; all Texas courts; U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
• Assistant District Attorney, Dallas, Texas 1974-1977

*Markland Hanley is a new law firm. Much of the listed experience was gained by Markland Hanley trial lawyers prior to the creation of Markland Hanley.

Prior experience or results do not guarantee similar outcomes in present or future representation.