David Cannella

David Cannella is a shareholder in the Louisiana offices of Baron & Budd. As a member of the Mesothelioma Litigation Group, he serves asbestos victims across the gulf state. After graduating from Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 1999, Mr. Cannella served as a law clerk to the Honorable Pascal F. Calogero, Jr., Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Following his service to Chief Justice Calogero, Mr. Cannella served as Assistant District Attorney for Orleans Parish. While working in Harry Connick’s office, Mr. Cannella was assigned to the Narcotics Screening Division and the Felony Trial Division. In addition, he served as an advisor to the Orleans Parish Grand Jury.

Since 2001, Mr. Cannella has focused on litigation pertaining to toxic torts, product liability, serious personal injury, and wrongful death, successfully handling multi-million dollar cases and numerous jury and bench trials, both in state and federal court. He continues to focus on mesothelioma and other product liability cases for Baron & Budd throughout the State of Louisiana.

In one such case, Mr. Cannella obtained a $6.4 million verdict against an asbestos product manufacturer for a 60-year-old nurse who was diagnosed with mesothelioma. David Cannella speaks passionately about how small a sum such verdicts bring when weighed against the horrors of suffering a slow, suffocating death from mesothelioma cancer. “Twelve million, fifteen millio…twenty-five million dollars cannot fill the terrible hole created in the lives of hard-working families whose loved ones have suffered and died as a direct result of the callous disregard that asbestos corporations held for workers. No one would exchange his or her health or the health of a loved one for twenty million dollars, knowing he, she or a family member will suffer the type of painful death caused by asbestos cancer.”

Bar & Court Admissions:

• Louisiana
• District of Columbia
• United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana

Professional Associations:

• American Bar Association
• American Association of Justice
• Louisiana Association of Justice