Jonathan Dean

Jonathan Patrick Dean is a member of the Product Liability Group. He has represented multiple major manufacturers in the automotive, juvenile products, industrial equipment, and sports equipment industries.

He has also defended mass tort actions, class actions at the initial pleading stage, and traditional, single-plaintiff products actions. Jonathan’s experience ranges from pre-suit investigations to advocacy in both trial and appellate courts.

Before joining Schiff Hardin, Jonathan was a product liability associate in a Chicago litigation boutique law firm. After graduating law school, he served as a Legal Fellow at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

EXPERIENCE:

• Won a Daubert motion to bar plaintiff’s experts from testifying in automotive product liability case, due to their testimonies’ lack of scientific credibility. Motion also requested summary judgment, which was granted and ended the case against Jonathan’s client.
• Obtained dismissal for major automotive manufacturer from a contribution action brought by a third party plaintiff in multi-party litigation. The court’s granting of the motion to sever leveraged a dismissal with prejudice and without settlement.
• Won summary judgment on behalf of major automotive client where plaintiff’s theory of product defect was one of first impression.
• Successful in minimizing automotive client’s exposure to repeated asbestos law suits.
• Won partial summary judgment on res judicata grounds on behalf of construction contractor after plaintiff collected damages from an arbitration panel.
• Won summary judgment on behalf of law firm based on language of a general release.

EDUCATION:

• Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, J.D., 2013
• University of Minnesota, B.S., 2009
• University of Minnesota, B.A., 2005

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• Illinois
• Missouri
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:

• American Bar Association, Member
• Chicago Bar Association, Member