Walter Greenough

Walter Croan Greenough is one of a vanishing breed of big-firm trial lawyers. He defends cases where badly injured plaintiffs seek enormous damages. These cases can rarely be resolved by motion practice or mediation.

Wally is at his best persuading jurors that no damages at all should be awarded because there is no liability or, if liability must be conceded, that the amount of damages must be reasonable.

Wally’s litigation track record speaks for itself. Over the past decade, he has won “no liability” verdicts in 15 of his 16 product liability jury trials. Many of these cases involved catastrophic injuries, usually to young children.

The trials took place in both federal and state courts throughout the country: Texas, Florida, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Washington, and Louisiana. In those 16 cases, plaintiffs asked the juries for an aggregate of more than $220 million. They recovered less than $7 million.

Although the forums differ, the problem of neutralizing jury sympathy for a catastrophic injury is a constant. It is a skill Wally has developed in 40 years of trying cases.

Wally’s willingness to take cases to trial – and his success in doing so – greatly improves his clients’ settlement leverage. He has disposed of more than 100 similar cases in the last 10 years. A few he won on dispositive motions. In several others, plaintiffs simply gave up and voluntarily dismissed their cases. The remaining cases were settled, many for nuisance value, most for less than the cost of defense, and all within the self-insured retention limits.

In addition to his products liability and personal injury work, he has successfully tried class actions involving claims of consumer and securities fraud and litigated everything from breach-of-contract to corporate takeover cases.

EDUCATION:

• University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1975
• Amherst College, B.A., 1972

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• Illinois
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Trial Bar)
• U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:

• American Bar Association