John Robinson serves as Co-Managing Partner of the Hartford office and opened the Boston office for the firm. He also manages the firm’s offices in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. While he is admitted to practice in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, he regularly litigates throughout New England and nationwide. John has substantial experience in handling complex litigation, complex commercial litigation, and class action litigation matters. John possesses deep experience in the defense of wide-scale mass tort litigation, including representing individual doctors in the Nationwide MDL opioid litigation.
- Successfully represented, resulting in dismissal of all claims, multiple paper mill owners in federal court class action in Maine, where plaintiffs alleged that the Mills' discharge of residual PFAS substances into surface water, onto lands and into the wastewater system, contaminated bio-solids spread as fertilizer. Plaintiffs allege this resulted in further PFAS contamination of their groundwater and property, causing serious health risks and property damage.
- Represents client nationally with respect to explosion and fire loss litigation.
- Represented multiple paper mills in multiple plaintiff action in Maine Superior Court. Allegations very similar to above class-action resulting again in dismissal.
- Tried fitness industry personal injury case to recent defense verdict in Massachusetts.
- Recently tried elevator industry case to near verdict dismissal/successful resolution in Connecticut.
- Secured dismissal with prejudice (with no settlement) on behalf of a designer and manufacturer of boilers and other power generation equipment in a $40-million lawsuit brought pursuant to the Connecticut Product Liability Act wherein a utility that serves the northeast alleged that defects in the client’s product caused damage to its power plant’s turbines and related equipment. John was the head of a defense team which succeeded in securing outright dismissal at the close of fact and expert discovery, after the filing of various Daubert motions and a motion for summary judgment.
- Turek, et al. v. United Technologies Corp., HHD-CV14-6053742-S (Conn.Super.) (awarded non-suit judgment for discovery violations in multi-plaintiff matter involving alleged hexavalent chromium exposure).
- Represented clients in numerous commercial litigation matters ranging from broker/dealer securities class action litigation, securities fraud litigation, insurance broker/dealer litigation, and other commercial disputes.
- Currently defending aerospace anti-poach class action litigation in Connecticut District Court on behalf of engineering and manufacturing company.
- Represented manufacturer of blood oxygenator in defense of wrongful death claim brought on behalf of the estate of the then 53-year-old director of Yale University’s psychology department.
- Represented a state university and public works department in the northeast in a $20-million multi-party matter alleging defective design and construction of the library on the university’s law school campus.
- Defended thousands of mass/toxic tort claims throughout career including thousands of living malignancy and wrongful death claims.
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Speaker, Double Jeopardy!: Ethics Update 2017, Gordon & Rees New York and Hartford Legal Education Conferences, May 2017
- Speaker, How to Manage and Minimize the Mass in Mass Tort, Gordon & Rees New York Legal Education Conference, May 2016
- Speaker, Litigating Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer (for defense), Current Concepts & Controversies in Asbestos-Related Diseases Course, Massachusetts General Hospital, September 2014
- Speaker, Double Jeopardy!: Ethics Update 2017, Gordon & Rees New York and Hartford Legal Education Conferences, May 2017
- Speaker, How to Manage and Minimize the Mass in Mass Tort, Gordon & Rees New York Legal Education Conference, May 2016
- Speaker, Litigating Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer (for defense), Current Concepts & Controversies in Asbestos-Related Diseases Course, Massachusetts General Hospital, September 2014
Admissions
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
- U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
Memberships
- State Bar of Connecticut, Member of the Litigation Section Executive Committee (past)
- State Bar of Massachusetts
- International Association of Defense Counsel
- Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association, Board of Directors (past)
- DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar
- Hartford County Bar Association
- Connecticut Bar Foundation, James W. Cooper Fellows
*Not admitted to practice in Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont
Education
- J.D., cum laude, Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law (1994)
- Member, Catholic University Law Review, 1992-1994
- B.S., Catholic University of America (1990)
Honors
- Super Lawyers® distinction in the fields of Personal Injury – Products: Defense, Class Action/Mass Torts, and Business Litigation (2006-2007, 2017-2023)
- Best Lawyers in America® “Lawyer of the Year” in Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, Hartford (2021, 2024)
- Best Lawyers in America© distinction in Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (2018-2025)