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Welcome
Bruce Dean and the Dean Law Firm accept referrals for brief-writing, legal research, motion practice, writs and appeals in all Louisiana state and federal trial and appellate courts. We offer a full range of legal services to referral attorneys, including:
• Appellate briefs and appellate motion practice
• Daubert motions (to exclude expert witnesses) and oppositions
• Demand letters
• Editing briefs, memoranda, and pleadings• Legal research• Mediation statements
• Motions to compel discovery and oppositions
• Motions in limine and oppositions
• Motions for summary judgment and oppositions• Motions to remand• Opinion letters
• Oppositions to exceptions and motions to dismiss• Post-trial memoranda• Pretrial statements and pretrial orders• Quantum studies• Review of pleadings for compliance with court rules and Blue Book citation format• Review of Gasquet releases (reserving rights against excess insurers)• Review of medical records• Settlement evaluations• Trial court motions, exceptions, and oppositions• Writs and writ oppositions
Experience
Bruce Dean has over 35 years of experience in personal injury, wrongful death, and class action litigation and appeals in the Louisiana state and federal courts, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is certified as an Appellate Practice Specialist by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization.
Mr. Dean has authored more than 600 successful memoranda and briefs in the state and federal courts, on legal issues including: admiralty and maritime law, asbestos injuries, attorney fee disputes, auto accidents, auto insurance coverage, bad faith litigation against insurers for penalties and attorneys' fees, business disputes, class actions, commercial general liability ("CGL") insurance coverage, concursus/interpleader actions, construction claims, contract disputes, criminal charges, discovery disputes, evidence rulings, exceptions and motions, fraud, government liability, homeowners insurance, immunity defenses, Jones Act claims, legal ethics opinions, life insurance disputes, Limitation of Liability actions, Longshore and Harbor Workers' claims, mass torts, medical malpractice actions, mesothelioma, Multi-District Litigation, misrepresentation, personal injury claims, prescription/statute of limitations defenses, product liability actions, property damage claims, property insurance disputes, punitive damages, remands from federal court, settlements, silicosis, slip/trip and fall accidents, spoliation of evidence, unfair trade practices, uninsured/underinsured motorist ("UM") rejection, workers' compensation claims, and wrongful death actions.
He has been the lead writer on 67 successful writs and writ oppositions in the Louisiana Supreme Court, including 13 cases in which he convinced the Supreme Court to overturn erroneous decisions of the courts of appeal. He has been the lead writer on 76 successful writs, writ oppositions, and appeals in the Louisiana courts of appeal, including 33 cases where his briefing prompted the appellate courts to reverse erroneous state district court decisions. Mr. Dean has also composed numerous successful briefs to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Dean has been named as one of Louisiana's top appellate attorneys in the Thomson Reuters Louisiana Super Lawyers publication; The American Lawyer magazine; Corporate Counsel magazine; Louisiana Life magazine; the National Law Journal; New Orleans Magazine; the New Orleans Times-Picayune; St. Charles Avenue magazine; and the Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers Business Edition. In 2005, the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice honored Mr. Dean as a Trial Lawyer of the Year Finalist.
Supported by the evaluations of other Louisiana lawyers and judges, Mr. Dean has received the highest ("AV Preeminent") rating from Martindale-Hubbell and Lawyers.com for legal ability and adherence to the professional standards of ethics for the past 20 years.
Mr. Dean has been a lead attorney, lead writer and/or court-appointed steering committee member in several prominent class action, mass joinder, wrongful death, and personal injury cases in the Louisiana state and federal courts which have resulted in settlements and judgments totaling more than $939 million, including these cases:
• In re New Orleans Train Car Leakage Fire Litigation (Lead writer and Plaintiffs' Legal Committee member in a 10,000 member class action arising from a chemical leak, which produced a $3.4 billion jury verdict in New Orleans Civil District Court and more than $447 million in settlements);
• In re Combustion, Inc. (One of the lead writers in a class action which resulted in settlements of more than $127 million);
• In re Imperial Fire Litigation (One of the lead plaintiffs' attorneys in a suit arising from a North Carolina industrial fire which resulted in settlements of more than $52 million);
• In re Gramercy Plant Explosion at Kaiser (Plaintiffs' Steering Committee member in a class action arising from a chemical release, which resulted in settlements of over $34 million);
• Davis v. American Home Products, Inc. (A lead writer and Plaintiffs' Steering Committee member in a certified class action for users of the Norplant contraceptive device, which resulted in a $29.5 million settlement);
• Scott v. American Tobacco Co. (A lead writer and Plaintiffs' Appellate Liaison Counsel in a half-million member class action for smoking cessation benefits, which resulted in a $241.5 million judgment, plus legal interest);
• Warren v. Shelter Mut. Ins. Co. (A lead writer in an individual wrongful death action, which resulted in a $4.25 million punitive damages award under the general maritime law, which was 34 times the plaintiff's compensatory damages); and
• Martin v. Thomas (The lead writer in a personal injury action, which resulted in a decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court overruling over 40 federal and state court decisions and holding that injured plaintiffs can maintain "direct negligence" claims against employers for negligent hiring, training and entrustment of vehicles, even when the employer admits its employee was in the course and scope of employment at the time of the accident).
In one of the larger wrongful death settlements for a Louisiana resident, Mr. Dean represented a minor child who received a $7 million settlement for the death of a single parent, the child's mother.
Mr. Dean was also a lead writer for two plaintiffs in a trucking injury case alleging punitive damages which settled for $27.5 million.
He has served as local appellate counsel for the governments of Mexico (the United Mexican States), Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Republic of Guatemala.
He currently serves as a court-appointed Special Master in the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) mold class action litigation in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana.
Mr. Dean is a long-time member of the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) and the Louisiana Association for Justice (LAJ) (formerly the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association), serving as past chairman of the LAJ Amicus Curiae Committee and the LAJ Insurance Law Section.
He was a contributing researcher for a treatise on statutes of limitations and prescription and has lectured on evidence, punitive damages, motion practice and appellate issues.
Mr. Dean is admitted to practice law in Louisiana and New York, and he is admitted to the bars of all Louisiana federal district courts, the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Dean is admitted to practice law in Louisiana and New York, and he is admitted to the bars of all Louisiana federal district courts, the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
