David Ott, a member of the firm’s award-winning Mass Tort and Catastrophic Loss practice area, has extensive experience in a wide range of litigation areas including medical and professional malpractice, personal injury, product liability, and business and commercial matters. His LL.M. in tax enhances his ability to assist clients with risk determination and valuation.

He has tried about 100 cases in courts across the nation and his successful verdicts have ranked among Missouri’s highest for at least 15 years. Since 2005, Dave has been recognized annually in Best Lawyers in America for his defense work in personal injury and product liability cases.

In the risk management area, Dave counsels clients on how to structure their business operations in order to avoid problems and minimize liability. He also provides advice about HIPAA compliance policies and procedures, and best practices for transitioning to electronic medical records.

Health Care
Dave represents national health care corporations, hospitals, doctors, nurses and other health care professionals in a full spectrum of complex matters.

These cases involve wrongful death; obstetrics, including cerebral palsy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalitis, and birth traumas; surgical and emergency care; primary care and internal medicine claims; informed consent; medical specialty, such as cardiology, dentistry, ophthalmology, radiology, and neurology; hospital and home-health nursing; nursing home and long-term-care facility issues; slips-and-falls and all other non-medical premises liability and hospital torts.

His work also encompasses off-label use of investigative drugs, “never events,” hospital training and policy issues.

Products Liability, Personal Injury
His varied work includes wrongful deaths, auto and boating accidents, auto parts manufacturing, accident reconstruction and crash safety, construction injuries, professional liability, slips-and-falls and other premises liability. His cases routinely involve interaction between multiple parties in high-stakes disputes.

For example, he successfully resolved a multi-national litigation involving the designers, manufacturers, distributors, and regulation of high-performance racing vehicle components and crash safety. He also tried multiple cases against national auto manufacturers for fatal auto-part failures and subsequent accidents resulting in multiple deaths and mayhem.

His clients include parts manufacturers and corporations facing litigation and investigations involving welding and cutting products, shipping containers, product safety labeling, construction accidents, product performance and failure issues, improper training and product mishandling disputes.

Dave has tried and resolved many other cases involving premises-liability accidents, public health threats, and other personal injuries.

Business and Commercial
In this area of his practice, Dave provides counsel to individuals, small businesses, and multi-national corporations. This includes successfully prosecuting and defending businesses with respect to trademark litigation in federal and state courts. 

These cases also include business competition, employment concerns, breach of contract disputes and negotiations, product development and liability, premises liability, risk and claims investigations, regulatory issues, consumer fraud, banking and fiduciary duties, defamation, misrepresentation, commercial manufacturing negligence, and catastrophic events. 

His clients include businesses from the following industry and professional service groups: food manufacturing, banking, pharmaceuticals, marketing, advertising, and communications, law, security services, and accounting.