John serves as Chairman for the firm's Insurance Recovery Practice Group.  He advises corporate and individual clients on the availability of insurance coverage for a variety of claims and losses under commercial general liability policies, employer's liability policies, auto insurance policies, and other policies.  John serves as counsel for corporate policyholders in significant insurance coverage cases.

John's practice also includes counseling clients on and litigating contractual indemnity disputes.  He has served as counsel in substantial indemnity disputes between corporate buyers and sellers in acquisition/divestiture agreements over responsibility for liabilities arising from pre-acquisition events.

John also participates as national coordinating counsel for certain pattern litigation involving one of the firm's major clients.  He is listed in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Insurance Law.

John received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in 1976 from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a law degree magna cum laude from The University of Toledo in 1979.  He was the Note and Comment Editor of The University of Toledo Law Review.  While a first-year student at The University of Toledo College of Law, John placed first in the 1977 Charles Fornoff Intraschool Moot Court competition, with the finals being argued before a panel of judges which included Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court.

Before joining the firm, John served as a law clerk to the Honorable Don J. Young, United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio from 1979 to 1981.

Professional Memberships:

• Ohio State Bar Association
• Toledo Bar Association
  • Federal Court Committee
  • Former member of Certified Grievance Committee

Representative Cases:

• Pilkington North America, Inc. v. Travelers Cas. & Surety Co., 112 Ohio St. 3d 482 (2006) (established right of successor in corporate reorganization to insurance coverage for environmental liabilities notwithstanding anti-assignment clause in predecessor's policies).
  
  
• TRINOVA Corp. v. Pilkington Bros. PLC, 70 Ohio St. 3d 271 (1994) (indemnity for tax liabilities awarded under asset transfer agreement in a corporate divestiture).
  
  
• Unisys Corp. v. TRINOVA Corp. (1997-98) AAA Commercial Arbitration (New York) (recovered indemnity for environmental liabilities under corporate acquisition agreement).
  
  
• Donna Mae Schroeder, et al. v. Auto-Owners Insurance Co., et al., 2004 Ohio 5667; 2004 Ohio App. LEXIS 5124, review denied; 105 Ohio St. 3d 1464 (established right of bicyclist to underinsured motorist coverage under Ohio auto insurance policy).

Speaking Engagements:

• Speaker on various litigation, insurance and ethics topics
• Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI conference, Chicago, 2001

Cooper & Walinski Involvement:

• Insurance Recovery Practice Group
• Tort Litigation Practice Group
• Business Litigation Practice Group