 James J. Pizzirusso James Pizzirusso joined the Firm in 2001 as an Associate and is a member of the Unsafe Drugs & Environmental Health Threats, Consumer Protection and Antitrust practice groups. Mr. Pizzirusso is currently working on several cases involving toxic products and public health. He represents the City of Milwaukee in a public nuisance lawsuit against lead paint manufacturers and was a member of the successful appellate team in that case. In overturning summary judgment in favor of defendants, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals became the first appellate court in the country to recognize the right of a governmental entity to bring a public nuisance and conspiracy lawsuit against the lead paint industry. Mr. Pizzirusso was also one of the primary authors of the plaintiffs’ class certification briefs in a RICO case involving “light” cigarettes - one of the largest class actions ever certified, Schwab v. Philip Morris, Inc., 449 F. Supp. 2d 992 (E.D.N.Y. 2006). Mr. Pizzirusso has served as a panelist at several conferences and CLEs and presented on topics including: "Strategies for Pursuing Litigation Remedies in Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning," "Developing Novel Theories of Recovery in Toxic Tort Litigation," "Consumer Protection Law," and "Public Interest Tort Litigation: Using Private Tort Actions to Further Environmental Justice & Public Ends." He has also served as a Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Co-Director of the Vaccine Injury Clinic at George Washington University Law School. He is the author of two published papers: Agency Rule-Making Power and the Clean Air Act: Putting the Brakes on American Trucking, Spring 2001 Term: Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc., 7 Envtl. Law. 729 (June, 2001) and Increased Risk, Fear of Disease and Medical Monitoring – Are Novel Damage Claims Enough to Overcome Causation Difficulties in Toxic Torts, 7 Envtl. Law. 183 (September, 2000). Mr. Pizzirusso graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a B.A. in Environmental Policy. While in college, he was a Whittle Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and earned the Torchbearer award (the highest student honor conferred by the University) . In 2001, Mr. Pizzirusso obtained his law degree from George Washington University Law School (with honors) where he was a note writer for the Environmental Lawyer Journal and the Student Director of the law school clinical program. He was also Vice President of the Trial Court Board and Captain of a team that placed first in the region in ATLA’s 2000-2001 Student Trial Advocacy Competition. Mr. Pizzirusso is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court of Federal Claims and the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas. Contact: jpizzirusso@cmht.com
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