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Davis M. Walsh Partner

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Davis Walsh is a litigator who focuses his practice on representing public and private companies, predominantly in the automotive, medical device and transportation sectors, in state and federal court. He is the lead editor of Infectious Disease Litigation: Science, Law and Procedure.

Davis has developed expertise in all phases of litigation, including discovery matters, motions to dismiss, motions for summary and default judgment, motions related to expert admissibility, and post-trial motions for judgment and new trial. He has served in several litigation capacities during trial, most recently as trial counsel during an eight-week medical device trial in Washington state.

Davis’s experience goes beyond the courtroom. Prior to law school, he served as a Staff Assistant in the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness under then-Governor Timothy M. Kaine, and also served as the Legislative Assistant to State Senator R. Creigh Deeds. Davis brings this understanding of governmental operations and the need for rapid responses to clients’ needs both in and out of the courtroom to bear on behalf of clients facing governmental investigations, including OSHA workplace investigations.

In addition to his private practice, Davis is active in his community through pro bono service. He is co-lead for educational advocacy matters in the Medical-Legal Partnership – Richmond program, a partnership between the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, McGuireWoods and Dominion Energy which offers free legal advice and representation for eligible patients and families. He also partners with the JustChildren program to provide pro bono representation to juvenile offenders seeking release. As pro bono counsel, he has represented a client in a federal court defamation case as well as tenants in housing disputes.

Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Davis clerked for the Honorable Tommy E. Miller, Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Through this experience, Davis gained substantial experience on discovery matters, which imparted an understanding of the importance of detail and precision in confronting all discovery matters.

Experience

  • Representation as national product liability counsel to an international medical device company.
  • Representation as coordinating counsel for punitive damages for an American Class I railroad.
  • Representation of a medical device company in a high-profile eight-week trial in Seattle, Washington. The jury rejected claims that a widely used medical scope that provides images of the stomach and small intestine was unsafe after a deadly superbug outbreak. The trial was the first in the United States involving allegations that gastrointestinal probes caused outbreaks of infections by drug-resistant bacteria and was watched closely by plaintiffs’ lawyers across the country with similar suits.
  • Representation of a leading supplier of rail-based freight transportation in a lawsuit filed against a waste management company and its driver related to the failing of exercising due caution at train tracks which resulted in a massive explosion.
  • Representation of multinational automaker in litigation. Plaintiff claimed his decedent developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos from the automaker’s brakes while performing inspections of Virginia state inspection sites as a member of the Virginia State Police. Plaintiff’s verdict over-turned on appeal. Defense verdict upon re-trial.
  • Defense of New Mexico-based dairy farmers in a nuisance action against dairy farms. Succeeded in obtaining summary judgment entered against the plaintiffs’ punitive damages claim and in excluding the plaintiffs’ expert testimony on public health and odor models.

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