Theodore J. Leopold

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll

Theodore J. Leopold was appointed co-lead plaintiffs counsel in the Flint, Michigan, lead-contamination water case and in a Palm Beach Circuit Court lawsuit by more than 90 survivors and victims' families of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

The Flint case alleges state and city governments allowed contaminated water to poison citizens of the financially strapped and predominantly black city for more than a year.

The Pulse wrongful death and negligence lawsuit is against shooter Omar Mateen's employer, security company G4S PLC, alleging failure to act on threats against his co-workers and failure to perform a comprehensive background check and an appropriate psychological evaluation before hiring him.

Leopold served as lead plaintiffs trial counsel and co-lead counsel when a 10-member jury in the District of Columbia unanimously held defense contractor DynCorp responsible for its subcontractor pilots in an anti-drug campaign along the Colombia-Ecuador border. The same jury awarded no damages in April to the first six Ecuadorean plaintiffs among about 2,000 farmers and their families who blamed herbicide applications for illnesses and crop losses.

Leopold also was co-lead counsel in a national consolidated class action, representing 22 trucking and transportation companies and individuals in 18 states who alleged defective C13 and C15 engines made by Caterpillar Inc. left passengers stranded and unduly delayed the transportation of goods. A $60 million settlement received final approval from a New Jersey federal judge in September 2016.

The Palm Beach Gardens attorney is the chair of Cohen Milstein's catastrophic injury and wrongful death, unsafe and defective products, and managed care abuse practices and co-chair of the firm's consumer protection practice.