David E. Schoenfeld

Dave Schoenfeld specializes in complex commercial litigation, including insurance coverage disputes, environmental claims, class actions involving financial and product liability issues, and enforcement of non-compete/non-solicitation clauses.

Mr. Schoenfeld's practice in these areas is nationwide and recently has included the following significant matters:

• Lead counsel for the joint defense group of insurers in United States Filter Corp. v. Allstate Ins. Co., Marion County, Ind., an insurance coverage matter involving multiple insureds and thousands of silicosis claims.
• Lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Continental Insurance Co. v. 3M, Hennepin County, Minnesota, an insurance coverage matter involving hundreds of thousands of asbestos, silicosis, coal dust, benzene and perflouronated chemical claims arising from 3M's products and operations.
• Lead appellate counsel for Transcontinental in Newnam Mfg. v. Transcontinental Ins., 871 N.E.2d 396 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007), trans. den., which establishes that there is no possibility of CGL coverage for Clean Air Act obligations and therefore an insurer owes no duty to defend an insured against Clean Air Act enforcement actions.
• Counsel for the plaintiff in Continental Ins. Co. v. Honeywell Int'l Inc., Morris County, NJ, an insurance coverage matter involving hundreds of thousands of asbestos claims arising from Bendix brake products.
• Lead counsel for the class in Certificate Clearing Corporation v. Lucent Technologies, Inc., Mercer County, NJ, a racketeering and fraud class action in which we recovered a substantial recovery for a class of small business recipients of settlement certificates in a prior litigation.
• Lead counsel for the plaintiff in In re Signal Companies Insurance Coverage Litigation, Morris County, NJ, an insurance coverage matter involving asbestos and silica claims against a large number of alleged successors to the former Signal Companies conglomerate, and in related matters in Ohio, Indiana and Texas.
• Counsel for American Express Financial Advisors in numerous court and arbitration proceedings in Colorado, Georgia, Alabama, New Jersey, New York and Illinois to enforce non-compete and non-soliciation clauses in the contracts of representatives.
• Lead counsel for the insurer defense group in Dow Chemical Corp. v. Firemans' Fund Insurance Co., E.D. Mich., an insurance coverage matter involving DBCP and EDB pollution of hundreds of municipal drinking water wells in California and Massachusetts.

In law school, he was the Executive Note & Comment Editor, Washington University Law Quarterly. He later clerked for Chief Judge Donald D. Alsop for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota (1985-1987).

Mr. Schoenfeld serves on the City of Evanston's City/University Committee. He is a past member of the Chicago Council of Lawyers' Board of Governors and serves on its Federal Court Evaluation Committee.