Michael J. Crist

Partner

Contact Michael: mcrist@torresvictor.com

Having had the opportunity to take several thousand depositions across the United States as a young lawyer in a variety of products liability and mass tort cases, I had an early exposure to the art and science of cross-examination in which cases were won or lost in real time based upon the skill and preparation of counsel.  I have since served on trial teams from Florida to New York, from Virginia to California, and many states in between, but the initial lessons touting the need for preparation and a multidisciplinary analytical approach to analysis, strategy, and persuasion have remained the same.  They provided the basis which allowed me to serve as a national trial counsel and national discovery coordinating council for various manufacturers and distributors of industrial, commercial, and residential products.  I have also represented manufacturers and distributors of products that contained asbestos, talc, formaldehyde, benzene, silica, or refractory ceramic fibers.  Over the years, my practice has expanded to include the representation of persons and companies in complex, high-dollar commercial and insurance defense lawsuits. 

In all such cases, the understanding of the relevant medical and scientific specialties, careful selection and retention of experts from multiple disciplines, and strategic use of investigators and discovery has produced positive, cost effective results by allowing us to adapt to the particularities of each product, case, and fact pattern.  Too often it has been said, that “Generals always fight the last war.” However, our adaptive multidisciplinary approach allows to us to use the lessons of the past to predict the problems of the future.  We aspire to the analytical methodologies of Sun Tzu, James Burke or Dan Carlin, rather than those of General Custer. 

In recent years, I have written papers and provided speeches on a variety of topics including asbestos, talc, formaldehyde, and insurance defense litigation, with recent soporific titles including: 

• “Daubert Now Rules Florida” May 31, 2019, Newsletter
• “The Curious Matter of the Disappearing Talc Case” May 31, 2019, Newsletter
• “Bringing Data to the Fog of War, or At Least Litigation – Retrospective Exposure Assessment,” For the Defense Magazine
• “Mass Tort Mania – The Effect of Saturation Advertising on Claims, Courts, and Memories,” For the Defense, April 2017
• “The Take Home Tort – Fueled by Asbestos,” Strictly Speaking, June 2016
• “Formaldehyde – the Next Asbestos?” For the Defense, November 2015
• “Managing Asbestos Claims and Litigation,” Corporate Disputes, October 2015
• “Formaldehyde,” Life Sciences Insider, 2011
• “Florida Appellate Courts Clash Over Florida’s Asbestos & Silica Fairness Compensation Act,” Environmental Toxic Tort Alert – July 2008

While such articles and topics may be inherently complex, the artistry at trial lies in reducing such complexities to simple, but truthful, syllogisms that can be easily understood by persons with wide spectrum of interests, beliefs, and educational levels. 

I graduated Emory University in 1986, and Vanderbilt University Law School in 1989.  I am licensed to practice law in Georgia and Florida.  I enjoy motorsports and am an avid, published photographer.