Sandra K. Zerrusen is a Member in the Litigation Practice Group, focusing primarily on commercial litigation and class action and complex litigation. She serves as the Assistant Practice Group Leader for General Litigation and practices out of the Firm’s office in Akron, Ohio.
Sandy handles litigation across a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices, toxic tort, construction, commercial and business disputes, real estate, natural resources, and insurance. With more than 20 years of experience litigating in state and federal courts, she is known for turning chaos into order by skillfully working with the law and facts to build strong cases and defenses for her clients. High-profile cases are familiar territory for Sandy, and she ensures her cases remain impervious to the publicity they might generate.
Within her broad litigation background, Sandy has over a decade of experience defending personal injury and wrongful death cases involving toxic exposures to asbestos-related products in trial courts. She has represented a wide range of manufacturers, including those of overhead cranes, gaskets and packing, joint compounds, cosmetic talc, and automotive products. Her ability to navigate these technically complex cases further highlights her effectiveness as a formidable advocate for her clients.
Not one to shy away from the courtroom or the complex deposition, Sandy’s most recent cases involved developing testimony and evidence during discovery in an MDL drug and medical device case that ultimately made it into the final order dismissing her client. A key part of her litigation philosophy is clear and concise communication with her client. Sandy prioritizes developing a rapport with her key client contacts to ensure real time effective communication to keep the litigation on track and the arguments in fact and law as strong as possible. While she cannot resist a good product liability case, Sandy’s experience expands to representing businesses and shareholders in business disputes involving contract litigation, dissolutions, and fiduciary obligations. In the oil and gas industry, she has experience handling complex litigation, construction, transaction, and title curative matters.
Representative clients include a national pharmaceutical distributor, commercial and residential owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. She also has experience handling insurance coverage matters, including commercial general liability, homeowners, and bad faith claims.
Sandy was a math major in college, and while you wouldn’t necessarily think that this major lends itself to a litigation background, solving mathematical equations laid an excellent foundation for solving the evidentiary issues in preparing a case for trial. Her love of exploring may be attributable to her Navy dad. She enjoys hiking and biking in Cuyahoga National Park, finding the latest independent microbrewery, or the annual trip to Hilton Head. She is the proud mom of two Ohio State Buckeyes, and loves watching football games at the "Shoe!"
