Brenda M. Johnson

About Brenda

Brenda M. Johnson joined Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy in 1999, bringing several years of commercial litigation experience to our legal team. Brenda is a member of the firm’s appellate department and focuses on aviation litigation, mass torts, class action lawsuits, medical malpractice, personal injury, and wrongful death.

Brenda is currently a member of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA) Certified Grievance Committee. The members of the committee conduct confidential investigations of allegations of ethical misconduct by lawyers and file complaints with the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme Court of Ohio in cases where disciplinary action is warranted.

Online Profiles:

• Avvo^®
• FindLaw^® Lawyer Directory
• LinkedIn
• Martindale-Hubbell^®
• Ohio Super Lawyers^®

Experience

Bar Admissions:

• Ohio, 1993
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio

Education:

• Kent State University, B.G.S., 1988
• Cleveland State, M.A., 1990
• Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1993, cum laude

Representative Opinions:

• Wandel v. American Airlines, No. 4:05MD 1702, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43007.
  (E.D. Mo. Sept. 28, 2005).
  Defeated air carrier’s arguments that wrongful death claims arising from a commuter air crash were subject to federal preemption.
• Auvil v. Ferragon Corp. (8th Dist.), 2005 Ohio 5129.
  Obtained reversal of summary judgment in favor of defendant in product liability case—the Court of Appeals found there was evidence to support plaintiff’s claim that the defendant was a successor in interest to the company that designed the industrial machine that caused the plaintiff’s injury.
• McMillin v. Davidson Industries, Inc. (5th Dist.), 2005 Ohio 224.
  Successfully defended trial court order enforcing settlement of workplace intentional tort claims.
• Washington v. Spitzer Management, Inc. (8th Dist.), 2003 Ohio 1735.
  Successfully defended trial court order certifying class action.
• Vajda v. St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co. (8th Dist.), 2003 Ohio 160.
  Obtained reversal of summary judgment in favor of defendant insurance company on issue of whether plaintiff has been an insured under a policy issued to plaintiff’s employer. The court found that there was evidence showing the plaintiff was an employee (and not an independent contractor) entitled to coverage under the policy.
• Smith v. Cleveland Clinic, 2011-Ohio-6648, 197 Ohio App. 3d 524, 968 N.E.2d 41 (8th Dist.).
  Successfully defended ruling that doctor’s disclosures to family members regarding mistakes in patient’s treatment were not protected by peer review privilege.

Professional Associations and Memberships:

• The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100
• American Association for Justice
  • Publications Committee, 2011-present
• Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys
• Ohio Association for Justice

Honors

Publications

2023 – Current

• Nuts and Bolts of Requests for Admissions (CATA News Spring 2023)
• Key Steps in Making a Pretrial Record (CATA Spring 2024)
• Issue 29 – Same Juror Rule (CATA News Winter 2024-2025)
• Issue 29—Ethical Issues and AI (CATA News Winter 2024-2025)

2017 – 2022

• A Survey Of The Case Law Addressing “Permanent And Substantial Physical Deformity” (CATA News, Winter 2021-2022)
• Moore and Goolsby: What’s Changed in Ohio Supreme Court Precedent Addressing Civil Rule 3(A) and the Savings Statute? (CATA News, Winter 2020- 2021)
• When Should Necessary Parties Be Joined As Involuntary Plaintiffs? Not Nearly As Often As You’d Think? (CATA News, Winter 2019-2020)
• What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Agree To In Agreed Protective Orders (CATA News, Spring 2019)
• Why Damage Cap Exceptions Must Extend To All Claims Arising From A Catastrophic Injury, Including Derivative Claims – A Statutory Analysis (CATA News, Winter 2018 -2019)
• Interpleader – What Are Your Options When The Tortfeasor’s Insurer Tries to Beat You to The Courthouse? (CATA News, Spring 2018)
• “Rebounding From Fraudulent Joinder” (AAJ Trial, December 2018)
• CATA News: “The Case Against Double-Teaming Why Mostly-Aligned Medical Defendants Shouldn’t Get Separate Peremptory Challenges,” (Winter 2017-2018)

2013 – 2016

• Distracted Driving Discovery 101 – Basic Guidelines and Resources (CATA News, Winter 2016 – 2017)
• “Not All Injuries That Occur In Hospitals Are Medical Claims-But How Can You Tell Which Is Which?”, CATA News, Winter 2015-2016
• “An Introduction to Obtaining Out-of-State Discovery in State and Federal Court Litigation”, CATA News, Spring 2014
• Prejudgment Attachment and the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (CATA News, Winter 2013 – 2014)
• Evidence of Prior Malpractice Claims – When Is It Admissible, And for What? And When Is It Deadly? (CATA News, Spring 2013)
• “A ‘Review’ of Peer Review – The Eighth District Reiterates the Standard for Claiming Privileges,” CATA News, Spring 2012

2007 – 2012

• “Life After Wuerth: What’s Really Changed in the World of Respondeat Superior Liability?” CATA News, Winter 2011.
• “Allstate Ins. Co. v. Campbell: The Ohio Supreme Court Rejects the ‘Substantial Certainty’ Test for Inferred Intent, With a Catch,” Ohio Trial Magazine, Vol. 21, Issue 1, Spring 2011.
• “Subrogation, Survival, and Wrongful Death Actions: How to Protect Wrongful Death Damage Recoveries from Unwarranted Subrogation Claims,” CATA News, Spring 2011.
• “Substantial Federal Question Jurisdiction: A Survey of the Current Law,” AAJ Aviation Law Section Newsletter, Winter 2007.

Lecture Series

2021

• Ethical Lawyer Communications in the Age of Social Media (CLE 2021 Ethics Seminar, CATA, October 2021; OAJ Annual Convention, June 2021; OAJ Winter Convention, November 2021)

2015

• CATA 2015 Litigation Institute – Does the Affordable Care Act Affect or Limit Future Damages? (April 2015)