David J. Shea is a partner of Michigan-based Athos Law and is also the founding and managing partner of Michigan-based
Shea Law.
Mr. Shea began his career as a member of a highly-specialized team at Plunkett Cooney representing Ford Motor Company and its interests as national counsel for the company’s broad range of complex product liability lawsuits. He and the team also represented many of the nation’s most recognizable national manufacturers in mass litigation/toxic tort matters involving such environmental issues as asbestos, cobalt, benzene and formaldehyde.
Mr. Shea represented the iconic Mackinac Bridge’s architects in the highly-publicized “Yugo” wrongful death case and was a member of a three-attorney team who obtained the top defense verdict in the country in a multi-plaintiff wrongful death product liability federal lawsuit against the
Fortune 50United Technologies.
Mr. Shea began representing plaintiffs in product liability and toxic tort/mass litigation in 1992 with the law firm of Sommers Schwartz. He principally represented more than 1,500 women in the nationally-recognized silicone breast implant litigation, where he was appointed as only one of three lead counsel in Michigan to represent the plaintiffs’ interests.
In 2000, Mr. Shea formed the law firm Miller Shea with E. Powell Miller and developed a relationship with the Hantz Group serving as the company’s chief counsel. His newly formed law firm specialized in class actions, commercial litigation, securities law and estate planning. In just five short years, Mr. Shea and Mr. Miller grew Miller Shea, P.C. to 40 attorneys and were honored by
Crain’s Detroit Business for leading one of the fastest growing law firms in the state of Michigan.
Currently, Mr. Shea focuses his expertise at Athos Law in several primary areas: representing victims of abuse, including the elderly and survivors of sexual assault; representing investors and their trusted advisors in investment loss and FINRA- related matters in Michigan and nationwide; representing businesses in national commercial insurance loss and agency malpractice litigation. Mr. Shea is also active in general commercial litigation matters, as well as representing plaintiffs in legal malpractice claims.
Mr. Shea’s national litigation practice has obtained many multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements over the last several years in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, Kentucky, Washington, New Jersey, Alabama, Missouri, Georgia, and Florida. His practice is an eclectic mix of clients and cases. He and Mr. Aiello obtained the fourth largest settlement in Michigan for a national hotel chain insurance loss and obtained one of the top ten largest settlements for an insurance fire loss claim in northern-Michigan. Mr. Shea successfully represented the Indiana high school where the film
Hoosiers was filmed after a fire devastated the historic gymnasium. He litigated lawsuits on behalf of the owners of the former Standard Oil Refinery in Cleveland, Ohio after its facility was contaminated by PCB, causing a complete shutdown. Mr. Shea and Mr. Aiello were hired by the Terra Haute International Airport to sue its insurance company when it failed to pay for severe losses from multiple and violent tornados. They also represented the Pontiac Silverdome in a multi-million dollar lawsuit in 2013 after its entire roof was shredded into pieces after a violent winter wind storm. Mr. Shea took on Providence Hospital after it terminated all of its nurse anesthetists on New Years’ Eve, 2015. In 2019, Mr. Shea and Mr. Aiello obtained a multi-million dollar settlement in an elder abuse lawsuit filed in Florida regarding the manipulation and coercion of a mentally incapacitated widow to change the terms of her will to leave all of her wealth to the defendant. And he fought off not one, but two $20 million securities class actions filed against a large Michigan-based broker-dealer.
Mr. Shea was appointed and served as Special Assistant Attorney General providing securities-related advice and counsel to Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and has been recognized as a
SuperLaywer,
Top 50 Business Attorney in Michigan and
Top Business Litigation Attorney by
Crain’s Detroit Business and
Hour Detroit. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Hantz Group since 2006 and is “AV Rated” by Martindale-Hubble.
