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PRACTICE GROUPS AND INDUSTRY AREAS
Mr. Lafferre is a native of West Virginia, whose practice concentrates in personal injury defense litigation, primarily under the Federal Employers' Liability Act for the firm's railroad clients, but also under state common and statutory law in the areas of product liability and premises liability, among others.
Mr. Lafferre has an active trial practice, notable for having obtained defense verdicts in adverse venues. He has been active managing and defending mass liability litigation involving thousands of plaintiffs.
In one of these "mass" cases, Mr. Lafferre co-authored a petition and supporting legal memoranda that sought and won an extraordinary writ from the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. (Norfolk and Western Railway v. Tsapis, 184 W. Va. 231, 400 S.E.2d 239 (1990)). In its opinion granting the Writ, the Court completely reversed its own recent precedent and adopted the common-law doctrine of forum non conveniens and made it applicable to all civil actions in the state of West Virginia, including the 818 cases which were named in the petition. He has defended clients in many occupational disease lawsuits and trials with injuries claimed to have resulted from exposure to asbestos, excessive noise, silica, coal dust, and other substances. While representing a corporate client as a claimant he won over one and a half million dollars in a hotly contested corporate indemnity claim and successfully defended the judgment on appeal. In addition to his trial and appellate practice, Mr. Lafferre has written professional articles and frequently speaks at professional seminars.
Mr. Lafferre studied Political Science at West Virginia University, where he was a National Merit Finalist and Scholarship recipient, and was a cum laude graduate in 1981. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the West Virginia School of Law in 1984, where he was a Foundation Scholar, a governing board member and top-ranked advocate in the Marlyn E. Lugar Trial Association. He represented the Law School in regional trial competitions, and was President of the West Virginia University Law School Federalist Society in 1983 and 1984.
Mr. Lafferre is married and has five children.
EDUCATION
West Virginia University School of Law (1984)
BAR ADMISSIONS
West Virginia
United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC AFFILIATIONS
West Virginia State Bar
Cabell County Bar Association
Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia
National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel
Defense Research Institute
Federalist Society