Joseph F. Madonia

Joseph Madonia is a partner in the law firm of Wildman Harrold. Identified in 2008 by Chambers and Partners as one of the Top Twenty Environmental Litigators in Illinois, and particularly recognized by peers for his "great toxic tort litigation expertise", Joe has spent his entire career defending and counseling clients in a wide array of toxic tort and environmental matters. A highly experienced litigator, Joe has served as national trial counsel in complex litigation for international chemical companies and has successfully defended large class action suits involving groundwater, air, and soil contamination issues in multiple states across the United States. These cases have involved the entire spectrum of damage allegations, ranging from property value diminution to personal injury and wrongful death. In addition, as a former Deputy Chief of the Illinois Attorney General’s Environmental Enforcement Division, Joe tried and supervised many high-profile enforcement and other proceedings in federal and state courts and before a variety of regulatory agencies.

Representative Experience:

As trial counsel, successfully defended international aerospace industry manufacturing company against class action property damage lawsuit arising from alleged TCE and PCE contamination of a municipal water supply in Ohio
Acts as liaison counsel for a group of national and international companies who are defending a class action property damage lawsuit brought by several hundred landfill neighbors; plaintiffs allege that vinyl chloride from the landfill contaminated private drinking water wells and created a vapor intrusion risk
As trial counsel achieved favorable outcomes in a series of eight class action, personal injury, and property damage lawsuits on behalf of a supplier of industrial solvents where plaintiffs alleged contamination of private drinking water supplies in Illinois; successful results in these cases were achieved either through a jury trial, settlement, or a summary judgment motion
Currently defending a manufacturing company in a lawsuit where more than 1,000 individual plaintiffs allege personal injuries and property value diminution arising out of lead dust emissions from the operation of a smelter in Detroit, Michigan
As national counsel for supplier of agricultural chemicals, obtained dismissals or favorable settlements in lawsuits related to alleged soil and groundwater contamination in North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Florida
Successfully defended a distributor of industrial chemicals against CERCLA cost recovery claims and breach of lease and property damage claims arising from soil and groundwater contamination at a former chemical distribution facility
Successfully defended several suits on behalf of an oil company involved in numerous property damage cases that arose from the alleged migration of gasoline and waste oil from service stations
Successfully defended clients in numerous Superfund cases and related litigation in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana

Publications And Presentations:

Co-author, “The MTBE Multidistrict Litigation – Has the Bar Been Lowered for Toxic Tort Claims?”, Mealey’s Pollution Liability Report, April 2007.
Co-author, “New Developments in the Evolving Relationship Between Toxic Tort Liabilities and Environmental Regulations,” Mealey’s Emerging Toxic Torts, March 16, 2007.
Co-author, “Clean or Not? The Unpredictable Interplay Between Regulatory Standards and Common Law Duties in Toxic Tort Cases,” Toxics Law Reporter, BNA, February 2007.
“Unanswered Questions after Kumho Tire,” Illinois Bar Journal, vol. 88, June 2000.
“Case Management Techniques in Complex Tort Litigation,” Natural Resources & Environment, ABA, Vol. 17, no. 4, Spring 2003.
“Recent Trends in Toxic Tort Litigation,” presentation to the Illinois Bar Association Annual meeting, 2003.

Professional Associations:

Illinois State Bar Association (Environmental Law Section Council, Appointee 1994 – 1996)

Defense Research Institute (Chair, Expert Witness Subcommittee for Trial Tactics committee, 1998 – 1999)

Bar Admissions:

Illinois, 1985

U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, 1989

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Trial Bar member), 1990

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1996

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 2006

Please be aware, if you are not a current client of the firm, the attorney-client privilege does not exist and therefore confidential or sensitive information should not be sent in this email message.

I Understand
Cancel