Kevin Dean focuses his litigation efforts on catastrophic injury, products liability, complex personal injury and wrongful death cases. As co-leader of Motley Rice’s catastrophic injury practice group, Kevin represents individual victims and families affected by tragic events caused by hazardous consumer products, occupational and industrial accidents, fires, premise injuries and other incidents of negligence. Most recently, he served as lead plaintiffs’ counsel in In re Charleston Firefighter Litigation, a wrongful death and negligence case against Sofa Super Store, contractors and multiple furniture manufacturers on behalf of the families of the nine firefighters lost in the June 2007 warehouse fire in Charleston, S.C.
Since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, Kevin has been active in the litigation and claims process surrounding the oil spill. He currently serves as a member of the GCCF Jurisdiction & Court Oversight Workgroup of the BP Oil Spill MDL and manages the firm's numerous business and individual clients filing cases and claims related to the oil spill matter.
Kevin has maintained a leadership role since 2005 in litigating hundreds of cases alleging illegal organ harvesting and potentially diseased human tissue and organ transplants. The remaining cases are set for a 2011 trial. He is actively involved with malpractice, defective medical devices and drug litigation. Additionally, Kevin litigates vehicle defect cases, including against "the Big Three" automotive manufacturers in cases involving defective brakes, door locks, door latches, seat belts and roll overs. He was trial co-counsel in Guzman v. Ford (2001), the first case brought to trial regarding a hidden defective outside door latch handle, as well as in the vehicle rollover case Hayward v. Ford (2005).
Prior to joining Motley Rice, Kevin was a partner with the Law Offices of J. Edward Bell III, LLC. Before moving to South Carolina, he was a member of the William S. Stone, P.C. law firm, and he began his career as an associate with The Bennett Law Firm. His experience includes the health insurance fraud and post-claims underwriting case Clark v. Security Life Insurance Company, the largest civil RICO case in Georgia history, and Wiggins v. Parsons Nursery, one of the largest environmental and health contamination cases in South Carolina. Kevin also served as a County Commissioner on the Early County Georgia Board of Commissioners and still has the distinguished honor of having been the youngest elected commissioner in county history.
Kevin frequently appears in local and national broadcast and print media discussing legal matters of workplace safety, fire prevention and other products liability, as well as specific casework and efforts for changes and improvements in various industries. The inaugural edition of Benchmark Plaintiff, The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Plaintiff Firms & Attorneys recently recognized Kevin as a "Local Litigation Star" in its national rankings for mass torts/products liability, as well as its South Carolina rankings in products liability.
He is a member of the American Association for Justice, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and South Carolina Association for Justice. He co-authored “Dangerous Doors and Loose Latches,” published in Trial Magazine (2004) for the American Association for Justice (formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America), and authored “The Right to Jury Trial in ERISA Civil Enforcement Actions” published in The American Journal of Trial Advocacy (1989).
