Michael Crim is the founding member of Crim Law Office PLLC and is a native and lifetime resident of Clarksburg, West Virginia. Michael has been a trial lawyer for more than 25 years and has had the opportunity to try more than 40 cases to verdict. Michael counsels and represents individuals, professionals, and businesses in a wide range of personal, corporate and insurance-related matters. Michael is frequently retained by individuals and corporate clients and insurers to protect their interests in West Virginia’s most dangerous jurisdictions. Michael maintains a Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Attorney Peer Review Rating. At this point in his
career, Michael is primarily involved in litigation related to consumer and industrial products; medical and nursing home litigation; trucking litigation; legal malpractice and catastrophic injury and death cases.

Michael maintains membership in a number of legal organizations. He is most proud of his membership in the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) where he served on its Board of Directors from 2017 to 2020. One of Michael’s crowning achievements was being selected to serve as an instructor at the prestigious IADC Trial Academy held at Stanford Law School in 2018.

Experience

Michael is an established and successful trial lawyer who has first-chaired more than 30 trials. While his practice is most heavily focused on legal malpractice, product liability and toxic, environmental, and mass torts, he has substantial experience litigating cases in a wide variety of practice areas, including matters involving personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death.

After spending nearly 20 years with his previous firm, Michael decided to open his own practice where he could spend more time focusing on his clients and less time caught up in the day to day management of a larger, multi-office law firm. In addition to his current practice, Michael is a proud member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), where he is currently serving as a third-year member on its Board of Directors. Michael has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal in the fields of Product Liability and Product Liability Life Sciences for several years.

Select Accomplishments

  • Defense of product manufacturer in case involving death from pipeline explosion/gas explosion at a residential structure involving multiple fatalities
  • Deliberate intent claim resulting from employee fall at a power station resulting in death
  • Defense of manufacturers, distributors, and employers in numerous chemical exposure cases
  • Defense of product manufacturers in many instances involving industrial machinery and heavy equipment
  • Defense of propane distributor in multiple wrongful death lawsuits resulting from the explosion
  • Defense of insurance carriers in numerous cases involving coverage, extra-contractual, and bad faith litigation of nursing homes and long-term care facilities in cases involving death from alleged inadequate care
  • Defense of international testing facility in mass tort litigation alleging harmful chemical exposure
  • Defense of lawyers and accountants in numerous lawsuits alleging professional negligence
  • Ongoing defense of multiple clients in asbestos litigation
  • Ongoing defense of employer in Black Lung litigation
 

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

CURRENT

  • International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) – A peer-reviewed, invitation-only professional association for corporate and insurance defense lawyers. Michael currently serves on the IADC Board of Directors.
  • Association of Defense Trial Attorneys (ADTA)
  • American Bar Association (ABA)
  • Defense Research Institute (DRI)
  • Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia (DTCWV)