Jeannine Lee is a shareholder in the firm’s Business and Commercial Litigation practice group, where her practice includes business disputes and product liability defense.

Jeannine’s commercial practice includes a wide range of disputes for clients in a variety of industries, including patent licensing in the industrial process industry; distributor termination and asset accounting in the industrial gas business; securities and antitrust class action litigation involving payment-for-order-flow, breakpoint discounts and brand-name prescription drug pricing; and hostile takeover and administrative proceedings in the insurance industry. She also has served as litigation counsel in patent and trademark cases.

Jeannine serves as national counsel in product liability cases across the country and in Minnesota for manufacturers of products ranging from gas valves to alarm systems and components to pharmaceuticals. She has been admitted pro hac vice in over 25 states. Some of the products she has successfully defended had been recalled and/or were the subject of CPSC investigations. Jeannine has tried and won cases in Alabama, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky and Minnesota, and she has established dispositive legal defenses for her clients through summary judgment and appeal, including under the Iowa Improvement to Real Property Statute (Henningson v. E. Iowa Propane, Krull v. Thermogas Co.), and the Indiana Products Liability Statute (Avery v. Mapco Gas Products Co.).

Respected by her peers and the bench, Jeannine has been honored as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and as a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She has been selected annually for inclusion in Super Lawyers® since 2003, and was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers® in Minnesota in 2011 and 2010, following inclusion in 2008 and 2009 in the Top 100 list. Jeannine currently serves as chair of the Federal Practice Committee for the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Professional and Civic Activities

• Chair, Federal Practice Committee, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
• Board Member and Chair, Academic Engagement Committee, University of Minnesota Law School Board of Advisors
• Chair, Fire Science & Litigation Specialized Litigation Group, Products Liability Committee, DRI
• Board Member, The Infinity Project
• Vice President, Membership, Federal Bar Association, Minnesota Chapter
• Member, ECF Sealed Committee, U. S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
• Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Minnesota Bar Association
• Member, Hennepin Bar Association
• Member, Minnesota Women Lawyers

Significant Trials:

• Valley Forge Ins. Co. v. Honeywell, U.S. District Court, Kentucky
  (Mistrial and award of defense costs in significant property damage case.)
• Boykin v. Honeywell, U.S. District Court, North Carolina
  (Defense verdict in injury/death claim.)
• Baker v. Honeywell, State Court, Alabama
  (Defense verdict in personal injury action.)
• Ruff v. Honeywell, State Court, Minnesota
  (Defense verdict in eight-person wrongful death action.)
• Alleghany Corp. v. St. Paul Cos., Administrative Hearing, Minnesota
  (Attempted takeover and change in control of major insurance company.)
• McKenzie v. Union Carbide Corp., State Court, Minnesota
  (Defense verdict on wrongful distributor termination claim; won nearly $1 million asset accounting award on counterclaim.)

Significant Decisions:

• Honeywell International Inc. v. Lutz Roofing Co., No. 09-877 (6th Cir., Aug. 8, 2011) (subcontract indemnity and insurance provisions)
• Jaspers v. PrimeVest Financial Services, Inc., et al., Civ.No. 10-853 (D.MN 2010)
  (breakpoint pricing discounts for mutual fund transactions)
• Londono v. Honeywell International Inc., No. 05cv92 (D.N.M. 2006)
  (Daubert; circumstantial evidence of product defect)
• Phillips v. South Carolina State University, et al., No. 2005-UP-320 (S.C. App. 2005)
  (Component part manufacturer liability)
• Henningsen v. E. Iowa Propane, 652 N.W. 2d 462 (Iowa 2002)
  (Improvement to real property statute)
• Century Industries, Inc. v. Rosemount, Inc., 2001 WL 1618038 (D.Minn., May 3, 2001) (No. 01-103 DWF/AJB)
  (Patent licensing transfer)
• Avery v. Mapco Gas Products, Inc., 18 F.3d 448 (7th Cir. 1994)
  (Products liability statute)
• Krull v. Thermogas Co., 522 N.W. 2d 607 (Iowa 1994)
  (Improvement to real property statute)
• Dahl v. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., 545 N.W.2d 918 (Minn. 1996)
  (Payment for order flow in securities industry)
• Patton v. Yarrington, 472 N.W. 2d 157 (Minn. App. 1991)
  (Personal injury statute of limitations)
• St. Paul Companies, Inc. v. Hatch, 449 N.W.2d 130 (Minn. 1989)
  (Attempted takeover of major insurance company)

• Author, Comment, “Establishing an Objective Intent Standard for the Labor Antitrust Exemption,” 64 Minn. L. Rev. 1275 (1980)
• Speaker, 36th Annual Federal Practice Seminar, “How the New Local Rules and Federal Rule of Evidence 502 Will Impact Your Practice”, June 2010
• Speaker, MNCLE Webcast, “The Times They Are a Changin’: The New Federal Court Rules,” February 2010
• Speaker, 35th Annual Federal Practice Seminar, “Minnesota’s Local Rules:  What is Black and White but Not Read All Over?,” June 2009
• Speaker, DRI, Fire & Casualty Seminar "Code and Causation Analysis—The Defense of Fire Detection Systems," Chicago, 2008
• Speaker and Co-Chair, Minnesota Institute for Legal Education, "Civil Pretrial Practice and Trial Practice Institutes," 1994-1999
• Speaker, Minnesota Institute for Legal Education, "Civil Pretrial Practice Institute," 1993 and 2001, "Litigation in the 90s," 1992, "Statute of Limitations," 1987
• Speaker, Propane Gas Defense Association, Annual Meeting, 1999
• Speaker, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, "Products Liability," 1998
• Speaker, Hamline University School of Law, "Deposition Practice," 1998

Education

• J.D., magna cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School, 1981
  Order of the Coif 
  Note and Comment Editor, Minnesota Law Review, 1980-81
• B.A. magna cum laude, St. Olaf College, 1978
  Phi Beta Kappa 
  Departmental distinction in economics

Admissions

• State of Minnesota, 1981
• U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, 1981
• U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, 2005
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 2008
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2012
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1984
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1992
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 2009
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 2006