Susan E. Petersen is immediate past President of the state-wide Ohio Women's Bar Association, whose purpose is to promote the networking, educational, and leadership opportunities of women lawyers. She is also serving a second term on the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys. She is also the current Vice Chair of the Product Liability Section of the Ohio Association for Justice of which she is a member. She is also a member of Geauga County, Cleveland, and Ohio State Bar Associations, as well as the American Association for Justice.
Susan was selected as a 2007 Ohio Super Lawyers- Rising Star by Law & Politics magazine. Lawyers named as Rising Stars are chosen by their peers as being among the top up-and-coming lawyers (40 years or younger, or in practice 10 years or less) in Ohio. They are amongst the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in Ohio.
Susan has handled many complex seven-figure cases over the years. Most recently in January 2008, she negotiated a confidential $2.15 million dollar settlement for a client and her family. The 47 year old female plaintiff suffered a traumatic brain injury after being struck by a medium duty vehicle while crossing the street as a pedestrian in a crosswalk in Ohio. The impact fractured the woamn's skull and caused damage to both frontal lobes of her brain. The woman was hospitalized for two weeks and suffered permanent impairments of cognition, vertigo, ability to smell/taste, and behavior. The driver of the vehicle who struck the woman did not have a valid Ohio driver's license at the time of the incident.
In late 2007, Susan and co-counsel Todd Petersen settled a wrongful death, product liability case in federal court against General Motors Corporation for a confidential amount. This case was an automotive products liability action alleging defects relative to the design of the fuel system on a medium duty truck driven by a 47 year old man who was involved in a one vehicle accident on I-90 East just west of Cleveland. The driver's traumatic injuries were minor, but the vehicle's 50 gallon fuel tank -- mounted outside the frame just below the passenger door - was compromised in the collision. The post collision fuel fed fire badly burned the driver. For three and a half months, he was hospitalized in a burn unit in Cleveland. After 14 surgeries, including bilateral leg amputations, he succumbed to his injuries.
A recent career highlight came in 2007 in which Susan negotiated a $1.45 million settlement in a products liability claim. Her client claimed to have been injured while using the product, breaking her back at L1 and L5. Susan brought suit, claiming the product was defective in both design and manufacture. The defendant company denied the allegations. The remaining terms of the settlement, including the identity of the parties, are confidential.
In 2006, Susan obtained a $1.2 million settlement medical malpractice settlement for the family of a 39 year old man who underwent bariatric surgery in Southern Ohio. Bariatric surgery is also known as weight loss surgery or gastric bypass. The bariatric surgeons tragically failed to promptly recognize the classic signs and symptoms of a post-operative leak. For the patient, it was 24 hours too late. He had gone into sepsis and multi-system organ failure. He died after a month long complicated hospital course.
Another of Susan's career highlights was an $800,000 medical negligence verdict in a jury trial in Youngstown, Mahoning County in November 2004 against a dentist who negligently failed to diagnose an aggressive bone eating tumor in a patient's jaw, which led to the destruction and ultimate jaw reconstruction. In 2005, the trial judge granted pre-judgment interest in the amount of $472,458.29 on the basis of the dentist's malpractice insurer's failure to make a good faith effort to settle the case, as evidenced by its zero offer prior to trial.
In 2004, she assisted in obtaining a $500,000.00 jury verdict in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court for a woman who suffered second and third degree burns to her hands following a negligent chemical peel in a plastic surgeon's office.
In addition to vigorously representing her clients, Susan is proud to serve as Immediate Past President of the Ohio Women's Bar Association, a state-wide organization of lawyers, and judges which supports the causes of women. She is also very active in the Ohio Association for Justice and the American Association for Justice. She is currently serving a second term on the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Lawyers. She is also Vice Chair of OAJ's Product Liability Section.
Susan is a 1997 graduate of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where she earned top honors in legal writing and trial and appellate advocacy. Susan served for two years as both an editor of the Cleveland State University Law Review and member of the Moot Court Board of Governors. She was one of six graduates named to the Order of the Barristers, a national honorary organization which recognizes individual excellence in brief writing and oral advocacy.
Before law, Susan worked as an on-air television reporter and anchor for WEWS Channel 5 in Cleveland, WKBN-TV27 in Youngstown, and WTOV-News 9 in Steubenville/Wheeling, West Virginia.
In this past year, Susan made the headlines for her skillful lawyering. The News Herald wrote in September 2007 - "In less than a decade, Susan E. Petersen has already made an indisputable impact as a premier attorney in Ohio."
Click here to read the News Heralds article, "Lawyer turned leader".
She was alsofeatured in the October issue of Cleveland Business Connects Magazine, which featured five lawyers from Greater Cleveland who are "Above the Bar"
"In his New York Times best-selling book The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell identified connectors as one of three types of people who can make things happen. Gladwell says connectors are "hubs" that have wide professional and social circles. Susan Petersen is most definately a connector, and her list of honors proves it."
Click here to read the October 2007 CBC Magazine feature "Above the Bar"
She was also recently certified as a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. The Forum is recognized as the most prestigious group of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts, awards, and settlements.
Susan focuses her practice in the areas of product liability, medical malpractice, wrongful death, personal injury, nursing home negligence, automobile accidents, and employment discrimination. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Youngstown State University in 1993 and JD Degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1997. After six years of trial practice in downtown Cleveland, she joined Petersen & Ibold in 2005.
Beginning in December 2008, Susan will be a featured guest on American Airlines' Sky Radio as part of Time Magazine's 85th annual Salute to Women in Leadership. Click on the link below to hear her interview. As Heard on Sky Radio, American Airlines
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