George N. Tompkins III Partner

George Tompkins focuses his practice on defending all types of negligence-based lawsuits, including general, premises and product liability claims, most notably in connection with the aviation industry. George has represented foreign and domestic airlines, product manufacturers and retail operators in numerous personal injury and wrongful death cases at the trial and appellate court level and in mediation and arbitration proceedings. He has tried several cases to verdict and has briefed and argued appeals in both state and federal appellate courts in New York and nationally.

George teams with his clients’ legal and business personnel to understand their needs and help achieve their goals. For more than 25 years, George has defended foreign commercial airlines in wrongful death actions arising out of major air crashes and has obtained favorable jury verdicts in several such cases. He also regularly assists airline clients with commercial litigation matters, contract negotiations and regulatory compliance matters. In the general liability area, George defends a national retail operator in all phases of litigation arising from slip-and-falls, hot beverage spills, premises security and other such incidents at their New York metro-area stores.

Many of the cases George handles for his aviation, manufacturing and retail clients involve product liability issues such as design defect, manufacturer defect or breach of warranty claims. In these cases, he has effectively conducted and defended hundreds of depositions involving plaintiffs, clients, corporate officers and employees, lay and expert witness, and medical practitioners. He also has experience with insurance and reinsurance coverage litigation, and was seconded to an Italian insurance company early in his career.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

George has conducted client seminars on aviation, product liability, premises liability and insurance topics. In addition, he has spoken at a variety of industry events on trial tactics, airline and manufacturer liability, premises liability, and the defense of mental injury cases.