Attorney Douglas N Godshall 

Doug is a civil trial lawyer in the area of general casualty and insurance defense law, railroad law, medical malpractice law and workers’ compensation law. He has served as lead counsel in over 200 jury trials in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He has tried jury trial cases to conclusion in state courts in all three states. He has argued in the Ohio Supreme Court, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In addition, Mr. Godshall has personally handled approximately 50 appeals of civil cases.

Doug has handled a number of high profile cases that have received media attention. He represented Conrail in a 1996 railroad collision which resulted in a two-week trial that was reported in the Canton Repository and nationally. More recently, he represented a mother in a surrogate parenting case which went to the Ohio Supreme Court and was reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and nationally. He represented a client in a defamation case against a public agency that was reported widely in the Akron Beacon Journal in 2006. He also represented some of the defendants in an unauthorized practice of law case that was heard and decided by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2004. He also represented parties to a surrogate parenting case that was heard and decided by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2007.

In addition to trial experience, Doug has lectured and made presentations to a number of professional associations, including the Stark County Bar Association, the Ohio Association of Mutual Insurers, the Ohio State Bar Association and the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel. Mr. Godshall was appointed by Justice Cook and reappointed by Chief Justice Moyer to serve on the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Certification of Attorneys as Specialist. He was later named Chair of that Commission.

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