Thomas R. Pender

Partner

Email: tpender@cremerlaw.com
Telephone: 312.980.3015

Practice Areas

Biography
Credentials
Representative Matters

Tom Pender is a trial lawyer. He has spent his entire professional career as a courtroom attorney and has tried many cases to verdict. Tom began his career at a Chicago commercial and banking litigation firm where he also worked on an assortment of plaintiff personal injury cases. At age 27, in one of his first jury trials, Tom won a then-record verdict of $4.5 million on behalf of a Ford Motor Company welder who suffered a traumatic brain injury while driving through road construction in the City of Chicago Heights . It would be the first of several notable results to garner significant press attention.

In 1995, Tom became a founding member of what today is Cremer Law, LLC, and has developed subject matter expertise in a number of different substantive areas of trial practice, including the defense of international machinery and product manufacturers, commercial disputes, class action litigation in the nation’s most notorious “Judicial Hellholes,” transportation cases, subrogation and recovery actions, and dealings with governmental regulatory agencies. His practice is truly national in its scope, and he has appeared in courtrooms in state, federal, and appellate courts around the country. Tom has also worked on investigations of incidents that came under regulatory scrutiny by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Mining Safety and Health Administration.

In 1999, Tom successfully defended a non-profit industry trade organization, the Truss Plate Institute, which had promulgated installation instructions relied upon by construction workers at a building where a roof collapse injured three carpenters. The trial court granted Tom’s motion for summary judgment on the basis that the organization owed no duty of care. Tom then argued the successful appeal, a case of first impression in Illinois, which has been reported in law review articles and textbooks around the country.

In one of the most tragic and significant cases in Illinois legal history, Tom was called upon to defend a vehicle inspector - the only party to go to trial - in the case of Willis v. Transamerica. The case involved the deaths of six children resulting from a taillight assembly that fell off a truck driven by a man that allegedly obtained his commercial driver’s license illegally. Discovery taken during the case ultimately led to the uncovering of the “License for Bribe” scandal in Illinois, which resulted in the conviction of more than 30 public officials and landed the former Illinois Secretary of State and Governor, George Ryan, in federal prison.

Over the course of many years, Tom defended insurance industry defendants threatened with millions of dollars of damages in “Silent PPO” class actions filed in Madison County, Illinois. Of the dozens of insurance defendants who faced Silent PPO claims, Tom’s client and one other carrier refused to settle, secured a de-certification of the class, and successfully fought the claims all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. Tom has represented defendants in several junk fax and football concussion class action cases as well.

Tom has been a frequent contributor to professional journals and publications, with his research having been published by the Defense Research Institute and the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. He has also authored and updated a book chapter for the past thirty years on the Illinois Survival Act for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Wrongful Death and Survival Actions Handbook. In 2021, The Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Federal Bar Association bestowed Tom with their Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service. Today, he serves as national trial counsel for several product manufacturers and continues to help guide the success and growth of our firm.

Credentials

Education

Washington & Lee University School of Law (J.D. 1987)
Miami (OH) University (B.A. 1984)

Admissions to Practice Law

Illinois Bar
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
Pro hac vice admissions in many other states throughout the U.S.

Publications

Subrogation and Recovery of Property Losses Under Illinois Law; August 2007
Liability of Pharmacists and Other Third Parties, with William J. Cremer, Drug and Medical Device Litigation: Defense Perspectives, DRI Publication 1998
The Extent of Duty in Tort Owed by Voluntary Trade/Industry Associations, IDC Quarterly Third Quarter 1996
Pharmacist Liability: A Duty to Warn?, with William J. Cremer, For the Defense Magazine, DRI Publication June 1995
Research published by the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel and the Defense Research Institute Chapter on the Illinois Survival Act in the Illinois Wrongful Death and Survival Actions Handbook

Memberships

Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (IDC)

Representative Matters

Reported Cases

Bailey v. Edward Hines Lumber Company, 308 Ill. App. 3d 58, 719 N.E.2d 178 (1^st Dist. 1999). In a case of first impression, the Illinois First District Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of our client, an industry trade organization called the Truss Plate Institute, whom Tom argued owed no duty of care to injured construction workers.
Scaccianoce v. Hixon Manufacturing & Supply Company, 57 F.3d 582, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 14903 (7^th Cir. 1995). The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of Tom’s client, the manufacturer of a telescoping prism pole that had been used by a surveyor who lost his arm when the pole contacted an uninsulated power line. See also, Scaccianoce v. Hixon Manufacturing & Supply Company, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18639 (N.D. Ill. 1994).
NBIS Construction & Transportation Insurance Services v. Liebherr-America, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70658 (M.D. Fla. 2021). The judge granted Tom’s motion for summary judgment on behalf of the U.S. supplier of a German mobile crane on plaintiff’s claim for recovery under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Business Practices Act.
Res-Care, Inc. v. Roto-Rooter Services Co., 753 F. Supp. 2d 970, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1114877 (N.D. Cal. 2010). The court granted Tom’s motion for summary judgment on behalf of a plumbing valve manufacturer on plaintiff nursing home operatory’s claims of strict product liability manufacturing and design defects.
Preferred Mutual Insurance Company v. Stadler Form Aktiengesellschaft, 308 F. Supp. 3d 463, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55475 (D. Mass. 2018). The court granted Tom’s motion to dismiss all claims against our Swiss manufacturing client based on lack of personal jurisdiction in a claim where a house was destroyed in a fire.
Emcasco Insurance Company v. Custom Mechanical Equipment, Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19517 (W.D. Ok. 2014). The court granted summary judgment on behalf of our insurance carrier client in a declaratory judgement action in which opposing counsel sought available insurance coverage for a consent judgment in an unsolicited fax case.
McGregory v. Tractel, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56373, 2007 WL 2229321 (W.D. Ky. 2007). The court granted Tom’s motion for summary judgment on behalf of an Austrian chain manufacturer on claims for strict product liability and negligence filed by a construction worker who suffered a closed head injury during construction of the Muhammed Ali Center in Louisville.
Artisan & Truckers Casualty Company v. A & K Rentals, LLC, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66713, 2017 WL1649727 (S.D. Ill. 2017). The court granted Tom’s motion to dismiss all claims against our client, a Canadian construction hoist manufacturer, in a declaratory judgment action for available insurance coverage and a construction site fatality.
Lapp v. Arthrex, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128414 (C.D. Ill. 2008). The court granted Tom’s motion for summary judgment on a patient’s product liability claims filed against our client, the Swiss manufacturer of a prosthetic shoulder device.
Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company v. Grohe Canada, Inc., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23306, 2018 WL 851351 (Dist. N.H. 2018). The court granted Tom’s motion to dismiss all product liability, product negligence and warranty claims against our client, a Canadian plumbing valve manufacturer.
Almanzor v. P.E. Printech Equipment, Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188395 (W.D. Wash. 2017). The court granted Tom’s motion for dismissal of all product liability claims against our client, a Swiss press manufacturer.