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Mallarie Simonds

Drawn to law as a teen by her interest in crafting arguments and working within a clearly defined system, Mallarie knew from her early law school days that she was meant to be a litigator. She thrives on advocacy and persuasion, and she excels at building winning arguments and creative litigation strategies.

As a law student, Mallarie completed a mass tort clerkship and discovered that she loved the area’s fast pace and emphasis on strategy. Although her initial post-J.D. roles focused on other litigation categories, she eagerly returned to the mass tort world in 2022, working primarily with asbestos litigation and occasional talc cases.

Mallarie has overseen cases in several jurisdictions throughout the northeast, assisting national coordinating counsel teams and managing all aspects of litigation locally. As one of a small team of Husch Blackwell litigators licensed in the state of Connecticut, she regularly acts as local counsel in a variety of Connecticut matters handled by out-of-state firm attorneys. She also serves as one of the primary deposition takers on the firm’s New England team.

Mallarie is well-acquainted with the network of toxic tort attorneys and has often sat across the table from opposing counsel, or worked alongside co-counsel, on prior cases. Her experience includes third chairing a trial to verdict in Massachusetts—a relative rarity in the asbestos field that makes her the only Massachusetts defense attorney who has tried a case before the state’s new asbestos judge.

With a gift for spotting patterns between cases as well as their unique elements, Mallarie is known for crafting creative strategies based on a case’s points of difference—and for fighting as hard as she can for clients. She’s also built a reputation as a highly responsive attorney who’s good at breaking down complex legal matters in a way that non-attorney clients can readily understand.

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The Estate of Nicholas Barone trial in Bridgeport Superior Court in Connecticut before Judge William Clark concluded with a $15 million plaintiff’s verdict on 5/16/2024. The jury also awarded punitive damages, the exact amount to be determined by the trial judge at a later date. Upon oral argument and review of the parties’ briefs Judge Clark awarded plaintiffs $7,500,000 in punitive damages noting that Vanderbilt Minerals was a sophisticated defendant in position to know of the dangers associated with the mining operation and would not be financially ruined by such an award.

Over one-third of Americans (36%) now report that they would continue to use products even after a recall, according to recent data collected by MasterControl, a provider of quality management and manufacturing software. The proportion of individuals continuing to use recalled products increases in younger age groups: 45 percent of Millennials (born from 1980 to 1994) and 59 percent of Gen Z (born from 1995 to 2012) admitted they would continue to use at least one kind of recalled product, whereas only 18 percent of Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) and 23 percent of Gen X (born 1965 to 1979) admitted the same.