Pretzel & Stouffer is proud to announce that the following lawyers were selected as Super Lawyers for 2019:
July 2019 | Firm News
Overview
Brian Rocca has spent his career building a diverse civil trial practice. He has tried a broad range of cases, taking more than 75 of them to verdict. In recent years, his trial practice has focused on defending physicians and other professionals in professional negligence cases. He also has significant experience with product liability and complex commercial litigation.
The issues Brian has handled range from allegations of brain damage at birth to a near-meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Ohio caused by alleged poor engineering. Brian has tried many cases in federal and state courts and has also represented employers in numerous proceedings before the Illinois Human Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as in arbitration cases.
Brian has also lectured before and presented to Illinois State Bar Association continuing legal education programs, medical groups and insurers on a number of legal issues, including trial practice; injunction and restraining order actions; employment practices; risk management; patient confidentiality; and records management and maintenance.
Education
- University of Iowa, J.D. 1982 with distinction
- University of Northern Iowa, B.A. 1976 with high honors
Bar Admissions
- Illinois
- United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois – Trial Bar
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Related Practices
Professional Experience
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Chicago Bar Association
- Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
- Illinois Society of Trial Lawyers
Awards
- Highest Martindale-Hubbell rating, AV Preeminent
- Illinois Super Lawyers 2005—2019
News
Pretzel and Stouffer partners, David Bennett, Robert Chemers, Suzanne Crowley, Matthew Egan, Patrick Healy, Brian Henry, James LaBarge, Edward Nielsen, Howard Pikel, Brian Rocca, Alan Schumacher, Brian Sundheim, John Smith, Richard Waris, and Timothy Weaver, were selected in 2019 by their peers as Preeminent for Highest level of Professional Excellence by Martindale-Hubbell.
July 2019 | Firm News
Pretzel & Stouffer Partner Brian C. Rocca and Michael A. Barry successfully defended a surgeon against a wrongful death claim by the family of a woman who was admitted to the hospital for respiratory distress, diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, and placed on blood thinners. She developed a rectus sheath hematoma, and Plaintiff alleged that she bled to death because ...
May 2016 | Firm News
Pretzel & Stouffer partner Brian C. Rocca and Michael A. Barry successfully defended an ENT surgeon in a case brought by the family of a woman who at the age of 32 underwent sinus and septal surgery and allegedly contracted bacterial meningitis the next day. She was a high-level master’s degreed biomedical engineer who claimed to have permanent brain ...
May 2016 | Firm News
Pretzel & Stouffer Partner Brian C. Rocca, assisted by Michael A. Barry, achieved dismissal of a complaint brought against an insurance producer for its alleged failure to advise the plaintiff-insured of a Premium Adjustment Program applicable to its insurance policies for three consecutive policy years. Brian and Mike successfully argued to the court that the plaintiff’s cause ...
December 2013 | Firm News
Results
Lead counsel Michael Barry assisted by Brian Rocca successfully defended two obstetricians in a 3.5 week jury trial in Cook County. These obstetricians, along with a maternal fetal medicine physician and six labor and delivery nurses, were accused of causing the extreme, premature birth of twins at 24 weeks of pregnancy by ordering/administering an antibiotic ...
November 2022