Shareholder
P: 312-578-7450 | eruff@pretzel-stouffer.com
Ed Ruff has tried more than 100 cases to verdict, many of significant notoriety.
Ed Ruff is a shareholder and a member of the firm’s executive committee, which he has chaired on several occasions. He has tried more than 100 cases to verdict, in the areas of mass tort, product liability, commercial litigation, professional negligence, fire loss, bad faith, intellectual property, and other complex matters.
He has served as lead counsel in a number of multi-district litigation matters including Stand ’n Seal “Spray-On” Grout Sealer, Menu Foods, and Pedicle Screws, developing a reputation for handling matters on a national basis. His vast trial experience includes successfully defending the former president of the New York Stock Exchange at trial in a $300 million commercial fraud claim. He recently won a $9.5 million award for contempt in a bankruptcy court, believed to be a record.
Ed has written numerous publications and has lectured for the Illinois State Bar Association, DRI, FDCC and the Illinois Association of Defense Counsel. He is frequently asked to speak at DRI seminars, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin seminars and at the FDCC’s annual and winter meetings. Ed speaks on a variety of topics related to product liability safety, fire and casualty, multidistrict litigation and jury trials. He has been an instructor for the FDCC Litigation Management College numerous times.
Ed is also a mechanical engineer with a background in heat transfer engineering. He remains active in team sports, enjoys fishing and bike riding with his wife.
Pretzel & Stouffer attorneys, Jack Lonquist, Alex Beehler, Aubrey Sudomier, Edward Ruff, and Scott Howie (pictured from left to right), participated in the 26th annual “Race Judicata” hosted by the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, which provides free legal services to low-income Chicagoans. All proceeds from the race support CVLS’s mission of providing equal access to justice for ...
October 2021 | Firm News
Robert Chemers – Insurance Coverage and Appellate Matt Egan – Civil Litigation, Professional Liability, and Employment Law Ed Ruff – Class Action Mass Torts, Products Liability, Medical Malpractice, and Business Litigation Richard Waris – Business Litigation and Professional Liability We congratulate Robert, Matt, Ed, and Dick for again being recognized for their outstanding legal ...
March 2020 | Firm News
Pretzel & Stouffer is proud to announce that the following lawyers were selected as Super Lawyers for 2019:
July 2019 | Firm News
Pretzel & Stouffer is proud to announce the following lawyers from our firm have been selected by the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board as Leading Lawyers for 2019:
July 2019 | Firm News
Edward Ruff III and Michael Turiello of Pretzel & Stouffer won summary judgment for Walmart Stores, Inc. and clothing manufacturer, Charles Komar & Sons, Inc. in a Flammable Fabrics Act case. Plaintiff sustained third-degree full thickness burns to approximately 40% of her body, face, and torso when her clothing became ignited by a gas stovetop. Plaintiff spent ...
April 2018 | Firm News
Ed Ruff led a Pretzel and Stouffer team that recently secured a victory in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where the court affirmed a multi million-dollar judgment Ed and the team had won in the District Court for the firm’s client, a purchaser of land from a bankruptcy estate, against a claim by a ...
March 2023
Robert Chemers led a team including Ed Ruff and John Scheid in a challenge to 735 ILCS 5/2-1303, the amendment to the Code adding pre-judgment interest effective July 1, 2021. The challenge motion was brought in a medical malpractice case pending in Cook County, and on May 27, 2022 the Circuit Court declared the statutory ...
May 2022
A $9,539,768.54 award obtained by Pretzel & Stouffer attorneys Edward Ruff and Michael Turiello was reaffirmed by the US Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. The sanction award, one of the largest in US history, was entered after a bench trial before Judge Timothy A. Barnes in 2018. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (“F&D”) was held in contempt in the ...
October 2020
A Pretzel & Stouffer trial team, led by Edward Ruff and Michael Turiello and including Paula Villela, along with Douglas Lipke and William Thorsness of Vedder Price P.C. obtained a judgment in the amount of $9,539,768.54 for damages stemming from Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (“F&D”) for contempt and violation of a bankruptcy court’s ...
July 2019
Pretzel & Stouffer trial lawyers Edward Ruff and Suzanne Crowley obtained summary judgment for their client, and firm appellate lawyer Scott Howie obtained affirmance of that judgment on appeal, in a recent case finding that the plaintiff, who had a traumatic amputation of his arm below the elbow while operating a lathe, had an exclusive ...
July 2019