Lawyer Profile
Edward F. Kohnke IV
Attorney Bio
Edward F. Kohnke, IV is an experienced and accomplished civil litigator and trial lawyer. He is known for his great presence in the courtroom and has routinely and successfully tried scores of jury trials in Louisiana as well as other State and Federal courts throughout the nation. He has the distinction of having won over 50 jury trials.
Mr. Kohnke has been sought out by Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States as trial counsel for high-profile, high-risk litigation. Over the last fifteen years, Mr. Kohnke has tried product liability cases throughout the country on behalf of such clients as Texaco, Exxon Mobil, Nintendo, Emerson Electric and Rheem Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Kohnke was selected to be Rheem's National Trial Counsel for flammable vapor litigation in 1996. He has also defended corporate clients in cases involving employment discrimination, mass tort and class actions and antitrust and unfair trade practices. Mr. Kohnke is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Attorneys, one of the premier associations in America. He is also listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, and Louisiana Super Lawyers.
Practice Areas
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
- Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
Case History
- Zapata Gulf Fleet vs. Crowley Maritime Transportation — Anti-trust case involving containerized freight between U.S. ports and Puerto Rico. The case was tried to a jury in the U.S.D.C.for the Eastern District of La. resulting in a $48,000,000. verdict in favor of my client. The appeal was unsuccessful.
- Janella Sue Martin v Texaco — A labor/employment case involving claims of gender discrimination in which a Los Angeles state court jury returned a verdict against Texaco for $22 million dollars. The plaintiff appeared on national TV and in national publications as the person who had been victimized by a "glass ceiling." As a result, the first trial was widely reported.
I was retained by Texaco for the re-trial. The second trial ended in victory for Texaco, with the plaintiff receiving nothing except retirement monies. She was denied reinstatement. - Rheem Mfg. Co. v Perfection — This case involved a four month jury trial in New Orleans. My clients, a consortium of water heater manufacturers sued Perfection Corporation, the manufacturer of a defective component part, which spawned 26 class action lawsuits nationwide against the water heater manufacturers. The jury returned a verdict of approximately $90 million against Perfection.