AV Peer Review Rated

Dean S. Rauchwerger

Partner

Dean S. Rauchwerger is a partner with Clausen Miller P.C. concentrating his practice in the handling of complex, multi-million dollar commercial and tort litigation matters on a national basis in both Federal and State Courts. Mr. Rauchwerger has prosecuted a variety of loss recovery claims around the country, achieving eight figure, multi-million dollar recoveries. Mr. Rauchwerger’s practice has covered extraordinary building fires and a myriad of industrial explosions and other disasters involving substantial property damages and lost profit claims. Many of these disasters have been recognized by the National Fire Protection Association on their annual listing of Large Loss Fires and explosions. Mr. Rauchwerger’s experience includes the catastrophic fire at the First Interstate Tower in Los Angeles, California; the World Trade Center explosion; the massive explosion of an ammonium nitrate fertilizer manufacturing facility; major explosion and fire at a coal-fired electric utility; flooding of a high-rise New York City office building; rail car explosion involving toluene diisocyanate chemical waste materials; and a host of other industrial accidents and commercial and business disputes. In November 2003, Mr. Rauchwerger achieved a record seven figure unanimous jury verdict in Douglas County, Kansas for a 1999 catastrophic manufacturing plant explosion.

Mr. Rauchwerger has considerable experience in multi-party matters involving business litigation, products liability, aviation, toxic tort and mass disaster. He also has significant experience in litigating claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act as well as handling qui tam whistleblower litigation under the False Claims Act. Mr. Rauchwerger’s broad experience includes the national defense of a Fortune 100 corporation for product liability claims involving damaged buildings and other physical structures; defending a major air carrier against personal injury and wrongful death claims in multi-district litigation arising out of the Flight 232 Sioux City air crash; defending a multitude of toxic tort TCE claims arising out of the groundwater contamination of the Tucson aquifer and the prosecuting of FTCA claims against the United States; defending an air carrier against novel handicapped rights claims being prosecuted by public interest groups; pro bono prosecution of a major prisoner rights lawsuit involving First Amendment and Section 1983 civil rights claims; and other diverse litigation.

Mr. Rauchwerger earned his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in 1981 and 1984, respectively. He is licensed, by examination, to practice in Illinois, New York and Connecticut. Mr. Rauchwerger is also admitted to practice before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Mr. Rauchwerger has an AV® Preeminent™ rating with Martindale-Hubbell indicating the highest ranking in legal ability and ethical standards as determined by his peers in the legal community.

Education

  • J.D. Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, 1984
  • B.A. Washington University in St. Louis, 1981

Bar Admissions

  • Connecticut
  • New York
  • Illinois

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1985
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1997
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, 2001
  • U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, 1985
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan, 2003
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, 2004
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 1985
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1998

Organization Affiliations

  • The Lawyers Club of Chicago 
  • Chicago Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association
  • National Association of Subrogation Professionals
  • New York State Bar Association