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Daniel A. Haws

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Legal Specialist

Dan is a nationally recognized trial attorney with nearly three decades of experience defending global corporations in product liability, transportation, and business litigation. He has served as lead counsel in more than 70 jury trials and 30 matters on appeal. He has also resolved hundreds of claims through negotiation and alternative dispute resolution.

More About Daniel

What sets him apart from other attorneys is how he works with clients to achieve the best results. He understands and admires what it takes to start, grow, and run a successful business. In courtrooms and accident scenes, Dan is passionate about his clients and their causes. He provides straightforward, realistic opinions in evaluating a case.

He partners with engineers, in-house counsel, and business leaders to design the most effective legal strategy to achieve his client’s goals. If that means trial work or tough negotiation, Dan pursues the most advantageous course of action.

Dan has successfully acted as lead counsel achieving defense verdicts for his clients throughout the United States for manufacturers and businesses involving agricultural, construction, aviation, recreational vehicles, and many other consumer products, as well as claims involving tractor trailers, Class I Railroads in FELA and crossing accidents, many involving catastrophic injury or death. Clients routinely turn to Dan to take over the lead counsel role of an ongoing case that has complex issues and large demands.

Dan’s ability to understand the complex mechanics and engineering of products at issue is unrivaled in the courtroom and challenges even the most well-versed opposing experts in depositions or cross-examination at trial.

Dan received his J.D., cum laude, from Hamline University School of Law, where he was a member of the Silver Gavel Honor Society, and his B.A. from Central College in Pella, Iowa.

In recognition of his extensive trial experience, Dan was elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He has an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating in the distinguished legal directory, Martindale-Hubbell®*, and has been repeatedly recognized by his peers as a Minnesota “Super Lawyer.” He has been selected as one of the “Best Lawyers In America”, Best Lawyers®. Dan was also named a “top personal injury lawyer” in defense by Minnesota Law & Politics and a Top 100 High Stakes Litigator®.

Member Affiliations
  • Defense Research Institute
  • Minnesota Bar Association
  • Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association
  • Ramsey County Bar Association
  • Trucking Industry Defense Association
  • Wisconsin Bar Association
Representative Cases
  • Kedrowski v. Lycoming Engines, a division of AVCO, 933 N.W.2d (2019)
  • Adams Aviation et.al. v. Lycoming Engines, a division of AVCO
  • Secured defense verdicts in cases involving FELA claims brought against a Class I Railroad
  • Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc. v. Bolduc, Co., Inc., et al., 825 N.W.3d 695 (Minn. 2013)
  • Secured summary judgment in a precedent-setting wrongful death strangulation case which found that window coverings can be permanent improvements to real property under the statute of repose
  • Served as lead counsel representing a large Iowa ice cream manufacturer in the case of a commercial product. Secured a jury verdict and settlement amounting to $37,000,000
  • Bach v. Case Corp., 2006 WL 28651 66 (Minn. Ct. App. 2006)
  • Lead counsel representing a major trucking company in a tragic vehicular accident near Eau Claire, Wisconsin, involving accident reconstruction, fatigue, visibility, trucking regulations, and safety procedures, as well as involvement and interaction with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was pursued
  • Urban v. American Legion, et al., 723 N.W.2d 1 (Minn. 2006)
  • Zutz v. Case Corp., 422 F.3d 764 (8th Cir. 2005)
  • Walk v. Starkey Machinery, Inc., 180 F.3d 837 (8th Cir. 1999) upheld in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Katzner v. Kelleher Constr., 545 N.W.2d 378 (Minn. 1996)
  • ABC v. Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 513 N.W.2d 482 (Minn. Ct. App. 1994)
  • Amoco Pipeline Co. v. Minnesota Valley Landscaping, Inc., 481 N.W.2d 557 (Minn. 1992)
Honors
  • America’s Top 100 Attorneys®
  • AV® Peer Review Rating, Martindale-Hubbell®
  • Leading American Attorney (American Research Corporation)
  • Minnesota Super Lawyers, 2003-2024
  • Top 100 High Stakes Litigator®
  • Top Personal Injury Lawyer – Defense (Minnesota Law & Politics)
  • The Best Lawyers in America® – Product Liability Litigation, Defendants, 2021-2025

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Practice Areas

  • Aviation Litigation
  • Business and Transactional
  • Insurance Related Litigation
  • Product Liability Defense
  • Transportation

Licenses

  • State of Iowa
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
  • State of Minnesota
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
  • State of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Education

  • J.D., cum laude, Hamline University School of Law
  • B.A., Central College

Outside of the Office

When not representing clients, Dan enjoys spending time with family, hiking, golfing, going to the cabin, and tinkering with his tractors and various other equipment.