Sarah “Sally” L. Olson

Sarah “Sally” L. Olson

Partner

T: (312) 201-2602
F: (312) 416-4493
olson@wildman.com

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Practice Areas:

Litigation
Class Action
Product Liability
Advertising, Marketing & Promotions

Education:

Chicago Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, J.D. 1986, high honors

University of California at Berkeley, B.A. 1975, high honors




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Sarah “Sally” L. Olson

Sally Olson is a partner in the Litigation Department of Wildman Harrold, a Litigation Practice Group Leader, and Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. An accomplished product liability and mass tort litigator, Sally represents manufacturing companies and industries facing litigation, legislative change, or regulatory action in relation to the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of their products. She develops legal, legislative, media, and educational strategies that minimize the chance of litigation and maximize the chance of success once litigation has commenced. In this “bet-the-company,” “bet-the-industry” litigation, Sally’s cases have made some of the law upon which the present-day defense of tort-based product claims rest. Because these claims are often multi-party and multi-jurisdictional, Sally has developed a particular skill in facilitating and guiding the work of joint defense groups and industry legal teams. A unique litigator with a broad non-litigation perspective, Sally is committed to helping her clients find viable and lasting business solutions to legally, politically, and socially charged problems.


Representative Experience:

  • Represents the Beer Institute, a national trade association of brewers and associated suppliers, in multi-faceted litigation and non-litigation matters. Most recently, has defended the Beer Institute in a series of putative class actions attacking alcohol advertising and the Beer Institute’s self-regulatory advertising code. Non-litigation matters include proposing and responding to legislation and regulation concerning alcohol, communicating with regulatory bodies, analyzing scientific research, and working with experts, public education campaigns, and advertising self-regulation programs, among other things. See, for example, Alston v. Advanced Brands & Importing Co., 494 F.3d 562 (6th Cir. 2007).
  • Represents Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., the country’s leading domestic firearm manufacturer, as part of a team defending a series of cases brought by municipalities for injunctive relief requiring manufacturers to alter the way that firearms are lawfully distributed pursuant to federal regulations and for enormous financial damages to “recoup” the cost of police, medical, judicial, jail, and other services resulting from the criminal misuse of firearms in their jurisdiction. Twenty-three suits were filed; 22 have been dismissed on dispositive motions. The most recent dismissal, for example, is District of Columbia v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., et al., 2002 WL 31811717 (D.C. Super. 2002), affirmed in part, reversed in part, 847 A.2d 1127 (D.C. 2004), rehearing en banc, 872 A.2d 633 (D.C. 2005), cert denied, 126 S. Ct. 399 (2005), on remand, 2006 WL 1892023 (D.C. Super. May 22, 2006), affirmed, 940 A.2d 163 (D.C. 2008).
  • Represented McDonald’s Corporation in the first, highly publicized “obesity case,” seeking billions of dollars in damages and injunctive relief requiring McDonald’s to post the nutritional content of its products on menu boards, among other things. Successfully obtained dismissal of the original and amended complaints, which rested on negligence and consumer fraud theories. See, Pelman v. McDonald’s Corporation, 237 F. Supp. 2d 512 (S.D.N.Y. 2003), on amendment of complaint, 2003 WL 22052778 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 3 2003), affirmed in part, reversed in part, 396 F.3d 508 (2d Cir. 2005).
  • Obtained dismissal of the City of Chicago’s suit against manufacturers of lead pigment and lead-containing paint. This complaint claimed that lead pigment in paint in Chicago buildings constituted a public nuisance, which manufacturers of lead pigment and lead-containing paint should be liable to remedy. City of Chicago v. American Cyanamid, No. 02 CH 16212, 2003 WL 23315567 (Oct. 7, 2003), affirmed, 355 Ill. App. 3d 209 (1st Dist. 2005), pet. for lv. to appeal denied.
  • Represented Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. against New York’s State Attorney General. The suit claimed that manufacturers’ distribution practices facilitated criminal acquisition of firearms, creating a public nuisance in New York State. See People ex rel Spitzer v. Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., 309 A.D.2d 91, 761 N.Y.S.2d 192 (App. Div. 1st Dept. 2003), leave to appeal denied, 100 N.Y.2d 514, 801 N.E.2d 421 (2003).
  • Acted as regional counsel in spinal fusion medical device multi-district litigation and lead counsel for a related continuing medical education organization in mass tort litigation alleging fraud, conspiracy, product defect, and improper off-label marketing. See, In re Orthopedic Bone Screw Products Liability Litigation, 1997 WL 186325 (E.D. Pa. 1997).

Publications And Presentations:

  • Editor, Law Journal Newsletters' Product Liability Law & Strategy
  • Author, “The Impact of the Internet on Strict Product Liability Law," Product Liability Law & Strategy, Vol. 28 (4), October 2008.
  • Co-Author, “Putting the Public Nuisance ‘Genie’ Back in Its Bottle: Rhode Island Supreme Court Overturns Lead Paint Verdict," BNA's Consumer Product Liability Reporter, Vol. 36, No. 34, September 1, 2008.
  • Co-Author, “New 'Administrative' Provisions Of The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 Cause Concern For Manufacturers” Product Liability Law360, August 22, 2008.
  • Author, “Lessons from Food Litigation: Managing the Interaction of Litigation, Legislation and Regulation,” Product Liability Law & Strategy, Vol. 26 (8), February 2008.
  • Speaker, “A Bridge to Nowhere: The History of Efforts to Impose Public Nuisance Liability on Firearm Manufacturers,” DRI Product Liability Conference, Phoenix, AZ, February 2008.
  • Author, Trade Association Litigation Case Strategies: Viola Alston v. Advanced Brands and Importing Co., et al. and Steven E. Eisenberg v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. et al., Aspatore Books, 2008.
  • Speaker, “How Companies Are Losing Control of Their Marketing and What It Means for Product Litigation,” Product Liability Advisory Council, Chicago, IL, April 2007.
  • Speaker, “Trends in Food Class Action Lawsuits Since Pelman v. McDonald’s,” DRI Food Liability Conference, Chicago, IL, November 2006.
  • Author, “The ‘Free Public Services Doctrine’: Government Cost Recovery Claims,” For The Defense, September 2001.
  • Author, “When All Else Fails, Blame ‘Madison Avenue’: Negligent Marketing Claims in Firearms Litigation,” 36 Torts and Insurance Law Journal 981, Summer 2001.
  • Author, “Municipal Firearms Litigation: Ill-Conceived From Any Angle,” 32 Conn. Law Review 1277, Spring 2000.
  • Author, “The Limits on the Use of Tort Law to Encourage Consumer Safety,” 12 Loyola Consumer Law Review 178, 2000.
  • Author, “New Wine in Old Bottles: Defending Against ‘New’ Theories of Liability for Manufacturers & Industries: Negligent Marketing, Public Nuisance & Fraud on the Marketplace,” For The Defense, August 1999.
  • Speaker, “Guilt By Association: Trade Association Liability,” Defense Research Institute, Industry-wide Litigation Conference, March 1997.
  • Speaker, “Responding to Electric and Magnetic Field Litigation in the Electronic Consumer Products Industry,” Electronics Industry Association, Las Vegas, NV, January 1997.


Professional Associations:

Defense Research Institute (Co-Chair, Task Force on Mass Torts, 1999–2003; Steering Committee, Industry-wide Litigation Committee, 1999–present; Chair and Vice-Chair, Industry-wide Litigation Committee, 1996–1999; Member, Products Liability Committee, Diversity Committee)

American Bar Association

Illinois State Bar Association

Product Liability Advisory Council

Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel


Bar Admissions:

Supreme Court of Illinois, 1986

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1986

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 1987

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits

U.S. Supreme Court, 2001


Personal Information:

Sally was born in Boston and raised in Japan, the Philippines, and all over New England. She settled in Chicago as an adult and has made Oak Park her home for the last 15 years, where she is very involved in community and service activities with her church.


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