O'Hagan Spencer

Professional Overview

Chris has been trying cases since his sixth month at the bar.  For nearly 29 years, he has handled everything from red light/green light cases to major products claims, commercial disputes and defamation cases.  He has gone to verdict as far west as Los Angeles, as far east as San Juan, north to Detroit and south to Houston.  He has broad experience in trade secret cases, corporate governance disputes and partnership quarrels.  He doesn’t work hard because it’s his job.  He works hard because he loves what he does: helping companies and individuals avoid court if they can and getting them a fair shake if they get there.

During his long and varied career, Chris has:

• Tried more than 130 cases to verdict;
• Served as national counsel for six companies in matters ranging from commercial litigation to product liability to discovery coordination;
• Defended to verdict over forty cases involving wrongful death, traumatic brain injury, quadriplegia or paraplegia;
• Defended–often to verdict–dozens of products that had become notorious either because of recalls or condemnation by consumer groups such as Consumer Reports and Public Citizen;
• Prosecuted cybersquatting, trademark infringement and unfair competition actions for large and small businesses;
• Defended corporations in employment litigation;
• Helped companies discharge corporate presidents and remove shareholder/members;
• Defended and prosecuted defamation cases for individuals and corporations;
• Helped executives preserve their rights on leaving their companies–either voluntarily or involuntarily;
• Counseled parents in controversies with educational institutions;
• Interpreted and enforced insurance coverage provisions against a variety of entities, including a diocese and the Republican Party of Virginia;
• Drafted and revised scores of contracts and corporate instruments, especially after litigation or threatened litigation exposed some weakness;
• Defended a private equity professional against conspiracy, unfair competition and trade secret claims in connection with a start-up;
• Prosecuted patent infringement actions in the United States and coordinated companion litigation in Canada;
• Helped a multinational educational institution avoid application of Quebec’s Charter of the French Language, culminating in a trial in Montreal;
• Represented parties in legal ethics investigations and prosecutions;
• Resolved a commercial dispute between international gaming concerns in litigation in Las Vegas;
• Represented corporations in defect investigations by agencies of  the federal government;
• Assisted companies targeted by consumer groups in coordinated media assaults;
• Recovered millions lost because of an accidental fire that destroyed a community college;
• Represented a state university in a contract dispute with a grant-issuer;
• Defended countless cases involving recreational areas and products;
• Represented LLCs and LLPs in matters pertaining to corporate governance;
• Assisted in the resolution of intra-family business and property disputes;
• Resolved landlord/tenant disputes;
• Defended the manufacturer of spray-on roofing material; and
• Defended the manufacturer of a component of EIFS in an action for leaks in a building.

Education

University of Virginia, B.A. 1979
University of Richmond School of Law, J.D. 1982
(Associate Editor, University of Richmond Law Review)

Professional Organization Memberships

Virginia State Bar
U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Circuits
Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys
Virginia Bar Association
American Bar Association; Past Chair, Tort Trials and Insurance Practice Committee
Defense Research Institute
Association of Ski Defense Attorneys, President 1996

News, Publications, & Speeches

• U.S. Supreme Court Lays Down Hard Line on States' Ability to Assert Jurisdiction Over Out-of-State Defendants
• Defense Verdict in Augusta, Georgia
• Plaintiff Forced to Drop Major Case Mid-Trial
• Summary Judgment in Cook County & Removal to Federal Court
• Defense Verdict in Maryland Products Trial

Practice Areas

• 
  Architects & Engineers

  They’re the ones who design the buildings we work in and the roads we ride to get there...

• 
  Arson/Fraud

  One of the biggest problems bedeviling property insurers is the policyholder who wants to sell his building to the insurance company.

• 
  Class Actions

  Nowadays, whenever someone’s earnings are restated, one’s product is recalled or the screen...

• 
  Commercial Litigation

  It sometimes seems to us that the people who are writing contracts are stuck in...

• 
  Cyber Liability

  The information superhighway, along with its many branches, has undoubtedly...

• 
  Defamation

  Whoever made up "sticks and stones" may have been able to manage a schoolyard, but he didn't know much about the real world.

• 
  Directors & Officers

  Directors and Officers face scrutiny like never before...

• 
  Drugs & Devices

  We like to remind our friends in the healing arts that when we lawyers were writing the...

• 
  Employment

  We’re a long way from the days when employers and employees...

• 
  Executive Rights and Compensation

  We are long past the days when the ordinary career was a straight line up the ladder of a single corporation with a gold watch as a parting gift.

• 
  Insurance Coverage

  Put an insurance policy in front of most lawyers and their eyes glaze over...

• 
  Lawyers & Accountants

  We can only imagine how the poor professional must cringe when...

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  Marine Products

  Our expertise is not limited to land and air. We do battle at sea, too.

• 
  Patents

  We don’t prosecute patent applications. We don’t register patents...

• 
  Products

  We could tell you about all of the kinds of products we’ve defended...

• 
  Sports & Recreation

  They are some of the toughest cases. Someone’s son or daughter...

• 
  Toxic Torts

  If we had to think of one thing that sums up the prevailing state of mind...

• 
  Trademarks

  We got our start in Trademarks with a phone call. The GC of a company...