Legal Team

Sandra Becher Sommers Attorney

Sandra has over 35 years of administrative and litigation experience in workers’ compensation, toxic torts, product liability, and labor and employment law. Sandra began her workers’ compensation career as an Assistant Attorney General in Columbus, representing state-funded employers in litigation in Southern Ohio and representing the Industrial Commission in Mandamus actions before the Tenth District Court of Appeals. She then went into private practice in Cleveland, representing self-insured and state funded employers before the Industrial Commission and in common pleas and appellate courts in various jurisdictions in Ohio. Sandra has tried multiple workers’ compensation cases to verdict. She has extensive experience in defending asbestos, benzene, and other toxic exposure workers’ compensation claims. She has also defended harassment and Fair Labor Standards Act cases.

 

Sandra has litigated complex toxic tort and product liability cases. She acted as national counsel for a Fortune 500 company in which she oversaw and assisted in preparing cases for Trial in Mississippi, California, West Virginia, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Sandra has tried multiple product liability cases to verdict. She has deposed experts in state-of-the art, pathology, epidemiology, and industrial hygiene in jurisdictions across the country. She was Trial counsel in a complex environmental case in the U. S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, in which she helped win a settlement involving the Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. The case subsequently became part of a documentary. Sandra has also litigated insurance cases in state and federal courts.

 

Sandra and her husband have lived in Avon Lake for over 30 years. They enjoy skiing and traveling.

 

Experience & Education

1985 J.D. Capital University Law School

1981 A.B. Ohio University, Political Science Pre-Law, cum laude, Honors Tutorial Program




BAR ADMISSIONS

Ohio 

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio

Past pro hac vice admissions in Mississippi, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, and West Virginia

Ohio State Bar Association

Super Lawyers, Workers’ Compensation, 2016 and 2017

Super Lawyers, Mass Torts, 2018

Certified Civil Trial Advocate by The National Board of Trial Advocacy, 2007-2012