Attorney Daniel J. Dysart | Louisiana Commercial Litigation

Practice Focus

Construction, Environmental, Insurance Coverage

Danny Dysart, a partner in the firm’s Litigation Section, has litigated and tried several high-profile and high-impact cases throughout the Gulf Coast. His matters involve personal injury, products liability, breach of contract, unfair trade practices, redhibition, Jones Act, RICO, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Oil Pollution Act. Danny has tried cases on behalf of companies and individuals and plaintiffs and defendants, bringing matters before federal and state judges and juries, as well as arbitration panels.

“I am incredibly fortunate to have engaged Danny as outside counsel. [He] exhaustively researches the facts, law and application, then explains it in a concise and straightforward manner.” —Insurance Litigation Client, comment collected as part of the Best Law Firms® research process

Danny has successfully litigated limited issue and bellwether cases in multi-district (MDL) litigation proceedings and has handled the administration of multiple national class action settlements. In addition, he gained unique complex litigation experience by serving alongside Kerry Miller as lead defense counsel in the BP oil spill MDL, the Chinese Drywall MDL, and Hurricane Katrina related environmental litigation. In these sprawling cases, Danny litigated a wide spectrum of jurisdictional, discovery, and evidentiary issues.

For 2026, Danny is recognized as a Benchmark Litigation “Future Star” and among the The Best Lawyers in America® for Litigation – Environmental, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants. He has been named to the Benchmark Litigation “40 & Under List – South” since 2023, and was honored by the LSBA Young Lawyers Division as a 2023 TOP 40 awardee. Danny was also selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars in Environmental Litigation from 2017-2019, and again in 2021.

Danny is a resident and native of St. Bernard Parish and also serves as an assistant district attorney and felony trial prosecutor in St. Bernard Parish. Danny is a St. Bernard Bar Association board member, having previously served as both Vice-Chair and Finance Chair. He is also a member of the New Orleans Bar Association and the Louisiana District Attorneys Association.

Danny follows his family’s tradition of community service. He serves on the board and is the current president of the St. Bernard Autism Awareness Krewe. As part of the Krewe’s mission to identify and assist those dealing with daily struggles associated with autism, Danny has led the Krewe to develop and implement a wide range of programs including continuing education for first responders, sensory tools and bags for nearby schools, grant programs for individuals and educators, and the development and implementation of the Help Me Home Program, a voluntary program that allows individuals and families to provide first responders critical information about an individual’s intellectual or physical condition in the event of an emergency or call for service.

For his community efforts, Danny was named the St. Bernard Chamber of Commerce 2022 Citizen of the Year.

Before law school, Danny graduated summa cum laude from LSU and was named a Rucks Fellow. He graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans – College of Law in 2011 where he was named a William L. Crowe Scholar and was a member of the Loyola Law Review and Moot Court.

Education

J.D., magna cum laude, from Loyola University New Orleans, College of Law, 2011
- Member of the Loyola Law Review
B.S., summa cum laude, from Louisiana State University, 2008

Publications / Presentations

“Five Years Post-BP Oil Spill,” Oilman Magazine (June 2015)
Co-author, “The Safe Drilling Margin: Lessons Learned from the Macondo Blowout,” LOGA Industry Report (Summer 2015)
Co-author, “Supreme Court’s CAFA Decision Changes Law in Fifth Circuit,” American Bar Association’s Pretrial Practice & Discovery (June 2014)
“Are Exceptions to the Hearsay Rule Outdated?,” American Bar Association’s Trial Evidence News & Developments (April 2014)

Representative Matters

Represents Knauf Gips, an international manufacturer of building products, in an MDL and in state court product liability cases throughout the Gulf South; to date, the firm has litigated and resolved thousands of property damage claims through litigation, or class action settlements, and individual settlements.
Represents Sasol Chemicals (USA) LLC involving a lawsuit filed against Sasol and other parties by another chemicals manufacturer in regards to a paraffin pipeline release and fire in Lake Charles, La.
Represents Halliburton in connection with commercial litigation matters in Louisiana, including claims for personal injuries, both maritime and land-based.
Represents residents impacted by a series of July 2023 explosions at Dow Chemical Company in Plaquemine, La., which released thousands of pounds of a cancer-causing chemical, ethylene oxide, into the air and prompted a shelter-in-place mandate for nearby residents; the quantity of ethylene oxide released in the fire is as much ethylene oxide as the Dow Chemical plant typically releases in a decade.
Represents a class of neighboring property owners against Marathon Oil Co. regarding the forced evacuation of their properties and other damages associated with an uncontrolled fire and related emissions at Marathon’s Garyville, La., refinery; the refinery is the third largest in the United States and has been the site of numerous hazardous incidents, many of which have gone unremedied.
Represents more than thirty plaintiffs that purchased residential properties in Melville, La., on which, unbeknownst to plaintiffs, Exxon Mobil had abandoned oil and gas equipment, including contamination associated with a pre-existing pipeline facility; plaintiffs have subsequently developed serious cancers and other illnesses from the toxins and other chemicals deposited by Exxon Mobil into the ground and surrounding area (a “cancer cluster”).
Represented a subsidiary of Alcoa Corporation (Reynolds Metals Company, LLC) in an environmental pollution lawsuit filed by the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District.