Danny Dysart is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Section. Danny has litigated and tried several high-profile and high-impact cases throughout the Gulf Coast. His cases 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. He has brought matters before federal and state judges and juries, as well as arbitration panels. He 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, Danny 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.

Danny is recognized in the 2024 The Best Lawyers in America® for Litigation – Environmental, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants. He was named to the Benchmark Litigation “40 & Under List – South” in 2023. 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. He is a board member and the vice chair of the St. Bernard Bar Association, a member of the New Orleans Bar Association, and a Louisiana District Attorney Association member.

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 tried several bellwether cases and resolved thousands of property damage claims through litigation, or class action settlements, and individual settlements.
  • Represents a subsidiary of Alcoa Corporation (Reynolds Metals Company, LLC) in an environmental pollution lawsuit filed by the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District.
  • 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.