Doug Winegardner is a member of our Risk Management practice group, and his practice concentrates in product liability, aviation litigation and commercial transportation litigation.

Doug graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in 1990; and earned his J.D. from the Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio in 1994. At Capital, he was an Associate Editor of Law Review, and was inducted as a member of the Order of the Curia honorary society for high scholastic achievement.

Following law school, he joined the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps and was assigned first as a defense attorney, then served as prosecutor in central and southern Florida. He was later assigned to JAG's headquarters in Washington, D.C. concentrating on admiralty and maritime law. Doug also served in the Naval Reserves from 2001 to 2004, handling general litigation for the Navy Department.

Doug worked for two years as a Trial Attorney in the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., representing agencies such as the military departments, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Weather Service, and the Department of Transportation in aviation and maritime lawsuits. While at the Justice Department, Doug successfully defended the United States in the civil litigation stemming from the Marine Corps jet's collision with a ski gondola in Cavalese, Italy, and the accidental bombing litigation in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Additionally, he has tried or otherwise handled a wide variety of other cases including major aviation disasters, major ship collisions and shipboard accidents, and many general aviation and maritime accident suits.