Robert Hatten
Robert R. Hatten is an American regionally prominent trial attorney specializing in asbestos. He litigates mostly in Newport News, Virginia.
Cases
Hatten's firm Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein handles most of the asbestos injury cases in the Newport News region.Exxon
In March 2011, a jury in Newport News awarded about $25 million to a former shipyard worker named Rubert Minton. Minton had worked on 17 different Exxon tankers over the course of his career. Decades later he began to suffer from mesothelioma. He filed suit against Exxon in 2009. Minton's lead attorney was Robert R. Hatten. Hatten said the award would be reduced to about $17.5 million because the $12.5 million in punitive damages awarded by the jury exceeded the $5 million that had been demanded by Minton.Controversy
Newport News has been named a "judicial hellhole" by the American [Tort Reform Association] for supposedly favoring plaintiffs over defendants. Hatten has consistently defended the practices of the Newport News Circuit Court. In one notable op-ed he wrote, "Newport News judges have been faithfully following the law, not making it, and not tilting it. These judges are neither plaintiff friendly nor business friendly. They don't need friends in the courtroom — they need respect. owes them a public apology for impugning their integrity."Hatten was featured prominently in the documentary UnSettled as spokesman for the asbestos plaintiff's bar.