With more than two decades of experience in complex litigation, Anne brings a passion for justice to each case, working for her clients and seeking to bring those responsible to account.
Through litigation, including mass torts, class actions and individual cases, Anne pursues the implementation of better safety practices and corporate governance measures for those corporations, as well as just compensation for victims of toxic exposure, extreme and life-altering injuries, workplace injuries and diseases, severe burns, brain damage, loss of limb and paralysis, and wrongful death resulting from negligence and defective products.
She works closely with victims and their families, often meeting with them in their homes for consultations. She strives to provide each client with personalized attention and individual justice, whether the case is part of a class action or stands alone.
Anne often collaborates with other attorneys, including estate and probate counsel, in order to approach each case from a team perspective. She also consults with experts to provide input on cases.
She is a member of the firm’s litigation team currently representing dozens of states, cities, towns, counties and townships targeting the alleged misrepresentation of highly addictive opioids by manufacturers and distributors, a suspected cause of the opioid epidemic plaguing communities nationwide.
Anne represents workers diagnosed with the devastating disease mesothelioma caused by asbestos exposure in the chemical, electric power generation, steel or construction industries. She also represents victims of household exposure-children and spouses who developed mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases after being exposed to asbestos fibers that a family member unwittingly brought home from work on clothes or belongings. Anne has tried several noteworthy asbestos cases, including Cox vs. A&I Company, West Virginia’s first household asbestos exposure case, and the 2002 West Virginia Consolidated Asbestos Trial against Union Carbide in which unsafe working conditions were found at its plants throughout the state. In addition to maintaining an active trial schedule, Anne represents Canadian Workers’ Compensation Boards in U.S. courts to recoup benefits they paid Canadian asbestos victims.
Devoted to worker safety and health in all forms, Anne also represents and has secured settlements for flavoring workers who suffered respiratory ailments and other diseases caused by toxic chemical exposure. She also recently secured a jury verdict against SAR Automation, L.P. for 8.8 million for the wrongful death of a worker who fell at a Boeing facility and left behind a widow and two small children.
As a law clerk, Anne supported the team representing the State Attorneys General in the historic lawsuit against Big Tobacco, which resulted in the largest civil settlement in U.S. history. Shortly after, she was a member of the trial team that litigated Falise v. American Tobacco Company.
Well-versed in navigating complex litigation, Anne holds several leadership positions within the firm, managing legal teams associated with occupational disease, toxic exposure and severe personal injury. Anne has written several articles of interest to the plaintiffs’ bar and frequently speaks on asbestos litigation, general product liability, legal ethics and tort reform at seminars across the country. She has been published on major legal issues, including forum non conveniens and defective products abroad, corporate misconduct, medicolegal aspects of asbestos litigation and mass tort litigation. Anne co-authored the 12th chapter of the book, “Pathology of Asbestos-Associated Diseases” (Medicolegal Aspects of Asbestos-Related Diseases: A Plaintiff’s Attorney’s Perspective, 3rd ed., 2014). Edited by Victor L. Roggli, MD; Tim D. Oury, MD, PhD; and Thomas A. Sporn, MD, this publication is a comprehensive asbestos reference book used by both physicians and attorneys.
Anne served as the 2016-2017 President of the Public Justice Foundation, a charitable organization focused on protecting people and the environment and increasing access to justice. She has been on the Board of Directors since 2010. In 2011, Anne served on the Executive Board for a local chapter of Safe Kids USA, advocating for childhood injury prevention. She also serves as a Section Councilor in the Law Section of the American Public Health Association.
Awards and Accolades
•South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
2020 Lawyer of the Year
•Best Lawyers
2016 Charleston, S.C. “Lawyer of the Year”: Mass tort litigation/class actions - plaintiffs
2011-2020 Mass tort litigation/class actions - plaintiffs
•University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association
2018 Compleat Lawyer Award
1998 Bronze Compleat Award
•Super Lawyers
2013-2020 South Carolina Super Lawyers list
Class action/mass torts: Plaintiff; Personal injury - general: plaintiff; Personal injury - products: plaintiff
•The Legal 500 United States
2007, 2009-2012, 2016, 2018 Dispute resolution - product liability, mass tort and class action - toxic tort - plaintiff
Although it endorses this lawyer, The Legal 500 United States is not a Motley Rice client.
•The National Trial Lawyers
2010 Top 100 Trial Lawyers: South Carolina
•Benchmark Plaintiff
2014 Top 150 Women in Litigation list: South Carolina: mass tort/product liability - plaintiffs
2012-2014 South Carolina “Litigation Star”: mass tort/product liability - plaintiffs
2013 National “Litigation Star”: mass tort/product liability - plaintiffs
•Lawdragon
2020 Lawdragon 500 Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers
Related Content
Recent Blog Posts
May 4, 2020
Workers’ Memorial Week: Anticipating risk, listening to workers crucial to save future lives
by: Anne McGinness Kearse
May 22, 2018
Occupational safety resources for workers
by: Anne McGinness Kearse
April 4, 2017
Asbestos under Evaluation by EPA within new TSCA chemical regulations
by: Anne McGinness Kearse
Related News
May 11, 2020
Motley Rice attorneys recognized as 2020 Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
March 24, 2020
Motley Rice member Anne Kearse wins 2020 S.C. Leadership in Law award
March 11, 2020
New Takata airbag defect leads to nearly 3 million vehicle recall
