Kieve, Loren

Jeffrey V. Kessler is a founding partner of the law firm of Berry, Kessler, Crutchfield, Taylor & Gordon. He is licensed to practice law in all of the Courts of the State of West Virginia, as well as the Northern and Southern United States District Courts of West Virginia. He has also been admitted to appear in several Courts throughout the State of Ohio, as well as Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Kessler has vast courtroom and litigation experience, having personally tried hundreds of civil and criminal cases to a successful conclusion. He served as an assistant Prosecutor for over sixteen (16) years in Marshall County, West Virginia, and as a Special Prosecutor in both Ohio and Wetzel Counties. His extensive experience in personal injury includes wrongful death and traumatic brain injury cases. His practice places an emphasis on insurance litigation, including bad faith and Unfair Trade Practice Act violations. He has significant experience in litigating complex insurance coverage issues, including establishing novel theories of coverage despite "publication", fraud and criminal act policy exclusions.

Attorney Kessler was appointed to serve as a Special Master, together with West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Margaret Workman, to resolve complex evidentiary issues and discovery disputes in the Fen-Phen mass tort litigation in Brooke County, West Virginia. He has also testified on numerous occasions in matters related to insurance coverage issues and Unfair Trade Practice Act violations.

He was recently retained to serve as lead West Virginia counsel to prosecute personal injury actions on behalf of numerous members of the West Virginia National Guard surrounding their toxic chemical exposure during the Iraq war.

Since 1997, Mr. Kessler has served as a member of the West Virginia State Senate and as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee since 2003.