RWK
  • Robert W. Kettering (Deceased)
  • Shareholder
  • Arthur Chapman Kettering Smetak & Pikala, P.A.
  • rwkettering@arthurchapman.com
vCard Print Arthur Chapman Kettering Smetak & Pikala, P.A.

Bob Kettering’s areas of practice are professional and products liability, casualty and commercial litigation, insurance coverage and bad faith disputes. He has extensive experience at the appellate level. He has been licensed in Minnesota for 32 years and in Wisconsin for 20 years and regularly practices in state and federal court in both states. He has served as trial counsel in a wide range of jury and court cases including defense jury verdicts in eight consecutive defective ladder and scaffolding cases, high exposure auto and truck accidents, professional liability cases (most recently in a six week architectural-construction jury trial in which the firm’s client was granted a directed verdict), bad faith failure to settle and inadequate defense claims against a liability insurer, sexual misconduct/repressed memory claims by a minor against a municipality’s police officer, and wrongful death construction site claims. He has also defended suits over the alleged negligent destruction of computerized architectural drawings with controversial lost profit claims, defamation suits by disgruntled former employees, defamation and advertising claims by corporations against their critics and competitors, a host of insurance coverage disputes, life and disability insurance suits, and performance bond cases. He has appeared frequently before the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Bob has served as mediator and as neutral arbitrator and mediator in over 100 cases removed from the court system as well as UM/UIM cases. He is a senior shareholder and Chair of the Commercial Litigation Practice Group.

Publications

  • Minnesota Commercial General Liability Policy: Annotated, Co-Author, Arthur, Chapman, Kettering, Smetak & Pikala, P.A., 2008
  • Surprise! My Building Sank You’ve Got Coverage (Maybe), Arthur, Chapman, Kettering, Smetak & Pikala, Commercial Litigation Update, April, 2004
  • MDLA Release Desk Book

Education

University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1973, J.D.
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1970, A.B.


Bar Admissions

Minnesota
Wisconsin


Professional Associations and Memberships

American Bar Association
Minnesota State Bar Association
Hennepin County Bar Association
Wisconsin State Bar Association
American Arbitration Association
Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association


Licenses

Minnesota, 1973
Wisconsin, 1986
U.S. District Court District of Minnesota, 1973
U.S. District Court Western District of Wisconsin, 1986
U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit, 1977