John A. Fiocca, Jr., Associate
John Fiocca is admitted to the practice of law in Ohio, the U.S. District Courts for both the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and  the United States Supreme Court.  An Akron native, John graduated cum laude from Miami University in 1972, and from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1975.  As an undergraduate, he received The Outstanding Miami University Student Award in 1970, was a four time recipient of the J. Oliver Amos Scholarship Award, the Pomerene Award in Political Science, and the Gary L. Best Memorial Award in Political Science.  He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Phi Alpha Theta academic honorary societies.

From 1975 to 1979, John practiced banking, probate, and commercial law in Cleveland.  He moved to Columbus in 1979, and served as Finance Director for the Merit Selection of Judges State Constitutional Amendment initiative petition statewide ballot issue, sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio League of Women Voters, and other “good government” groups.  In addition to his corporate fundraising activities, John was an active campaign spokesperson, publically debating the merits of the issue with its critics, and delivering hundreds of presentations to bar associations and civic groups throughout the State.  Those efforts were reprised in 1987 after the issue had been placed on the statewide ballot in November of that year.   In 1982, John again assisted the Ohio State Bar Association by serving as its first Vice President of Marketing for the Bar’s newly created Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company, formed in order to insure continued availability and affordability of legal malpractice insurance for practicing Ohio attorneys.

Since 1985, Mr. Fiocca has been engaged exclusively in the practice of insurance defense law, with a concentration in design professional negligence, judicial liability, products liability, construction law and personal injury.   Mr. Fiocca joined Smith, Rolfes & Skavdahl’s Columbus office in 1999.  Since that time, he has focused his efforts primarily in the areas of veterinary malpractice defense, employer intentional tort defense, product liability, and commercial litigation defense.  He has obtained numerous favorable jury trial results, and has successfully argued scores of appeals at all levels, including the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

John is a past keynote speaker at the Ohio Judicial Conference on the subject of judicial liability, and represented Ohio judges in over 120 civil rights cases filed in federal courts.  He has been active in church and civic activities, including performing a number of theatrical leading roles as a former member of the Columbus Bar Performance Ensemble.  He is a member of the Ohio State and Columbus Bar Associations, and the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys.