Nate Finch has over 30 years of experience representing people who were hurt or killed by corporations that put profits over people’s health.
In the early 1990s Nate represented coal miners who were injured or killed after their employers failed to follow their own safety rules. Beginning in the late 1990s, Nate began representing victims of asbestos exposure. His experience includes both individual cases before juries, as well as multi-plaintiff cases in bench trials before federal district court judges after asbestos companies and shareholders tried to use the bankruptcy process to defeat the claims of approximately 100,000 injured workers. He has extensive experience trying cases involving a wide variety of asbestos-containing products, including gaskets, automotive brakes, floor tiles, joint compounds, baby powder and various forms of insulation.
Two of Nate’s most recent asbestos individual plaintiff jury trials resulted in jury verdicts in favor of his clients-a jury verdict of $3.45 million* for the family of an 80-year-old mesothelioma victim against an asbestos gasket company (Katcham v. John Crane, Inc. Newport News Virginia Circuit Court 2024) and a jury verdict of $2.7 million* in favor of a mesothelioma victim against a power company that used asbestos in its operations (Forehand v. VEPCO, Newport News Virginia Circuit Court 2025). Another relatively recent trial received national attention when he reached a settlement mid-trial against Baby Powder manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.
In bench trials involving asbestos defendants, Nate has tried four cases to judgment where he won verdicts in favor of his clients that exceeded $1 billion* each:
MOTLEY RICE CASE:
In re Bondex ($1.1 billion*) (W.D. Pa. 2013).
PRIOR TO MOTLEY RICE:
In re Owens Corning ($7 billion*) (D.Del. 2005)
In re Armstrong World Industries ($3 billion*) (D. Del. 2006)
In re Turner & Newall ($9 billion*) (D.Del. 2005)
When he isn’t trying cases against asbestos companies, Nate represents individual smokers in cases against Big Tobacco, which intentionally designed their cigarettes to be highly addictive without telling smokers they were doing so. Nate has obtained plaintiffs’ verdicts in several cases for smokers who started smoking in the 1960s (or earlier) before warnings were on the packages. Martindale-Hubbell has recognized Nate as an AV rated attorney for more than 20 years.
Nate was a member of the Virginia Law Review and the Order of the Coif and is a former scholarship athlete on the varsity track and cross-country teams at the University of Virginia.
*Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Awards, Accolades & Recognitions
Best Lawyers
Washington, DC
2026 “Lawyer of the Year” Mass tort litigation / class actions-plaintiffs
2022-2026 Mass tort litigation / class actions-plaintiffs
2023-2026 Personal injury litigation-plaintiffs
2024-2026 Product liability litigation-plaintiffs
American Association for Justice
2013 Wiedemann & Wysocki Award
Benchmark Litigation
2013-2017 Washington, D.C., “Litigation Star”: bankruptcy, general commercial, product liability, securities, white collar crime
Super Lawyers
2012-2017, 2019-2020 Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers list
Personal injury - products: plaintiff; Personal injury - general: plaintiff; Securities litigation
Chambers USA
2009-2010 “Top Lawyer”: bankruptcy and restructuring
Blog Posts
March 14, 2012
Mesothelioma myth busters: three common misconceptions about mesothelioma Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Nathan D. Finch
News
April 28, 2025
The history and legacy of Workers’ Memorial Day
by:
M. Nolan Webb
April 1, 2025
Finish the asbestos ban to improve worker safety
by:
Nathan D. Finch
