Rhode Island

Jonathan D. Orent
Associate Attorney

Jonathan Orent represents communities and individuals facing personal injury, property damage and economic loss as a result of negligence, environmental hazards or the contamination of groundwater and soil. In 2008, he represented more than 100 residents of Tiverton, Rhode Island, against a major New England utility company regarding alleged damages related to the environmental contamination of the clients’ residential property. He has worked on complex litigation against the lead paint industry on behalf of government entities in California, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, as well as lead poisoning cases on behalf of individual children and families against property owners.

Jonathan is also working on the Composix® Kugel® Mesh litigation, representing clients harmed by the defective hernia repair patches in both individual cases in Rhode Island state court and the Kugel Mesh multidistrict litigation in federal Rhode Island court. He also contributes to the firm’s Occupational Disease and Toxic Tort practice group, assisting with discovery and trial preparation of the firm’s asbestos litigation.

Prior to joining Motley Rice in 2005, Jonathan was a law clerk with the Missouri State Public Defender Youth Advocacy Unit and a legal intern for Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois. He serves on the Rhode Island Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a group addressing key community issues and discrimination matters such as foreclosure scams and the disparate treatment of minority youth through research and initiatives. Jonathan is a member of the board of the Rhode Island Toxic Action Center, the American Association for Justice and the American Bar Association.