Nathan D. Finch | Motley Rice Attorney

Nathan D. Finch

Member

Asbestos Exposure, Toxic Exposure, Whistleblower Experience

202.232.5507

Nate Finch has over 30 years of experience representing people who were hurt or killed by corporations that put profits over people’s health.

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.

One of Nate’s most recent asbestos individual plaintiff jury trials resulted in a $3.45 million* jury verdict in October 2024 for the family of an 80-year-old mesothelioma victim against an asbestos gasket company, Katcham v. John Crane, Inc. in Virginia’s Newport News Circuit Court. In October 2019, Nate 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.

Connect With Nate
or call 202.232.5507

Attorney Credentials

Education

J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1992

B.A., University of Virginia, 1989

States Licensed In

  • District of Columbia
  • Montana
  • Virginia

Admitted to Practice Before

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Western District of Michigan, the Eastern District of Virginia and Western District of Wisconsin

Associations

American Association for Justice

The Barristers

Nate's Awards, Accolades & Recognitions

These honors recognize the work Nate has done for clients, community and the legal profession.
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Washington, DC
2022–2025  Mass tort litigation / class actions–plaintiffs
2023–2025  Personal injury litigation–plaintiffs
2024-2025  Product liability litigation–plaintiffs

2013 Wiedemann & Wysocki Award

2013–2017 Washington, D.C., “Litigation Star”: bankruptcy, general commercial, product liability, securities, white collar crime

2012–2017, 2019–2020 Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers® list
Personal injury – products: plaintiff; Personal injury – general: plaintiff; Securities litigation

2009–2010 “Top Lawyer”: bankruptcy and restructuring