For 30 years, John Kaempf has successfully defended civil litigation in the state and federal courts of Oregon and Washington. He specializes in defending lawsuits against churches and religious schools, as well as child sex abuse claims. He also defends catastrophic personal injury lawsuits for insurers. He has tried over 30 cases to a verdict, a rarity in his generation of civil defense trial attorneys. He has also defended dozens of child sex abuse cases against churches and individuals, including one of the largest child sex abuse cases in the country, which involved over 70 plaintiffs suing a private school. He is one of the few defense lawyers who has tried a civil child sex abuse case to a jury. The case favorably settled after two weeks of trial when the plaintiff’s case did not go well. John has also won many child sex abuse cases through pretrial summary judgment motions based on the statute of limitations and the lack of vicarious liability. He also has expertise in First Amendment free exercise of religion defenses to claims against religious entities.
John is the author and publisher of Religious Law Update, a newsletter that addresses developments in the law that affect churches, religious schools, and other religious organizations nationwide. A link to the Religious Law Update Blog is above.
Before opening his firm in 2008, John worked for 17 years at one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest civil defense law firms, where he was an equity partner.
Therefore, John combines big firm experience with the responsiveness of a small firm.