Thomas H. Tongue, Partner

Dunn Carney Allen Higgins & Tongue LLP

Tom Tongue is a partner at Dunn Carney and has served as the Litigation Group Practice Leader. His practice centers around complex civil litigation and health law. In 2003, Tom was elected a Regent of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), the most distinguished group of trial lawyers in America and Canada. He was Secretary of the ACTL from September 2008 to October 2009 and is now treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee. Tom was elected a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1993.

Tom was selected by his peers to be included in The Best Lawyers in America commercial litigation list and the Bet the Company litigation list. In 2004-2009, Tom was recognized as a top litigator in Oregon in the Chambers and Partners USA survey of America's Leading Business Lawyers. According the survey, "Peers acknowledge that Thomas Tongue is 'one of the finest: he has all the right attributes you want in a lawyer.'"  In November 2006 the first Oregon Super Lawyer poll selected Tom as an Oregon Super Lawyer. He received the second highest number of "points" (votes by peers) of any lawyer in the state.  He was also in the Top 10 Oregon Super Lawyers List in 2008 and 2009 and named a Super Lawyer in General Litigation.

Both the Multnomah County Bar Association and the Oregon State Bar Litigation section have awarded Tom their prestigious Professionalism Awards in recognition of his style of practice as an example for others. A highly respected fourth generation Oregon attorney, Tom represents the highest level of skill and professionalism in the practice of law.

Bar Admissions:

• Oregon, 1968
• U.S. District Court District of Oregon, 1970
• U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit, 1971
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1973

Education:

• University of Wisconsin, J.D., 1968
• University of Oregon, B.S., History, 1965

Representative Cases: 

• American Timber & Trading Co v. Niedermeyer, 276 Or 1135, 558 P2d 1211 (Supreme Ct. of Oregon)
• YMCA v. Department of Revenue, 308 Or 644, 784 P2d 1086 (Supreme Ct. of Oregon 1989)
• Hoffman Const. Co. v. Indemnity Company, 313 Or 464, 836 P2d 703 (Supreme Ct. of Oregon 1992)
• Goddard v. Farmers Inc. Co. of Oregon, 173 Or App 633, 22 P3d 1224 (Ct. of Appeals of Oregon 2001)

Representative Clients:

• Professional Liability Fund
• Portland General Electric Co.
• YMCA of Columbia-Willamette
• Northwest Physicians Mutual Insurance
• RJ Reynolds
• Weyerhaeuser Company

Classes/Seminars Taught:

• Trial of Complex Professional Liability Issues, Professional Liability Fund, August 2005
• Hot Litigation issues affecting Estate Planning, Oregon State Bar, June 2005
• Defending Punitive Damages Cases, Oregon State Bar, 2002
• Protecting and Challenging Attorney Fee Applications, Oregon State Bar, 2000
• Ethics Issues in Settlement of Cases, Professional Liability Fund, 2001
• Defense of Complex Cases, Oregon Association of Defense Counsel, 1999

Honors and Awards:

• Professionalism Award, Multnomah Bar Association, 1990
• Oregon State Bar Board of Governors' President's Membership Service Award, 1992
• Exceptional Performance Citation, Defense Research Institute, 1999
• Oregon State Litigation Section, Owen Panner Professionalism Award, 2002
• American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow, 1993-Present 
• American Bar Foundation, Fellow
• Best Lawyers in America, 2005-2009
• Chambers and Partners, USA Survey, 2004-2009
• Oregon Super Lawyers, 2006-2009
• Benchmark Litigation, Local Litigation Star, 2009

Professional Associations and Memberships:

• Oregon Association of Defense Counsel, Board of Directors, 1993-1998
• Oregon Association of Defense Counsel, President, 1998
• Oregon Association of Defense Counsel, Member
• Oregon Supreme Court, Civil Law Advisory Committee to Chief Justice, 1998-1999
• Multnomah Bar Association, Past President, Past Chair Committee on Judicial Selection
• Multnomah Bar Association, Member
• U.S. District Court, Merit Selection Panel for Selection of U.S. Magistrate Judges, Chair, 1997
• U.S. District Court, Merit Selection Panel for Selection of U.S. Magistrate Judges, Member, 1993
• American College of Trial Lawyers, Secretary, 2008-2009, Treasurer, 2009-2010
• American College of Trial Lawyers, Executive Committee Member, 2008-Present 
• American College of Trial Lawyers, Regent for Northwest Region, 2003-2007
• American College of Trial Lawyers, Chair State Committee, 2000-2002
• American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow, 1993-Present
• American Bar Association, Member
• American Judicature Society, Member
• Oregon State Bar, Past Chair, Committee on Function and Organization of Bar
• Oregon State Bar, Past Chair, Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Procedures
• Oregon State Bar, Past Chair, Committee on Prepaid Legal Insurance
• Oregon State Bar, Past Chair, Committee on Professional Responsibility
• Oregon State Bar, Past Chair, Joint Committee on New Judgeships
• Oregon State Bar, Elected Delegate, House of Delegates, 1996-2008
• Defense Research Institute, Member, Recipient of Exceptional Performance Citation, 1999
• International Association of Defense Counsel, Member, 1983-Present
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Delegate, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, 1992-1994
• U.S. District Court, Recommended for U.S. District Court Judge by Merit Selection Panel, 2003
• American Bar Foundation, Fellow

Family

Married for 39 years to Dr. Andrea Tongue, a pediatric ophthalmologist.  They have two children, son Thomas M. Tongue, a fifth generation Portland lawyer, and daughter Kathryn Watts, a law professor at University of Washington.  Kathryn previously clerked for Justice Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hobbies

Fly fishing, golf and hiking

Past Employment Positions:

• Dunn Carney Allen Higgins & Tongue LLP, Managing Partner, 1989-1990