Craig Spangenberg (18 February 1914 – 17 March 1998) was a nationally-renowned

trial attorney A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

who founded the law firm now known a
Spangenberg, Shibley & Liber
in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

Education

Craig Spangenberg earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in the 1930s. The University of Michigan Law School awards the Craig Spangenberg Oral Advocacy Award in recognition of his trial advocacy legacy. Craig was admitted to the

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

bar in 1938. In 1946 Craig Spangenberg became a founding member of the Harrison Thomas, Spangenberg and Hull law firm now known as Spangenberg, Shibley and Liber.

Legal practice

Spangenberg specialized in

personal injury Personal injury is a legal term for an Injury (law), injury to the body, mind, or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law, common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the ...

litigation. Spangenberg gained national recognition for his firm by stepping forward to represent Canadian children injured by the birth-defect-causing morning sickness medication

Thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is an oral administered medication used to treat a number of cancers (e.g., multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and many skin disorders (e.g., complication ...

. He was appointed Canadian Queen's Counsel by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

as a result of this work. Spangenberg served as the dean of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 1962. Craig Spangenberg founded and served as the first president of the International Society of

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

s. Established in 1965, the ISOB is an honor society of outstanding trial lawyers chosen by their peers on the basis of excellence and integrity in advocacy. The distinguished Society seeks to preserve trial by

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

, the adversary system, and independence of the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

. With a limited membership, the Society has Fellows from every state, the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, and the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

, and from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, with the great majority from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Family

Craig Spangenberg was born in Yonkers, N.Y. to Albert F. Spangenberg and Beatrice (Jenkins) Spangenberg. Craig Spangenberg married Elizabeth Jane Flansburg on 19 Nov 1937. They had two children Rhoda Ann Spangenberg b. 12 Dec 1939 and Thomas Craig Spangenberg b. 1 Jun 1942. They subsequently divorced. He married Helen J. Schnierer on 11 Dec 1947, and together they had two children: Lynne b. 12 May 1951 and Scott . Spangenberg died in Lyndhurst, OH and is buried at the Evergreen Hill Cemetery in

Chagrin Falls, OH Chagrin Falls is a Village (Ohio), village in eastern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,188 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The village was established around the eponymous Chagrin Falls (waterfall), Ch ...

. His granddaughter is former

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best ...

champion

Annie Duke Anne LaBarr Duke (née Lederer; born September 13, 1965) is an American former professional poker player and author in cognitive-behavioral decision science and decision education. She holds a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet from 2004 ...

Awards

In 2013, Craig Spangenberg was inducted into th
Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
managed b
Trial Lawyer Magazine
Spangenberg joins such luminary trial lawyers as

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the 19th century for high-profile representations of trade union causes, and in the 20th century for several criminal matters, including the ...

and

Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...

, as well as more recent lawyers like Howard Nations and

Gerry Spence Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer and author. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame and is the founder of the Trial Lawyers College. Spence has never lost a criminal trial before a jur ...

Famous arguments and trial techniques

Eggshell victim argument

Craig Spangenberg the trial advocate developed the "

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

shell victim" argument, which suggested that you must take your victim as you find them, regardless of whether they were more vulnerable or easily injured than "average" people. The argument went as follows, as recounted by James W. McElhaney in the ''

American Bar Association Journal The ''ABA Journal'' (since 1984, formerly ''American Bar Association Journal'', 1915–1983, evolved from '' Annual Bulletin'', 1908–1914) is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It is n ...

'': "We come to the subject of damages, and it's a difficult area of decision. Oh, I wish this were a simpler case like a farmer driving his pickup truck on a country road when someone speeds through the stop sign, runs into his truck and turns it over. "The farmer's not hurt, but his truck is. One side's all dented in, the windshield is broken out and a fender is torn off. And if you as a jury were asked, 'What's fair compensation for what the driver of the car did to the farmer's truck?' you wouldn't have any problem with that. "You'd give him the kind of truck he had. You wouldn't give him a new truck, because he didn't have one. But he shouldn't have to drive a truck that's all bent up and missing a windshield, because he didn't have that, either. So fair compensation--just compensation--would be to pay him what it would cost to fix the truck he has. And I'm sure that my friend for the defense would accept that. "Well, now suppose that the plaintiff is a poultry farmer and he has the back of his truck filled with eggs, three-hundred dozen grade A eggs, all carefully boxed and crated. And the defendant speeds through the stop sign, just like he did in this case. As a result you have three-hundred dozen grade A whites and yolks running all over the pavement. "What is fair compensation? Those are his eggs. They were marketable. His property has been taken away. His income has been taken away. "What is fair compensation? Ninety-six cents a dozen retail? "No. He wasn't going to sell them retail. He was going to sell them wholesale, and the wholesale price reported in the newspaper was forty-seven cents a dozen. So he's entitled to forty-seven cents times three hundred. One hundred and forty-one dollars. Now, in this situation, wouldn't you think the defense lawyer had taken leave of his senses if he told you, 'Don't you pay him a hundred and forty-one dollars for those eggs! Why, if they'd been golf balls, not one would be broken.' "I'm not telling you Mike Wilson was an egg, but he was like an egg. He was fragile. But he was still useful and marketable. He was able to sell what strength he had in the marketplace of labor. "But he certainly was not a golf ball, and when the defendant sped through the stop sign and hit Mike Wilson, he did not bounce. "And fair compensation is to restore the loss that has actually been inflicted on the actual man or woman. Just like when you break an actual egg, fair compensation is paying the actual value."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spangenberg, Craig Ohio lawyers 1914 births 1998 deaths University of Michigan Law School alumni 20th-century American lawyers Canadian King's Counsel