About Robert Hatten

Robert R. Hatten is a pioneer and national leader in the field of asbestos litigation. Hatten served as a law clerk to the Honorable John A. MacKenzie in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In late 1973, he joined the law firm of Patten & Wornom and was made Partner in 1976. From 1991 to 2019, Hatten has served as the Managing Partner of Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein, L.C.

Hatten began the representation of workers with asbestos disease in 1975, when he filed the first asbestos disability and death claims in the history of the state of Virginia against the Newport News Shipyard for workers’ compensation benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. In 1976, Hatten and his co-counsel, Gene Locks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Richard Glasser of Norfolk, Virginia, filed the first asbestos product liability claims in Virginia against more than 40 asbestos manufacturers and suppliers.

In June 1978, Hatten and his co-counsel successfully prosecuted the first mesothelioma jury trial in Virginia (and only the third successful asbestos trial in the nation at that time) with a verdict against Johns-Manville Corporation in the amount of $750,000. From that time until the present, Hatten’s practice has been devoted exclusively to the representation of asbestos victims. He has published articles concerning asbestos litigation in the Washington & Lee University Law Review, the VTLA Journal, the Texas Lawyer, and the Washington Legal Times.