Mass Tort

The successful defense of mass tort claims depends on a thorough understanding of the legal principles, the science and the relevant procedural devices available in each case. Our lawyers have extensive experience assisting clients in defending complex mass tort cases. We have been engaged to represent companies locally, regionally and nationally in mass tort litigations involving product liability, environmental exposure and commercial claims. Through these many engagements, we have developed the skills to handle the unique challenges confronting a client involved in mass litigation, including management and coordination of cases pending in multiple jurisdictions, coordinating with local and regional counsel, shaping collective defenses with counsel for codefendants, opposing claims for class certification, and working with nationally known experts. We have the ability and experience to resolve these cases through trial, pre-trial motion practice or settlement, depending on the circumstances and the most appropriate strategy, which we develop in conjunction with our clients in a team effort.

Representative engagements include:

• Defending chemical manufacturers and distributors in multi-state litigation brought by clean room workers claiming exposure to scores of chemicals while involved in the manufacture of semiconductor computer chips. Our team members were involved in all facets of the defense, and as a result we shaped the overall defense strategy, immersed ourselves in the science and technology associated with computer chip manufacturing and clean room engineering, were responsible for numerous highly technical depositions, and worked with engineers, epidemiologists, toxicologists and many other medical experts to prepare successful causation defense.
• Defending Fortune 100 company in class action claiming personal injuries, property damage, medical monitoring and fear of cancer as a result of alleged exposure to chemicals emanating from manufacturing facility. Working with experts in several specialized fields of medicine and science, we first defeated the efforts to obtain class certification, and then successfully defended the individual lawsuits.
• Defending against claims brought by national law firm involving several families claiming children living in a “cancer cluster” developed brain cancer from exposures to industrial chemicals allegedly released from manufacturing facility.
• Representing large corporation with respect to putative class action consisting of thousands of persons seeking medical monitoring and damages for personal injury arising from their alleged exposure to PCBs.
• Representing multi-national pharmaceutical manufacturer in HRT litigation in mass tort programs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• Representing large pharmaceutical wholesaler as national counsel in PPA litigation, including in the MDL and Philadelphia’s Mass Tort Program.
• Serving in many different roles representing manufacturers and premises owners embroiled in asbestos litigation throughout the United States. One corporation has retained us to develop and implement a national defense strategy, which includes the preparation of a sophisticated scientific defense. We are handling complex insurance coverage claims for another large corporation, with thousands of asbestos cases throughout the United States, and our team has been selected by several companies to serve as New York regional trial counsel. In this role, we work closely with each client’s national counsel to prepare asbestos cases for trial.
• Assisting in successful defense of several class actions filed in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey brought against tobacco companies seeking medical monitoring class, and against a leading tobacco company alleging consumer fraud.
• Successfully defending largest producer and supplier of beryllium and beryllium products against a medical monitoring class action.
• Assisting in successful defense of tire manufacturer against consumer fraud class action filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
• Representing major medical research institution and individual researcher in the so-called “diet drug litigation,” a consolidated multi-district litigation venued in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Our clients, named as defendants in multiple cases, performed the initial research regarding the efficacy of certain drugs in combination. After depositions were conducted, we successfully obtained discontinuances of all actions as against our clients.