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Product Liability & Mass Torts Defense

Contact

Jennifer Altman
Partner, Miami
T: +1.786.913.4880
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Areas of Focus

Experienced in battles over product liability — from airbag recalls to auto rollovers, and aircraft failures to tobacco smoking and health claims — Pillsbury has successfully defended complex multijurisdictional liability claims with billions of dollars on the line.

As part of a 200-member Litigation department, our Global Product Liability & Mass Torts Defense Group represents major companies and organizations in multidistrict litigation, coordinated state proceedings, product liability cases and class actions. Drawing on significant trial experience, our teams strategically and efficiently manage cases, waging vigorous defenses in pursuit of decisive rulings that apply to large groups of plaintiffs. Our coordinated approach to complex commercial litigation uses tactics developed in tobacco and related litigation, including aggressive discovery and motions practice to defeat and narrow the claims.

We also provide senior executives with compliance counseling, advising on ways to mitigate risks related to potential class action lawsuits and regulatory enforcement. Several members of the Product Liability team are part of Pillsbury’s nationally ranked Insurance Recovery & Advisory practice, which has an impressive track record of securing coverage for product-related claims.

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Our Product Liability lawyers have accrued deep sector knowledge representing clients in the aviation, construction, life sciences, manufacturing and energy industries, among others. We have achieved winning results for clients across a broad range of circumstances including automotive, aviation and equipment defects, personal injury and wrongful death, asbestos, toxic torts, California Proposition 65 issues and food recall claims.

Representative Experience

  • Personal Injury and Wrongful Death
    • Defended over 100 personal injury and wrongful death claims throughout Florida in federal and state court by smokers against cigarette manufacturers. The claims arose out of a decertified class against manufacturers that spanned years of litigation.
    • Successfully defended a major manufacturer of fungicide against multiple product liability claims filed in Florida state court and arbitration. The claims arose out of allegations of property damage to aquaculture businesses and floral nurseries.
    • Successfully defended major automobile manufacturers in rollover litigation and obtained defense verdicts in all cases brought to trial.

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  • Personal Injury and Wrongful Death (Cont.)
    • Defended a non-manufacturing fiberglass manufacturer in a product liability case against claims of strict liability and negligence based on allegedly inadequate warnings addressing the respirability of nuisance fiberglass dust.
    • Successfully defended several manufacturers in more than 100 personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits filed in California alleging exposure to asbestos and silica from various products, including grinding wheels, dryer felt, refractory materials and sandblasting equipment.
    • Represented our client on environmental property damage and bodily injury lawsuits for three national manufacturers for national and international liabilities; we recovered over $1 billion from liability insurers.
    • Served as national counsel successfully defending a major pet retailer in four-week jury trial against a $20 million wrongful death claim involving a 10-year-old boy who died after allegedly contracting rat bite fever (“RBF”) from a rat sold by our client.
  • Toxic Torts / California Proposition 65
    • Assisted a beverage company in resolving alleged violations under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Proposition 65).
    • Represented a defense technology company on regulatory issues related to contaminated groundwater in a neighboring property.
    • Represented two large oil and gas companies in response to allegations they violated Prop 65 by failing to supply carcinogen warnings in the manufacture of propane.
    • Defended the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in a Toxic Substances Control Act citizen suit action arising from potential PCBs in building materials.
    • Defended Teck Metals Ltd. in a CERCLA action addressing the historic metals contamination of 150 miles of the Columbia River.
    • Defended Chrome Crankshaft Co. against a number of plaintiffs alleging that air emissions of hexavalent chromium from its chrome plating plant, located next to a school, caused the plaintiffs, who attended the school or lived nearby, to develop various cancers. The case was settled.
    • Represented an energy company in the arbitration, natural resource damage claims and negotiation of the government cleanup orders and securing the dismissal of numerous toxic tort cases in connection with a subsurface oil spill in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
    • Defended property damage and personal injury/toxic tort claims against a large circuit board manufacturer premised on the release and migration of volatile organic compounds in groundwater.
    • Represented the owner of a manufacturing facility in an Ithaca, New York, site remediation legacy matter involving vapor intrusion into homes, and toxic tort claims for property value diminution and health risk issues associated with indoor vapor intrusion.
    • Advised manufacturers and suppliers of consumer products, commercial products, food products and pharmaceuticals on compliance with Proposition 65, including warnings, and in the process of identifying and setting de-facto NSRLs and MADLs for products containing regulated chemicals.
    • Prosecuted administrative and regulatory challenges to proposed amendments to Proposition 65 and other environmental statutes.
    • Brokered solutions with the State of California, Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to avoid Proposition 65 liability for consumer products, food products and pharmaceuticals.
  • Asbestos
    • Obtained a complete defense victory on an appeal to the New York Appellate Division, First Department, for a talc distributor in a New York City asbestos litigation matter, an outcome with national significance.
    • Oversaw an appeal filed on behalf of more than 300 defendants, including many of the major industrial companies in the U.S., designed to restructure how asbestos litigation is conducted in New York City.
    • Served as national counsel for aerospace manufacturer and California counsel for international electronics manufacturer in thousands of asbestos bodily injury claims.
    • Defended an electronics company in asbestos-related bodily injury cases for premises and product liability matters. The case was settled during trial in addition to hundreds of similar claims resolved with summary judgment wins.
  • Manufacturing and Equipment Defects
    • Served as trial counsel for plaintiffs in the GM Ignition Switch Defect class action multidistrict litigation.
    • Represented Fluidmaster against seven different class actions brought by homeowners claiming that Fluidmaster was liable for state consumer protection law violations, strict liability, negligence and breach of warranty in a dozen states. The judge denied a motion to certify the class.
    • Served as principal outside counsel to Japanese battery manufacturer GS Yuasa in Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery incident investigations and audits, including interfacing with U.S. and Japanese safety authorities.
    • Represented Bombardier in a case with alleged equipment defects concerning whether aircraft warranty “failed of its essential purpose” under UCC Article 2. The buyer sought brand-new aircraft.
    • Successfully obtained dismissal of product liability claims against a foreign manufacturer based upon lack of personal jurisdiction.
    • Successfully settled claims for product liability in ThermaSol v. Gems Sensors Inc., defending the manufacturer of an allegedly defective product.
  • Other
    • Represented food distributor Custom Foods in state court litigation against a reseller to recover more than $20 million in losses resulting from a massive government beef recall.
    • Prosecuted claims for product liability and torts for a drilling company related to a defective pipe.
    • Served as national trial counsel for a Fortune 500 company in its mass tort product liability litigation.
  • Insurance Recovery & Advisory
    • Additionally, attorneys in our Insurance Recovery & Advisory practice assist clients in coordinating the defense of product liability class actions with efforts to ensure that our clients receive the full benefits of the insurance coverage they purchased. Examples include:
    • Obtained coverage via trial and summary judgment for plumbing manufacturers Victaulic and Fluidmaster against major insurers who wrongfully denied claims arising from national class actions and other major product liability suits.
    • Represented an auto parts manufacturer on insurance issues in connection with a massive product recall.
    • Represented an industrial conglomerate in a $1.5 billion appeal to recover for asbestos liabilities under the company’s commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policy.
    • Pursued insurance recoveries for a number of construction and real estate clients for Chinese drywall and EIFS claims against insurance carriers.
    • Represented a sports equipment company in prosecuting insurance coverage claims for a wave of mass tort litigation by NFL players and their families claiming helmets were defective.
    • Represented a trust benefiting the U.S. and Canadian governments in seeking more than $600 million in coverage for the historic asbestos and environmental liabilities of pre-bankruptcy General Motors.
    • Reached a settlement in an insurance coverage dispute for a manufacturer of military rations that incurred losses stemming from a supplier’s food contamination and food recall.
    • Represented an energy company in a coverage claim for mass tort action for the manufacture and sale of MTBE.
    • Acted for a Fortune 500 consumer products company in an insurance recovery matter involving a national pet food recall arising out of melamine contamination.
    • Recovered substantial insurance proceeds in a litigated claim involving widespread pseudomonas bacteria contamination in fresh cheese products.

Practice Area Highlights

  • Pillsbury is recognized as among the most feared law firms for litigation by BTI Consulting Group.
  • 200-member Litigation department, with significant jury trial experience and an impressive history of winning both at the trial level and during pre-trial phases of litigation.
  • Coordinated approach to complex multi-plaintiff commercial litigation, including class action and multi-district litigation that considers the client’s goals in developing and implementing a successful litigation and trial strategy.

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  • Extensive experience defending product manufacturers, distributors and retailers from chemical exposure, product liability and environmental claims against all manner of federal and state statutory claims, and numerous common law tort theories.
  • Product liability defense coordinated with insurance recovery actions to ensure that clients receive the full benefits of their insurance coverage.
  • E-discovery conducted in-house at reduced cost with dedicated team located in Pillsbury’s Global Operations Center in Nashville.
  • The Legal 500 U.S. 2019 recognizes our leading strengths in Civil Litigation/Class Action, Insurance, Construction and Construction Litigation.
  • U.S. News – Best Lawyers Best Law Firms 2019 Tier-1 Environmental Litigation practice ranking.

Resources

Brochure

Litigation Highlights

2024 MOST FEARED FIRMS

BTI Consulting recognizes Pillsbury as one of the most feared law firms in litigation.

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