Richard Mark, a partner in Orrick's New York office, litigates cases in federal and state courts around the United States. He represents clients in matters involving product liability, patents, government and private investigations, civil RICO and general commercial matters.
During his service as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he presented more than 20 oral arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He also has argued appeals in the Third, Fifth and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, the Illinois Appellate Court, the New York State Court of Appeals, the New York State Appellate Division, the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In an appeal Mr. Mark argued, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held in 2009 that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act preempted all design defect claims against the manufacturer of a covered vaccine. Bruesewitz v. Wyeth Inc., 561 F.3d 233 (3d Cir. 2009). The Third Circuit's ruling is the first by a federal appellate court on this issue under the Vaccine Act.
In 2005, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York appointed Mr. Mark to supervise the nationwide, multistage process for electing the officers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The following are some of Mr. Mark's notable engagements.
- American Cyanamid Company. Mr. Mark represents Cyanamid as national counsel in lead-pigment-in-paint litigation. The cases (all alleging injury from lead pigment in paint) include actions on behalf of states, local governments, private classes and individuals, and allege both personal injury and property damage. The plaintiffs' legal theories include public nuisance and product liability. Mr. Mark has won summary judgments in favor of Cyanamid specifically in lead pigment cases in New York, Maryland and Wisconsin. Mr. Mark represents Cyanamid in State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association, in which the Rhode Island Supreme Court rejected the State's novel attempt to hold product manufacturers liable for public nuisance.
- Wyeth. Mr. Mark directs all legal analysis and briefing as a member of Orrick's team that represents Wyeth as national counsel in more than 250 product liability cases against Wyeth involving claims that childhood vaccines containing thimerosal have caused the development of "autistic-spectrum disorders" in some vaccinated children. He has argued vaccine cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts in Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
- Mycogen Plant Science, Inc. Mr. Mark represented the company in cases involving the enforcement of patent rights to methods for making genes and inserting them into plants to make the plants insect-resistant, enforcement of patents on particular genes, and defense against infringement claims. These inventions are at the leading edge of applied molecular biology and involve the use of that science to create transgenic crops, specifically like BT Corn. Among the reported decisions in these cases is Mycogen Plant Sciences, Inc. v. Monsanto Corp., 252 F.3d 1306 (2001).
- Special Court and Government Assignments. Judge Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York appointed Mr. Mark the Election Supervisor for the 2005-2006 International Brotherhood of Teamsters International Union Delegate and Officer Election. Overseeing a nationwide staff, Mr. Mark supervised hundreds of local union delegate elections, conducted candidate nominations at the Teamsters Convention, and conducted the nationwide mail ballot election for International Officers. The project included oversight and enforcement of campaign finance reporting by officer candidates and enforcement of election rules. The Union had approximately 1.4 million members as of 2006. Mr. Mark was counsel to the election officer appointed by Judge Edelstein in a previous election cycle for IBT International Union officers.
In U.S. v. Private Sanitation Industry Association of Nassau/Suffolk, Judge Glasser of the United States District Court for the Eastern District in New York appointed Mr. Mark to supervise the election of officers in Teamsters Local 813 and bring the local out of Civil RICO Trusteeship.
Since 1997, Mr. Mark has served by appointment of the City of New York as the independent fiscal monitor of the Feast of San Gennaro. The organization that sponsors the Feast now contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to charitable causes in the New York City area.
- Investigations. The Amalgamated Transit Union retained Mr. Mark as Independent Counsel to the International Union to investigate allegations of organized crime corruption of a large local union. Mr. Mark has represented companies and individuals involved in government investigations of alleged ethics violations, deceptive advertising or marketing, and regulatory violations. He also has conducted company internal investigations.
- Civil RICO. Mr. Mark represented The Dow Chemical Company in Williams v. The Dow Chemical Company, 255 F. Supp. 2d 219 (S.D.N.Y. 2003), a civil RICO class action alleging property damage attributable to certain pesticides. The district court dismissed the civil RICO claims on Dow Chemical's motion for judgment on the pleadings.
- The Mead Corporation. Mr. Mark was a member of the Orrick team that won a victory for The Mead Corporation in United States v. Mead Corp., 533 U.S. 218 (2001). The case clarified the law on the level of deference courts owe to administrative agency determinations.
Before joining Orrick in 1998, Mr. Mark was a partner at Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine LLP in New York.
In 1984, Mr. Mark was hired by United States Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He served in that position from 1984 to 1994. Mr. Mark was Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney for the Civil Division from 1987 to 1988, Deputy Chief from 1988 to 1991 and Chief of the Civil Division from 1991 to 1994. He served as the United States Attorney's representative to the Southern District of New York’s Civil Justice Reform Act committee from 1991 to 1994.
Among the significant reported cases Mr. Mark litigated as an Assistant United States Attorney are U.S. v. LTV Corp., 944 F.2d 997 (2d Cir. 1991) (CERCLA and Bankruptcy); U.S. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 931 F.2d 177 (2d Cir. 1991) (Civil RICO, and civil procedure issues, one of many opinions); In re Abrams, 77 N.Y.2d 741, 570 N.Y.S.2d 468 (1991) (Constitutional law); NRDC v. NYSDEC, 834 F.2d 60 (2d Cir. 1987) (civil procedure and environmental law); and Multi-State Communications, Inc. v. U.S., 648 F. Supp. 1203 (S.D.N.Y. 1986) (civil procedure).
In 1994, then New York City Mayor Giuliani appointed Mr. Mark as first deputy commissioner of the city's Department of Investigation (DOI). In that post, Mr. Mark had overall supervision of the city's Inspector General program. DOI completed many significant investigations and projects during Mr. Mark's tenure. He was a leader in rooting out corruption in New York's Fulton Fish Market, the private carting industry, and wholesale food markets. Mr. Mark rejoined Donovan Leisure as a litigation partner when he left DOI in 1996.
Mr. Mark taught at the United States Department of Justice's Attorney General’s Institute on Appellate Advocacy in 1992 and 1993 and has lectured on Civil RICO at the FBI academy. He is an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University Law School, where he taught legal research and writing from 1988 to 2004 and conducted clinical seminars on litigation.
Print-friendly
web-friendly