Mass Torts and Product Liability Litigation

Lawyers in the Litigation practice at Orrick resolve large, complex product liability disputes and mass torts for leading companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, energy, biotechnology, medical device, automotive and agricultural industries. We have amassed an impressive track record for winning cases at trial, and we have employed innovative approaches in dealing with critical issues such as collective liability and junk science.

Our experience includes personal injury defense, toxic tort actions and class and mass tort actions throughout the United States. We also advise clients on litigation avoidance, conduct pre-merger and acquisition due diligence and represent clients on insurance coverage for product liability exposures.

Orrick's reputation in mass torts and product liability litigation stems from:

• our winning record in high-stakes litigation;
• our experience handling large, multi-jurisdictional matters;
• our focus on strategies that maximize resources and protect our clients' businesses and products, and
• our ability to minimize liability from potentially catastrophic liabilities.

In fact, Orrick's mass torts and product liability practice was recognized among the leading practices in the United States by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2007.

The following are examples of our current representations:

American Cyanamid Company. Orrick is currently representing American Cyanamid in a series of lead-pigment-in-paint cases pending in state courts around the country. The cases include actions brought on behalf of states, municipalities and other governmental units, alleged classes and individuals. The cases involve both personal injury and property damage claims.

The Dow Chemical Company. In In re Dow Corning Corporation, we represented The Dow Chemical Company, one of two shareholders of Dow Corning Corporation, with respect to claims relating to silicone breast implants manufactured by Dow Corning. We are also representing Dow Corning in its reorganization and with respect to developing an overall strategy to litigate and resolve breast implant litigation against Dow Chemical. In addition, we obtained the dismissal of Dow Chemical from a putative class action representing between two and four million potential plaintiffs related to the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

Union Carbide Corporation. Orrick is lead national counsel to Union Carbide Corporation in connection with asbestos-related personal injury and liability lawsuits and our lawyers have achieved dismissals or trial victories in California, Ohio, Texas, West Virginia and elsewhere. The Los Angeles Daily Journal characterized our result in one case as “an important legal victory . . . that thwarted a new round of asbestos litigation and saved the company hundreds of millions of dollars in damages,” and the complete defense verdict in another case, Kelly-Moore v. Union Carbide, was named one of the “Top Defense Verdicts of 2004” by The National Law Journal. Tried in plaintiff-friendly East Texas, this case represented a potential $5.6 billion financial exposure for our client. Orrick teams have also obtained jury verdicts favorable to Union Carbide in single-plaintiff asbestos cases in Ohio, as well as a mid-trial dismissal in San Francisco and a favorable settlement after the start of a trial in Los Angeles.

Wyeth. We represent Wyeth in hundreds of ongoing cases asserting that a number of FDA-approved childhood vaccines (including those manufactured by Wyeth) cause autism or related neurological disorders. In the first case in which a Daubert hearing was held, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted the defendants' Daubert motion to exclude the only expert testimony proffered by the plaintiff on specific causation, and then dismissed the case, an important early victory in this series of cases.

Contact Us

For further information on our Mass Torts and Product Liability Litigation practice, please contact:

Daniel J. Thomasch
212-506-3755
dthomasch@orrick.com

James L. Stengel
212-506-3775
jstengel@orrick.com