Tort Defense

Social commentators are fond of using the term “litigious society” to describe the current legal environment for products liability and mass torts litigation. While there is some disagreement about how fair and accurate that characterization really is, there is little doubt that tort defense has become a topic of increasing concern for companies in a wide range of industries, from consumer products to medical devices. Achieving the most desirable outcome for a defendant company in such cases often hinges on the depth of experience and breadth of knowledge available to its legal defense team. Those attributes, along with access to a deep bench of attorneys experienced in a broad array of practice areas, are the strong points of LeClairRyan’s Tort Defense team.

Mass torts are often difficult to resolve for a variety of reasons. Factual and legal issues may be raised by latent injuries; mass torts have a peculiar risk profile; settlement efforts can be complicated by problems related to future injuries and plaintiffs; conflict of interest is often inherent in collective litigation; and aggregating cases often presents challenges to the court system. Our attorneys have deep experience in dealing with all those issues and have brought that knowledge to bear in cases covering a wide spectrum of industries. 

Our Tort Defense services include:

• Mass Torts
• Products Liability
• Habitation and Premises Liability
• Medical Products and Pharmaceutical Liability
• Asbestos Litigation
• Aviation Tort Defense
• Motor Vehicle Tort Defense
• Other Transportation Tort Defense
• Warranty
• Toxic Tort

Products Liability & Mass Torts

Products liability and mass torts cases represent a complex and demanding legal practice area, one in which experience plays a critical role. Our Tort Defense team benefits from a deep reservoir of experience buttressed by an impressive breadth of knowledge covering a wide variety of product issues. With about 300 attorneys at LeClairRyan’s 20 offices, we can tap into an expansive pool of talent across a broad range of industries.

Our approach is straightforward and effective. Leveraging our substantial knowledge and experience, we can distill the details and variables of the most complex cases down to their essential issues, which become the central focus of our subsequent efforts. This approach empowers us to provide the most effective exposition of our client’s position, clarifying relevant issues with the goal of helping juries reach a rational verdict.

We have had the opportunity to build our experience and hone our approach in many different types of products liability and mass torts cases. We have acted as defense counsel for manufacturers of asbestos-containing products and related businesses, defended major international pharmaceutical companies in prescription drug products liability litigation, and represented physicians in medical device mass torts cases. Our experience extends to defending national retail equipment manufacturers in high-exposure products liability cases and owners and operators of major industrial facilities in high-exposure premises liability litigation.

Over the years we have defended manufacturers and distributors in cases involving many different types of products, including sporting goods, scaffolding, sprinkler systems, valves, lawn mowers, gunpowder, amusement park rides, tainted food, air compressors, plumbing supplies, propane appliances, commercial pumps, commercial window products, medical screws, breast implants, latex gloves, generators, household appliances, and power tools.

We have also defended commercial property owners and management companies in direct physical injury and toxic-substance exposure cases involving substances such as lead and mold. We currently represent clients in toxic torts claims involving mold, lead paint, asbestos, and chemical exposure arising from industrial workplace settings, commercial and residential areas, and hazardous waste contamination sites.

A ‘real world’ approach to products liability

Our Torts Defense team attorneys commence each products liability engagement from the same perspective, i.e., that the case will end up going to trial. The focus of our efforts is on the kind of thorough preparation needed to effectively argue the case in the courtroom, but that preparation also offers another advantage to our clients. Should mediation or settlement of the case become an option, the type of preparation done by our attorneys often leaves our clients in a more advantageous position in those negotiations.

Through years of involvement in all kinds of products liability and mass torts litigation, we have become well-versed in both the tangible and intangible aspects of these cases. We know that products liability cases often are not solely about the law; from our clients’ perspective, bottom-line considerations may be just as, or more, important. We speak and understand the language not just of the courtroom but of the boardroom as well, and we are adept at translating legal cases into business decisions.

Early on in the process, we work with our clients to help determine potential costs of pursuing a legal defense through the verdict and awards stages. In cases where damage mitigation is the primary concern, we help them establish appropriate reserves. This proactive approach to understanding potential financial obligations through every stage of the process reduces the likelihood of unexpected contingencies and provides a solid basis for a true cost-value analysis of various scenarios.

The special skill sets of mass torts litigation

LeClairRyan’s Torts Defense team includes attorneys who focus specifically on mass torts litigation and have the special skill sets needed to pursue these often complicated and challenging cases to a resolution most beneficial to our clients. Representing businesses and individuals in state and federal courts nationwide, we are called on not only for our demonstrated ability in the courtroom, but also for our ability to manage the documentation aspects of mass torts most effectively. Tapping our extensive experience and knowledge in this legal area, we have developed and implemented proven processes to handle the daunting task of documentation management that mass torts often entail. Using these processes, we have successfully managed the legal databases for cases involving asbestos, latex, breast implants, Fen-Phen, and numerous other medically-based mass torts claims.

Representative engagements:

• Representing a plumbing supplier in a multi-million-dollar mold and property damage claim in a commercial building renovation, we limited our client’s share of damages to less than two percent of the total settlement.
• Represented a medical device manufacturer in a five-week trial of products liability claims for a design defect and breach of warranty concerning an instrument used to introduce a heart surgery catheter. The patient sustained an air embolism leading to a persistent vegetative state condition when the device allegedly separated in the ICU. The product was found “not defective” after a multi-million-dollar settlement during trial by codefendant hospital, doctors, and ICU nurses.
• Secured a defense verdict in favor of a European manufacturer of precision metal lathes in products liability claims arising from a plant fire resulting in extensive property damage.
• Representation of a leading manufacturer of in-line skates against design defect claims arising from an accident causing a head injury, fractures to both wrists and elbows, and leg injuries. Our efforts led to a defense verdict in the client’s favor.
• Successfully defended a European equipment manufacturer against claims for alleged asbestos-containing components in machinery in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland.
• Subrogation recovery for an insurer arising from defective hydraulic hoses installed on a construction excavator that caused the arm to lose hydraulic fluid and crush the chest of a worker in a trench at a construction site.
• Subrogation recovery in products liability claims arising from a fatal scaffold collapse allegedly caused by poor welds.
• Successful defense of a sporting goods manufacturer for injury to a youth league athlete.
• Defense of a school district in toxic mold allergy claims allegedly resulting from leaks and defective air chiller system design, construction, and maintenance of a school renovation product.
• Defense of product defect claims against a manufacturer of LNG (liquefied natural gas) tank pumps that allegedly failed, causing gas outage.
• Defense of a manufacturer in products liability claims for fall protection equipment that failed, leading to traumatic brain injury and permanent disability claims.
• Representation of HVAC installation contractors and epoxy manufacturers in multiple-plaintiff “sick building” litigation and multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome claims.
• Successful defense of a manufacturer of a caustic chemical that burned the face of a consumer in failure-to-warn claims.
• Defense of a sodium distributor in flash fire/explosion cases involving multiple plaintiffs in a workplace accident.
• A verdict of $1 million in subrogation action involving a tire-tread separation causing an aerial lift vehicle to roll over, resulting in severe injury to an insured utility worker.

Medical Products Liability

While LeClairRyan is widely acknowledged for our success in defending health care providers against malpractice actions, less well-known is our depth of experience in the area of medical products liability defense. Our involvement in this practice area has been on the rise over the past decade, as we played an important role in many mass tort actions related to medical products liability.

We represented consortiums of professional liability insurers in multi-district litigation over breast implants, pedicle screws, latex gloves, and the diet-drug combination Fen-Phen. Our success in these cases was based on a strategy of giving individual physicians a defense with a level of sophistication comparable to that used by manufacturers and plaintiffs. A critical enabler of this strategy was the role we played as national coordinating counsel for major medical malpractice insurance companies. We also used this strategy in the latex glove litigation, serving as national coordinating counsel for a major distributor of medical supplies.

The approach our Torts Defense team takes in defending medical products claims is the same one we use for all liability defense: We come at it from the perspective of how we would win this case at trial, and what we would need to achieve victory. Such a focus-driven approach allows to avoid dilutive efforts, such as engaging in fruitless motion practice or deposing every possible individual. Often, this results in lower legal fees and lower indemnity payments for our clients. We embrace a true partnership model in client relationships, working closely with clients to ensure clear communication of their goals and laying out an explicit roadmap of how we intend to achieve them. From start to finish, our focus remains fixed on the end result.

Asbestos Litigation

LeClairRyan’s Tort Defense team attorneys are actively engaged in the defense of personal injury and property damage claims associated with asbestos. State and federal courts continue to have a large docket of asbestos claims, leading to consolidation of lawsuits into groups with multiple plaintiffs and defendants. We have successfully defended manufacturers through trial in this challenging matrix, and we have a longstanding role as local and regional counsel for clients in both New Jersey and New York.

Our Tort Defense team lawyers engaging in asbestos representation focus their practice areas on toxic tort, product liability, and scientific litigation. Our client list in this practice area includes equipment manufacturers, premise owners, suppliers, and product manufacturers. Our team members are experienced in all facets of defense strategy: discovery, fact and expert witness preparation, pretrial motions, product investigation, corporate history, medical case evaluation, and trial.

LeClairRyan has access to a wide-ranging internal knowledgebase covering the products and corporate histories of many companies standing as defendants in jurisdictions throughout New Jersey, New York, and nationwide. We have extensive experience representing clients in asbestos litigation in New Jersey and New York courts and benefit from excellent working relationships with other local and national counsel in their respective jurisdictions.

In addition, we are very knowledgeable regarding plaintiffs’ counsel and the politics of asbestos litigation in the jurisdictions of New Jersey and New York. We have coordinated the activities of joint defense groups and have served on court advisory panels, roles that have enabled us to institute policies and procedures that have advanced the strategies of our clients.