Mass Tort
In today’s global marketplace, mass tort product liability claims can put our clients’ bottom line and reputation in jeopardy. While each client may have a different philosophy regarding the actual litigation of claims, every client wants to minimize risk of trial, control defense costs, and eliminate surprises. We can provide the appropriate counsel and develop a customized strategy whether a client has the occasional claim or thousands pending throughout the country.
After years of representing clients in nearly every state of the United States, we have developed one of the most highly experienced and successful national teams in mass and complex tort litigation. Our lawyers are not only in courthouses every day but also working with clients to develop legal strategies that can minimize trial risk while creating opportunities to resolve claims reasonably and expeditiously. We can help you identify problem cases early, manage costs, and allocate appropriate resources to each case to achieve your individualized goals.
Our mass tort group can help you in three distinct but related ways: Assessing the risk posed by pending or potential claims, litigating those claims to achieve strategic objectives, and managing the data flow associated with a large volume of claims.
Risk Assessment
One of our core strengths is risk assessment. Whether the risk arises from a one-off individual case, a group of claims, or even potential as-yet-unfiled claims, we have deep experience analyzing claims and potential claims, and providing an honest and thorough analysis of the risk those claims present at any stage of their life cycle, including on appeal.
In the risk assessment role, we can appear directly in existing claims and handle the trial or appellate work. We employ experienced mass tort trial counsel across the country, and our lawyers have presented and argued dozens of highly significant appeals in toxic and mass tort matters in state and federal appellate courts.
We can work with and supervise existing counsel while taking a larger view of the potential risks associated with a claim or series of claims, or our work can be done entirely behind the scenes to provide the client with a fresh set of eyes and a second opinion on its potential exposure in the tort system.
We can also conduct a comprehensive risk assessment associated with a product line or business operation that may not have given rise to claims yet, but may do so in the future given the nature of the product or operation. Our view is that such investigations must be targeted and specific to the product or operation at issue (as opposed to broad-brush), must minimize disruption to personnel, and must result in a clear analysis and an actionable plan to minimize or mitigate risk.
In connection with all of this work, our mass tort lawyers work closely with their partners in our insurance coverage practice group to ensure that our clients identify any coverage that may apply in a given case and take whatever steps may be necessary to gain access to that coverage.
Litigation to Achieve Strategic Objectives
There is no one defense that applies equally across the board. In structuring the defense of our clients, we begin with the client’s objectives and build our defense to achieve those objectives.
We can resolve cases quietly with minimal defense cost if the objective is to eliminate risk and establish certainty as quickly as possible. At the other end of the spectrum, we can and have managed nationwide efforts to change the law on issues of strategic importance. In all instances, our strategy, tactics, and defense spend are tied to the objectives of our client.
Claims Management
Our lawyers have developed tools that enable clients to manage a large volume of claims and the data associated with those claims as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
These tools include detailed billing guidelines that govern the work done by local counsel handling individual claims and a proprietary claim-tracking application that serves as a central repository and reporting tool for information on specific claims. The implementation of these tools in our client engagements ensures that our clients are getting the best possible value out of their defense work. We use these tools to reduce defense spend, as well as to reduce unnecessary or duplicative defense work that does not add value to the defense.
