Attorney Referral List

Products Liability, Toxic Tort, and Asbestos

To respond to an increasing number of toxic tort/product liability cases, product manufacturers and distributors today must formulate comprehensive litigation strategies. Confronted with an ever widening network of sophisticated plaintiffs' lawyers who share information, discovery, and strategies nationwide, these businesses must establish an effective defense approach to handle cases from inception through trial and, if necessary, appeal. This approach may encompass various strategies, including coordinating discovery and document management to ensure consistency, and preparing and executing trial readiness plans for test cases or cases that cannot be resolved.

These businesses also must develop procedures to prevent avoidable increases in the volume and scope of mass tort litigation. It is critical to identify cases with the potential to develop into long-term business problems and handle them properly from the outset.

Thelen LLP attorneys have extensive experience defending toxic tort claims alleging adverse health effects and/or property or other damages resulting from exposure to a wide array of products and chemicals, including asbestos, PCBs, solvents, epoxies, printing inks, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, silica, welding rods, and diesel exhaust. Our bi-coastal team is able to handle the most complex cases in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously, including parallel proceedings such as regulatory and criminal investigations.

Thelen has served as national, regional, and local counsel in major toxic tort/product liability litigation for a number of clients, including high-profile defendants, who call on us for our legal experience, case management expertise, and the array of resources we offer to maximize efficiency in handling these matters. We are dedicated to achieving the best possible outcome in each matter while containing costs.

Our counsel is proactive; we have audited our clients' operations to uncover toxic tort issues before they arise and become disruptive to business. When a priority matter does emerge, our early case assessment process helps to streamline and accelerate the strategic decision making process.

Thelen has particular expertise in the litigation of asbestos-related bodily injury, insurance coverage, property damage, and bankruptcy claims. Our clients in this area include or have included product manufacturers, contractors, premises defendants, and companies involved in the mining industry. For more than a decade, Thelen has served as national coordinating defense counsel in asbestos litigation for large international corporations, managing complex multi-party and industry-wide litigation. In addition to developing defense strategies for our clients, we regularly supervise and assist local counsel in defending thousands of asbestos-related bodily injury cases nationwide. We have successfully taken numerous such cases to verdict in venues throughout the U.S., negotiated settlements with nearly all of the leading plaintiffs' firms, and successfully represented clients in numerous appeals. Additionally, Thelen worked as local counsel for various clients and have worked in conjunction with other firms serving as national or coordinating counsel.

We have also played an influential role in developing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques for use in product liability and toxic tort cases. Thelen was instrumental in drafting model product liability ADR agreements under the auspices of the Center for Public Resources in New York, and we have implemented innovative means for resolving these disputes quickly and inexpensively.

Thelen's appellate lawyers are available from the early stages of these engagements to formulate strategies to resolve pivotal legal issues.

To aid in the medical and scientific aspects of toxic tort litigation, we have assembled a roster of national expert consultants and witnesses in a variety of fields relevant to toxic tort litigation including toxicology, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, and risk assessment.

Thelen uses state-of-the-art information technology systems to maximum advantage, employing sophisticated databases to track cases for client reporting, trend and cost analysis purposes. To efficiently organize the vast amounts of data generated in these matters, we often develop customized databases for use in particular engagements.

Because Thelen is a full-service, international law firm, we routinely draw upon the expertise of members of our firm who practice in the environmental, regulatory, and administrative areas. This enables us to create strong, coordinated teams with the optimal skills and experience to efficiently and economically handle each particular matter.

To learn more about Thelen's Products Liability, Toxic Tort, and Asbestos practice, please contact the following:

Jennifer A. Kuenster
San Francisco
Tel: 415.369.7305
jakuenster@thelen.com

Barry G. Felder
New York
Tel: 212.603.2220
bfelder@thelen.com