The Firm has been particularly active in litigating the propriety of class
certification, both mandatory and voluntary, in federal and state courts throughout
the United States. We have represented companies including National Gypsum
Company, W.R. Grace & Co., Lafarge North America, Inc., Rhône-Poulenc
Rorer and Rhône-Poulenc, Remington Arms Co., Dresser Industries, and
CertainTeed Corporation in class action litigation.
Our Firm's role as national coordinating counsel for National Gypsum Company
in asbestos property damage litigation gave us the opportunity to develop in-depth
familiarity with class action litigation in both state and federal courts nationwide.
We directed that company's defense in four nationwide class actions filed on
behalf of elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, lessors
of federal buildings, and hospitals. We also directed the defense of several
statewide class actions in the asbestos property damage litigation on behalf
of homeowners, public buildings, and schools. We have represented groups of former
manufacturers of asbestos-containing products in defending class actions for
personal injuries allegedly attributable to asbestos exposure and for medical
monitoring claims arising from alleged asbestos exposure without injury, and
we have prosecuted manufacturers' claims for insurance coverage for a class action
settlement of the claims of future asbestos bodily injury claimants.
We were special class action counsel to a client in a dozen putative class action
lawsuits filed in state and federal courts across the country. These actions,
which arose from our client's vermiculite mining operations and its manufacture
of tremolite-contaminated vermiculite products, sought remedies including medical
monitoring, environmental remediation, and abatement of installed attic insulation.
We also represented this client in asbestos-property damage litigation and, in
the course thereof, we precluded a major insurance company from proceeding with
an individual federal court lawsuit against our client seeking over $110 million
for asbestos abatement costs in 18 buildings because it had failed to opt out
of a class action that had settled.
Currently, we represent a cement plant operator in the defense of a class action
brought by residents of a city in Michigan who seek personal injury and property
damages, medical monitoring, and injunctive relief related to emissions from
the plant. We represent also a manufacturer of roofing shingles in connection
with multiple class actions filed in federal courts, as well as in state court
in Erie, Pennsylvania, on behalf of homeowners complaining of defective shingles.
We have been successful in obtaining multidistrict consolidation of the federal
cases in Philadelphia.
In addition to this class action experience, we have defended class actions grounded
in tort claims relating to accidental releases by a manufacturer of chemical
products; personal injuries allegedly attributable to exposure to the causative
agent of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) of hemophiliacs who take
a blood clotting concentrate; alleged dental decay from the use of baby bottles;
alleged defects in design and manufacture of rifles; alleged violation of debt
collection laws by a record club; and alleged fraudulent servicing of oil wells.
We also have experience defending securities class actions.
The Firm has also counseled clients with respect to the utilization of class
action settlements to enable clients to resolve large blocks of claims and potential
liability. In this context, we have negotiated class action settlements -- both
fixed fund and claims made -- to facilitate global resolution of clients' liabilities.
We also had a role in administering claims, with co-defendants and their law
firms, in a national class action settlement with nearly 7,000 claimants.