Product Liability and Mass Tort

No matter how vigilant a business is about quality control and product safety, the risk of product liability litigation is constant, posing both financial and reputational costs. Our multi-disciplinary national product team collaborates with clients across industry sectors, focusing on efficient, cost-effective solutions tailored to each client’s industry-specific needs.

Our attorneys have a successful track record defending product companies in state and federal courts across the country. Clients call on us when they know a case may need to be tried or when a complex class action requires experienced, strategic case management. We also develop strategies that expedite closure to challenging controversies through early motion practice or strategic mediation.

Helping companies avoid litigation is a critical component of our practice. We guide clients through regulatory, risk management, and product development challenges, including review and drafting of product manuals and warnings; analysis of corporate structure; and failure analyses. Intimately understanding our clients’ business and products enables our product liability lawyers to anticipate and prepare our partners for industry challenges before they develop into legal problems.

Our team has successfully coordinated complex controversies, moving them toward early and favorable resolutions. By developing private alternative dispute resolution programs, we give clients greater control over the most problematic aspects of litigation and minimize costs. We also have coordinated preemptive voluntary product service campaigns that have mooted class action claims.

We complement our litigation philosophy with perspective gained from counseling companies on avoiding product failures and compliance issues in the first place.

Our product liability practice is seamlessly integrated with national White Collar Defense/Internal Investigations, Labor and Employment, Class Action Litigation, and Privacy and Data Security practices. Our interdisciplinary teams anticipate and vigorously defend product companies in government investigations and OSHA investigations attendant to litigation, while counseling companies on cyber and data risks.

We regularly counsel companies on compliance with California Proposition 65, and defend clients in Prop 65 lawsuits against alleged failure to warn California consumers that certain products contain chemicals alleged by the State of California to cause cancer and/or reproductive harm.

We represent clients ranging from start-ups and growing businesses to the world’s largest manufacturing companies, including:

AM General, LLC
CSL Behring
DuPont
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Honeywell, Inc.
Interface Performance Materials
Kia Motors America, Inc.
Magnesita Refractories
Milacron Inc.
PECO
Ryan Homes
Subaru of America, Inc.
Valero Energy Corp.

Experience

Companies retain Ballard Spahr to defend their most complex and challenging product liability and mass tort litigation. We are similarly asked on a regular basis to counsel companies on significant risks arising in the every-day development and sale of important products.

Motor Vehicles

We have successfully handled several class actions around the country for a significant domestic distributor of Japanese motor vehicles, including the denial of class certification in a multi-district litigation (MDL) alleging consumer fraud in connection with the provision of telematics services; dismissal on the pleadings of a national class alleging fuel leaks; settlement of a million member national class alleging excessive oil consumption; and coordination of voluntary market actions and recalls resulting in leveraging class actions to settlement on mootness grounds.

We regularly represent a major tire manufacturer in product liability litigation in the Western States. In addition to automotive cases, we defended product liability cases involving a radiant hydronic heating hose, trying five cases to jury verdict—including a class action—and negotiating and obtaining approval for a national class action settlement.
We have successfully handled several class actions in the Third Circuit for a significant domestic distributor of Korean motor vehicles, including the trial of a class action that resulted in post-trial decertification; extensive post-trial claims proceedings and attorney fee motion practice; the settlement, after extensive motion practice, of a national class of 600,000 alleging engine defects; and the dismissal on the pleadings of claims by a class of New Jersey residents alleging violations in the sales of vehicles of the New Jersey Truth in Consumer Contract and Warranty Notice Act (TCCWNA).
After a five-week jury trial, we secured a defense verdict in California Superior Court in favor of a motor vehicle manufacturer against a class of consumers alleging engine defects and consumer fraud in violation of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) and Unfair Competition Law (UCL).
On behalf of a steering component supplier, we coordinated the defense of a dozen cases around the country involving serious motorcycle accidents arising from allegations of a defective steering system that was neglected in ineffective recalls conducted by the original equipment manufacturer; resulting in the successful resolution of all cases through mediation, as well as a related global settlement on insurance coverage and indemnification issues.
We have served as co-counsel for a domestic automotive seat manufacturer in several recent product liability matters in the Third Circuit, all of which resulted in dismissal or favorable nuisance value settlements.
We regularly counsel automotive companies on Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) compliance and regulatory issues. We have unique experience addressing compliance and risk management issues raised by specialty vehicles, including medium duty trucks, and factory built, handicap accessible vehicles involving Wheelchair Tie-Down and Occupant Restraints (WTOR) compliance. Our lawyers also regularly review and develop advertising and vehicle owner’s manuals for compliance and litigation sensitivity. We have been engaged to assist an automotive company in analyzing the restructuring of its operations to mitigate litigation exposure and discovery burdens. We have experience with emissions compliance, the importation of prototype vehicles and the analysis and support of FMVSS compliance with “kit” vehicles.

Industrial and Toxic Tort

In connection with handling the defense of a series of industrial accident cases on behalf of a leading petrochemical company, we secured summary judgment in an aggressively litigated toxic tort action against a dozen defendants in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Camden, dismissing the claims of a young Marine who developed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as a result of his alleged exposure to benzene from various products he used while in the military.

Asbestos

As trial counsel for a leading global manufacturer of furnace refractory brick, we secured dismissal in several Pennsylvania cases in which plaintiffs alleged that they contracted cancer from exposure to asbestos-containing industrial products.

Consumer Products/Retail

We defeated class certification on behalf of a leading domestic manufacturer of dozens of the world’s top premium spirits brands in a putative action in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in which a putative nationwide class claimed consumer fraud, breach of warranty, and unjust enrichment related to the defendants’ alleged false advertising of a popular alcoholic beverage.

Construction Products

We successfully defended a national homebuilder against a class action by hundreds of New Jersey homeowners alleging that insulation around water pipes failed to comply with construction codes and caused consequential loss. Ballard Spahr filed a motion to dismiss the action in its entirety, which was granted in part, resulting in leveraging class counsel into a favorable settlement.

Pharmaceutical and Medical Device

We served as national coordinating counsel for a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in litigation concerning an antihypertensive medication. We defended over 400 cases/claims nationwide as well as represented the manufacturer in the U.S. Department of Justice's grand jury investigation arising out of the product’s withdrawal.

Share

Experience

People

Rankings and Recognition

Insights, News, and Events

Supreme Court: No Nonconsensual Nondebtor Releases in Bankruptcy

New PFAS Tool Tracks Shifting Laws and Regulations Around 'Forever Chemicals'

Ballard Spahr's Marcel Pratt Named to Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

NHTSA Amends Standing General Order on Reporting ADS- and ADAS-Involved Crashes

Related Areas

Contacts