Product Liability & Toxic Torts

Effective defense and management of product liability claims is one of the most pressing problems facing product manufacturers and distributors today.  Hughes Hubbard is exceptionally well-qualified to help in this area.  We have long been recognized for our management and defense of national product liability problems, mass disaster cases and toxic tort litigation.  We also defend individual product liability claims of all sizes.  Our partners Ted Mayer and Robb Patryk are authors of one of the basic treatises in this area, (Product Liability – Law Journal Seminars Press, 1988).

We have defended all kinds of product liability and toxic exposure cases throughout the United States and have counseled our clients on a broad range of related issues.  Among our domestic clients are major worldwide pharmaceutical companies, leading manufacturers of railway and power generation equipment, a leading chemical manufacturer, one of the largest manufacturers of dietary supplements and numerous other domestic and non-U. S. manufacturers of consumer products, medical devices and factory machinery.  We are national counsel on several significant product liability litigation matters and defend clients in courts throughout the country.

Our strong international practice also makes us particularly qualified to handle international product liability issues.  We advise non-U.S. clients concerning product liability matters, including programs intended to reduce product liability risks.  We have extensive and successful experience in arbitration matters related to product defense issues.  When litigation occurs or is threatened, our experience with transnational proceedings helps avoid costly mistakes from the outset.  Through our Paris office, we also represent clients in product liability cases in France and elsewhere in Europe.

The following represent the types of product litigation cases our attorneys have handled:

• National counsel to leading pharmaceutical manufacturers in numerous product liability and consumer class action lawsuits involving pain and statin medications, among others.
• National counsel to leading chemical manufacturer in four putative nationwide class actions alleging harm from lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), a wood preservative that has been used for decades throughout the country in playgrounds and homes.
• Principal counsel to trusts established in bankruptcies of major asbestos product manufacturers to resolve hundreds of thousands of asbestos personal injury and property damage claims.  We also act as national defense counsel for several companies who have been sued in thousands of asbestos cases throughout the country.
• Defense of CBS in an alleged toxic workplace exposure matter in West Virginia.
• Counsel to a major Korean conglomerate in multiple individual and class action lawsuits involving mobile cellular telephone safety.
• Defense of a leading specialty chemical manufacturer against medical monitoring claims brought by coal workers allegedly exposed to polyacrylamide.
• We handle the national representation of New York Blood Center, Inc. in blood product matters pending in the State and Federal courts.
• In what was then (1989-90) the largest product liability trial in U.S. history, we served as lead defense counsel to a wallpaper manufacturer in claims arising out of the San Juan Dupont Plaza Hotel fire that killed 97 persons and injured hundreds more.

• Defense of over 100 cases involving two of the Big Three U.S. automobile manufacturers in the U.S. in cases throughout New York State.

In addition, we have advised major corporations on national product liability litigations; defended and defeated several product liability class actions involving pharmaceutical, chemical and mechanical products; and disposed of other product claims against foreign manufacturers on the basis of lack of personal jurisdiction.  Our attorneys also handled the U.S. Supreme Court appeal which established the government contractor defense in product liability actions.

Although Hughes Hubbard has an outstanding track record in the courtroom, our attorneys also provide expert advice on how to avoid, minimize or assess the risks of product liability litigation.  We are particularly experienced in working with foreign and domestic clients in the aerospace, automotive, blood products, dietary supplements, chemical, newsprint, pharmaceutical, security devices, surgical and hospital supply, toy and wood preservative industries. 

Specifically, we have:

• Organized product liability audits designed to uncover and address potential product safety or litigation problems before they arise.
• Assisted a large consumer products manufacturer in identifying and addressing potential product liability issues surrounding the development of a new product line, and designed and supervised a product safety and testing program for this new product.
• Reviewed product warnings and instructions and provided legal advice on the content of a warning and the manner by which, and persons to whom, the warning and instructions should be conveyed.

Hughes Hubbard attorneys have advised on the impact of numerous federal statutes and regulations that play an increasingly important role in the manufacture and sale of products and in product liability litigations, including the Consumer Product Safety Act; the Occupational Safety and Health Act; the Motor Vehicle Safety Act; the Federal Aviation Act; the Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act; and the Flammable Fabrics Act.