Mass Torts

Cases

• Represent Michelin as national coordinating counsel for toxic tort litigation.
• Serving as lead national trial counsel to a major U.S. distributor of vaping products in federal multidistrict litigation in California. WTO is liaison counsel to all of the distributor defendants in the litigation.
• As lead national trial counsel to GE Healthcare, successfully argued before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to defeat plaintiffs' attempt to create an MDL involving gadolinium-based contrast agents.
• Representing Michelin and Goodrich Corp. against claims brought by more than 100 plaintiffs alleging groundwater contamination by benzene and other chemicals from a long-closed tire manufacturing plant in Oklahoma. Claims include nuisance, trespass, unjust enrichment, and RCRA violations.
• Won exclusion of plaintiffs' general causation experts in multidistrict litigation involving more than 600 claimants alleging the antidepressant Zoloft caused birth defects.
• Successfully represented a privately-held oil company in mass torts litigation arising from a deadly 2013 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Following resolution, represented the client as a policyholder to recover insurance proceeds covering most of the client's contributions to the global settlement fund.
• Served as national counsel to a global healthcare company in multidistrict litigation involving over 12,000 claims relating to dialysis products. WTO helped develop national resolution strategy, identified bellwether cases, and negotiated settlement of all claims.
• Obtained dismissal of class action allegations and 15 of 17 claims against Whirlpool in an environmental toxic tort case. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their remaining claims after the court's ruling.
• Represented a major commercial insurer in nationwide concussion and traumatic brain injury class action litigation involving the National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Hockey League, and U.S. Soccer Federation.
• Represented a food distributor in allegations of Listeria contamination resulting in 33 deaths and 146 confirmed cases in one of the largest and deadliest food-borne illness outbreaks in the United States.
• Serving as national coordinating and trial counsel to a cochlear implant manufacturer for the defense of product liability lawsuits involving a Class III medical device used to treat hearing loss.
• Won a jury verdict in Cook County, Illinois, for General Electric in an asbestos duty to warn case involving power plant land turbines.
• Won a defense jury verdict for Leslie Controls, the sole remaining defendant at trial after other defendants settled. A jury deliberated for just 20 minutes before deciding our client was not liable for the plaintiff's mesothelioma.
• Represented Continental Airlines and Global Aerospace in matters stemming from a 2008 incident in which a plane skidded off the runway at Denver International Airport due to strong crosswinds. The claims involved over 200 plaintiffs.
• Won defense verdicts in simultaneous trials for Foster Wheeler in Los Angeles, CA, and Iowa City, IA.
• Won a defense verdict after five weeks of trial in Massachusetts in a living mesothelioma case, the first asbestos case tried to verdict in Boston in 10 years.
• Retained as lead trial counsel to defend General Electric against claims brought by more than 100 NATO soldiers for cancer-causing exposure to ionizing radiation from missile systems used during the Cold War. Settled all 40 related cases for what would have amounted to approximately two months' worth of defense costs.
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of claims against Solvay Pharmaceuticals in litigation stemming from the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
• Represented defendants in the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire that killed 97 people in Puerto Rico.
• Represented defendants in claims relating to the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, which killed 168 people in Southgate, Kentucky.
• Defended Mobay Chemical Company (then a subsidiary of Bayer) against claims arising from the Sunshine Mine disaster. The catastrophic fire in the Idaho silver mine killed more than 90 miners. After a four-month trial, all claims against Mobay were dismissed.
• Won a jury defense verdict for Conoco following a six-week trial involving claims by the town of Castle Rock, Colorado that a leaking Conoco underground storage tank had contaminated the town's municipal drinking water.
• Represented Conoco in the favorable settlement of toxic tort litigation brought by the City and County of Denver regarding the contamination and cleanup of Denver's former airport.
• Represented Coors in the settlement of CERCLA litigation brought by the City and County of Denver regarding the Lowry Landfill.