Product Liability
Our Product Liability & Mass Torts team has successfully defended companies in some of the largest and most complex, high-stakes product liability, mass torts, and consumer class actions. We have extensive experience representing clients in a wide range of industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, energy, consumer products, advanced technology, and industrial chemicals.
Often hired at the inception of litigation to serve as lead or national counsel, we frequently lead and manage all aspects of large-scale matters that span multiple jurisdictions, and develop strategies to position them for success on the merits. We have delivered significant and precedent-setting wins for our clients at all stages of litigation—from dismissal at the pleading stage, denial of class certification, entry of summary judgment, exclusion of key expert testimony, and defense verdicts at trial.
With our deep bench of skilled trial lawyers, clients often turn to us on the eve of trial to try their most challenging—and seemingly unwinnable—cases. Our track record at trial is rooted in our aggressive, strategic, and methodical approach to trying cases. We know how to try and win difficult cases, and our adversaries know it.
We know that understanding and being fluent in our client’s business is key to a successful defense. Recognizing that each case is unique, we work closely with our clients to understand their industry, objectives, and concerns, and to develop strategies that help them navigate their most complex problems that threaten their business, products, and reputation. Clients also rely on our experience handling cases that turn on complex scientific and technical issues.
Recognition
Benchmark Litigation: Leading Firm for Product Liability
- Partners recommended by Legal 500 US in Product Liability & Mass Tort: Consumer Products
- Partners recommended by Legal 500 US in Liability & Mass Tort: Pharmaceuticals
- Partner ranked by Chambers USA in Product Liability & Mass Torts
Recent Engagements
- AbbVie Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company, as lead trial counsel in more than 4,000 product liability lawsuits brought by plaintiffs who alleged that they suffered serious adverse side effects as a result of their use of AndroGel, the nation’s leading testosterone replacement therapy.
- Bayer alongside co-counsel in a consolidated mass tort lawsuit against Bayer subsidiary Monsanto Company in Washington state court involving alleged injuries from PCB exposure. The jury returned complete defense verdicts on the claims of 11 of the 15 plaintiffs, and awarded damages to the remaining four plaintiffs totaling just 2% of plaintiffs’ total requested damages.
- Exxon Mobil Corporation in various matters, including in:
- defense of dozens of novel public nuisance lawsuits filed nationwide by state and local governments claiming that the company and other oil majors are liable for wide-ranging alleged past and future climate change-related costs;
- defense of class and individual actions brought by residents and property owners in Greenpoint, Brooklyn seeking damages from alleged environmental contamination from refining operations; and
- the favorable settlement, affirmed on appeal, of an unprecedented natural resource damages litigation brought by the State of New Jersey asserting $8.9 billion in claimed losses due to alleged discharges of hazardous substances at two former refineries. After an eight-month bench trial, which was one of the largest environmental damages cases ever tried, the case settled for $225 million.
- Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in securing the dismissal of a nationwide putative class action brought by current and former youth soccer players against FIFA and five U.S.-based soccer organizations seeking injunctive relief in the form of rules changes that they claimed would reduce the risk of preventable head injuries as a result of the defendants alleged failure to provide adequate concussion management policies.
- Johnson & Johnson as trial counsel in product liability litigation where the plaintiffs alleged that J&J’s talcum-based baby powder products contained asbestos that caused the plaintiffs to develop mesothelioma.
- JM Eagle, the world’s largest plastic pipe manufacturer, in a federal qui tam litigation brought on behalf of dozens of state and local water districts asserting $1 billion in potential damages regarding allegations that JM Eagle misrepresented that its PVC pipe complied with industry standards. Paul, Weiss was retained after JM Eagle lost the liability phase of the trial. At the conclusion of the first damages trial, a federal district judge limited plaintiffs’ recovery claims from $58 million (before trebling) to, at most, $1.2 to $2.1 million and declared a mistrial when jurors were unable to agree that the plaintiffs suffered any damages from the earlier liability finding.
- General Electric Company (GE) in defense of a product liability action by Singapore Airlines in New York state court asserting claims related to property damage to a Singapore Airlines aircraft, which was equipped with an allegedly defective GE-manufactured engine which exploded in flight.
- GSK as liaison and lead trial counsel in consolidated proceedings in California involving thousands of claimants who alleged that Zantac, an antacid medication, had carcinogenic properties.
- The National Football League (NFL) as lead counsel in its sprawling concussion multidistrict litigation brought on behalf of more than 5,000 former NFL players arising from the alleged long-term effects of concussions sustained while playing professional football. Paul, Weiss negotiated the billion dollar global settlement, overcoming a series of appellate challenges, and continues to represent the NFL and certain of its member clubs in numerous opt-out claims.
- Pfizer, as lead trial counsel, in securing major victories in the first two Zoloft birth defect cases to go to trial in the U.S. which alleged that the use of Zoloft during pregnancy caused cardiac birth defects. Paul, Weiss tried two separate cases over the course of a two-month period, with each jury returning a complete defense verdict.
- Revlon in sprawling multidistrict litigation in which plaintiffs allege that certain Revlon products for hair straightening have impacted their health and contributed to cancer diagnoses.
- Solvay Specialty Polymers USA LLC in a constellation of environmental contamination litigations, including negotiating a landmark court-approved settlement of an environmental liability lawsuit brought by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection concerning alleged PFAS contamination, as well as successfully settling or securing dismissal of numerous regulatory and MDL class action matters.
