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Keith Teel is an insurance, patent, and product liability litigator, who also has extensive experience developing and overseeing the enactment of state and federal legislation focusing on liability and litigation issues. He joined the firm in 1981 and became a partner in 1989.
In the insurance area, Mr. Teel advises policyholder clients, particularly with respect to product liability and toxic or mass tort claims and other complex insurance disputes. He has, for over twenty years, served as primary insurance coverage counsel for one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and has represented it in securing, by settlement or through litigation, hundreds of millions of dollars in coverage for product liability claims involving a number of the company's products. He has extensive experience in particular with coverage disputes under Bermuda and similar forms.
In the patent area, Mr. Teel, who is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, has represented clients in Hatch-Waxman and other pharmaceutical litigation, and in patent infringement litigation involving software and various types of technology. He represents clients both in Federal court litigation and before the International Trade Commission.
In the product liability area, Mr. Teel has represented major tobacco, pharmaceutical, alcohol, and other manufacturers and trade associations with regard to product liability and consumer fraud litigation and legislation. In the legislative area, Mr. Teel develops and seeks the enactment of legislation that solves significant liability problems or reforms liability standards.
Mr. Teel is a member of the firm’s Management and Executive Committees.
Representative Matters
Litigation
- Counsel for several name-brand pharma manufacturers acting as plaintiffs in Hatch-Waxman litigation.
- United States v. Philip Morris, et al. (D.D.C.) (RICO claim against multiple defendants including the Tobacco Institute).
- National coordinating counsel for product liability litigation involving the now-dissolved Tobacco Institute.
- SmithKline v. TIG Insurance Co., et al. (E.D. Pa.) (insurance coverage for DES claims).
- SmithKline v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., et al. (N.J. Superior Court) (insurance coverage for environmental claims).
- GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, L.P. v. National Casualty Company (U.S.D.C. W.D. Pa.) (insurance coverage for false advertising claim).
- Represented all of the major tobacco manufacturers in their litigation with state attorneys general in the 1990s that culminated in the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that resolved those cases, and oversaw the implementation of that agreement by industry trade associations.
- Reynolds Metals Co. v. Consolidated Aluminum Corp. (M.D. La.) (commercial dispute over liability for pollution at manufacturing facility).
Legislation
Since 1991 Mr. Teel has drafted and overseen the passage of more than fifty pieces of state civil justice legislation, and has participated in dozens of other civil justice reform legislative efforts. He participates in many state and federal reform efforts, drafting bills and amendments, developing supporting arguments, educating legislative consultants, testifying with regard to legislation, and leading the development and implementation of legislative strategies.
For a complete list of legislation in which Mr. Teel has played a role, please click on More Representative Matters.
Honors and Rankings
- Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers
- Best Lawyers in America, Product Liability Litigation
- Various Who's Who directories
- American Tort Reform Association, Legal Reform Champion
Pro Bono
- Briefed and argued in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of petitioners in Traynor v. Turnage, 485 U.S. 535 (1988), which determined that administrative decisions of the Veterans Administration could be appealed in the federal courts and led to the creation of the Court of Veterans Appeals, and which also considered the applicability of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to the Veterans Administration.
- Represents an Alabama prisoner challenging his capital murder conviction and sentence of death. We have secured a reversal of the conviction, and the state’s appeal is pending.
Memberships and Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- American Intellectual Property Law Association
- American Tort Reform Association, Chair, Agenda Committee
Publications and Speeches
- Regular speaker at conferences on product liability, insurance, and legislative topics.
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