Covington lawyers regularly serve as defense counsel in product liability and toxic tort lawsuits, and as national coordinating counsel or strategic advisors for companies and trade associations involved in national or multi-state liability actions. Our Practice is multidisciplinary in nature, requiring the integration of business savvy and industry experience, along with sophisticated litigation management and trial expertise. Our mass tort experience includes pharmaceutical products, medical devices, toxic chemicals and metals, and food and beverage products. Our clients include companies and trade groups in the pharmaceutical, medical device, food, alcohol beverage, dietary supplement, chemical, construction equipment, energy, railroad, respiratory protection, automotive, and mining industries. We also have extensive experience in class action litigation alleging personal injury and property damage.
Pharmaceutical Industry: We represent a number of leading pharmaceutical companies in product liability mass tort actions in state and federal courts around the country. Our current representations include Hoffman-LaRoche in products claims involving their acne medication Accutane; Purdue Pharma in products cases involving their pain relief medication OxyContin; and several pharma industry trade associations in various product liability cases in which they have been named as defendants. We have previously represented the Warner-Lambert Division of Pfizer in connection with product liability litigation over its anti-seizure medication Dilantin, and Copley Pharmaceuticals in various product liability actions involving its prescription asthma medication Albuterol.
National Product Liability Counsel: We are frequently called upon to serve as national product liability counsel to firms and trade associations whose products (or whose members’ products) are actual or potential targets of mass tort claims in the area of product liability or toxic torts. We have served in this capacity for companies and trade associations with products in the chemical, food, beverage, medical device, and construction equipment industries.
Strategic Advisors: Covington lawyers have provided strategic counseling to national and international companies facing rising volumes of asbestos and silica liability claims in the energy, automotive, construction, mining, respiratory protection, and railroad industries, and to investment and financial firms evaluating the potential liabilities facing those companies.
Clinical Trials: We have successfully represented biotech firms facing liability claims filed by individuals who participated in clinical trials of our clients’ new medications and therapies.
M&A Due Diligence: Our firm has conducted many due diligence investigations on behalf of investment banking firms considering acquisitions to evaluate potential product or toxic tort liabilities associated with products and services supplied by the target company.
Representative Matters
- Serve as national counsel to Purdue Pharma in defending scores of suits filed in state and federal courts around the country by plaintiffs who claim injury from having used – in most cases abused – the company’s OxyContin pain relief prescription medication.
- Serve in a similar capacity for Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. in defending the company against mass tort claims involving the prescription acne medication Accutane, which is accused of dangerous side effects, including stimulating suicidal thoughts in young people who are regular users of the medication.
- Represented companies and trade associations in the alcohol beverage industry for several decades defending against product liability claims by plaintiffs who claim that injuries suffered from their abuse of alcohol – ranging from cirrhosis to alcoholism to drunk driving crashes – are the fault of the alcohol companies. Virtually all of these cases have been dismissed on motions.
- Currently serve as national product liability counsel for obesity claims for two potential defendants in the food industry – one of the two largest manufacturers of breakfast cereals and the trade association for the industry that manufactures high fructose corn syrup, the most widely used sweetener in soft drinks.
Accolades
- The Practical Law Company (PLC), Leading Pharmaceutical Fraud & Abuse Investigations Practice.
- The Practical Law Company (PLC), Leading Product Liability Practice.
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