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    Global Problem Solving from Covington: Deal with Complex Problems Anywhere in the World

Keith A. Teel

Partner

Washington +1 202 662 5501

  • About
  • Representative Matters
  • Credentials
  • About

    Keith A. Teel focuses on complex product liability, mass tort, and patent litigation. He is frequently involved in high-profile cases, such as mass tort and reimbursement cases concerning opioid products, cases brought by the states against tobacco companies, and the recent airbag litigation against Takata Corporation and its affiliated companies. He has litigated at every level, including arguing before the United States Supreme Court. He has served as lead counsel in multi-district litigation proceedings, and as national coordinating counsel in product liability and mass tort litigation.

    While primarily focused on litigation, Keith works with companies and state and national groups as they seek improvements in liability standards and court procedures. He has drafted legislative proposals for every state and testified in support of legislation in nearly every state.

    Keith also regularly provides pro bono assistance to individuals. Among other matters, he represented a veteran in a case in which the United States Supreme Court made clear that benefits determinations of the Veterans Administration may be appealed, and he succeeded in persuading the Alabama courts to overturn the conviction and death sentence of a client, who was ultimately released from death row after seventeen years. He is currently representing another Alabama inmate who has been sentenced to death.

    Keith co-chairs Covington’s patent litigation practice group.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Practices and Industries
  • Representative Matters
    • Representation of a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in nationwide litigation relating to opioid products.
    • Representation of Takata Corporation and Takata Holdings Inc. in product liability and consumer protection litigation relating to automobile airbags, including serving as lead counsel in ongoing MDL proceedings and national coordinating counsel for all civil litigation. For 14 months he directed all of TK Holdings Inc.’s legal affairs as its interim general counsel, overseeing its bankruptcy and sale.
    • Counsel for name-brand pharmaceutical manufacturers in Hatch-Waxman litigation and trials, and for other product manufacturers in patent litigation involving various kinds of technology.
    • Representation of major pharmaceutical manufacturers in product liability litigation and related insurance coverage disputes, which resulted in total recoveries exceeding a billion dollars.
    • Represented all of the major U.S. tobacco manufacturers in their disputes with state attorneys general that culminated in the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, taking the lead in discussions with elected officials throughout the United States.

    • Developed and oversaw the enactment in over forty states of state legislation relating to liability standards and litigation procedure, involving issues such as product liability reform, consumer protection reform, appeal bond limits, and punitive damages legislation, and class action procedures.
    • National coordinating counsel for product liability litigation involving the Tobacco Institute.
    • 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.
    • Representation of death row inmates, including serving as lead counsel in a case that resulted in the release in February 2012 of an Alabama prisoner who had spent the preceding seventeen years on death row.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Credentials
    Education
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1981
        • Virginia Law Review
    • Washington and Lee University, B.S. (Chemistry), 1978
        • magna cum laude
    Bar Admissions
    • District of Columbia
    • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
    Accolades
    • Legal 500 US, Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action 
    • Washington D.C. SuperLawyers, Product Liability Defense
    • Best Lawyers in America, Product Liability Defense (for over ten years)
    • Various Who's Who
    • American Tort Reform Association, Legal Reform Champion

    Areas of Expertise

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