Fishkin Lucks obtained summary judgment dismissing toxic tort cancer claims pending against its client in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Plaintiff originally brought suit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, claiming that he contracted acute myelogenous leukemia from working with products that allegedly contained the chemical benzene, over the course of an almost forty-year career at Duke Energy in North Carolina and South Carolina. After the Firm successfully moved to dismiss the case based on forum non conveniens, and prevailed on appeal before the Pennsylvania Superior Court, which affirmed the dismissal, Plaintiff re-filed his claims in the Western District of North Carolina. Based on a fulsome factual record that the Firm developed while the case was pending in Philadelphia County, and extensive expert discovery conducted around the country after the case was re-filed in the Western District of North Carolina, the Firm moved for summary judgment arguing that the record evidence was insufficient to identify our client’s product with which Plaintiff allegedly worked or, therefore, that it contained any benzene. Following extensive briefing and a hearing, the Court (Conrad, J.) granted our motion, agreeing with the Firm’s arguments that Plaintiff had failed to present sufficient evidence identifying our client’s product with which he allegedly work as one that contained benzene.
Fishkin Lucks secured a voluntary dismissal today of all claims brought in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Monmouth County, against the Firm’s client, a leading designer and manufacturer of exterior wall systems and products. Plaintiff, the owner of an ocean-front home located in Elberon, New Jersey, brought claims against parties who planned and performed contracting services in connection with significant renovations to the home, the Firm’s client, and a distributor of the client’s products. Plaintiff alleged that an adverse chemical reaction involving one of our client’s products caused significant damage to the home and lead to water intrusion. After rejecting requests for contribution toward a global resolution and illustrating how and why our client’s products played no role in the damages alleged,the matter was resolved and all claims were dismissed at a court-ordered mediation when each of the defendants contributed funds toward a global resolution of the matter, without any contribution by our client.
Fishkin Lucks was named today national coordinating counsel to its longtime client, Univar Solutions USA Inc., a leading global chemical, ingredient, and solutions supplier. With this appointment, the Firm will oversee and coordinate Univar’s defense of product liability and toxic tort matters nationwide.
The Firm won an appeal on behalf of its client, a life insurance company, before the First Department of New York’s Appellate Division. The Firm had prevailed at the trial level on its motion to dismiss a complaint brought by the owner of two life insurance policies with a combined death benefit of $5 million. The policies’ owner sought to rescind the policies, based on purported misrepresentations and omissions made before he purchased them on the secondary market. Among other things, he also sought (i) a declaratory judgment that the Firm’s client be required to pay the death benefits on the policies when the insured died, even if the Firm’s client later found that the owner had engaged in fraud, and (ii) mandatory injunctive relief requiring the Firm’s client to explain to the owner how premiums on the policies were calculated. The First Department adopted each of the Firm's arguments, including that (i) the fraud claim was time barred, (ii) the declaratory judgment claim was not ripe where the Firm’s client had not taken a position on whether it intended to pay the death benefits on the policies, and (iii) the claim for mandatory injunctive relief was inappropriate where monetary relief was available.
Fishkin Lucks obtained a voluntary dismissal today of a whistleblower lawsuit brought in Atlantic County, NJ against our client, the state-appointed Monitor of the Pleasantville School District (the “District”). Plaintiff, an employee of the District, asserted claims against the District, Superintendent, Business Administrator and State Monitor, alleging that he was demoted and reassigned for reporting alleged improper conduct by District officials. Following receipt of the Firm’s motion to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim,plaintiff voluntarily agreed to dismiss all claims against our client with prejudice.
Fishkin Lucks and local Texas counsel secured a voluntary dismissal today of product liability claims brought in the District Court of Travis County, TX against our client, a leading manufacturer of integrated exterior wall systems and products. Plaintiff, the owner of the Hotel Van Zandt in Austin, Texas, had asserted claims against the architect and general contractor, alleging that they negligently designed and constructed the hotel, seeking over $10M in damages. The general contractor brought third-party claims against numerous subcontractors alleging faulty construction; and against our client, which manufactured the stucco products applied to the hotel’s exterior building envelope, asserting claims for contribution/indemnity and also alleging that our client had breached a materials warranty. Following discovery that stretched over 2 years, which included the production of hundreds of thousands of construction documents, numerous depositions, and a lengthy mediation, the Firm and local counsel moved for summary judgment on the ground that the evidence against our client was legally insufficient. Shortly after receipt of the motion, the general contractor voluntarily agreed to dismiss all claims against our client.
