Toxic Tort

The Firm is proud of its extensive experience and expertise in toxic tort litigation. Our lawyers have defended some of the most prominent companies in the world against claims alleging injuries caused by exposure to a variety of chemicals, petrochemicals, solvents, and other substances. Our lawyers won a defense verdict the first pure benzene exposure case tried in New York State and have won a large number of toxic tort cases on motion and at the appellate level. The Firm presently serves as regional toxic tort counsel, as preferred toxic tort counsel, and on national defense teams in toxic tort litigation for a number of publicly traded companies in the specialty, building products, chemical, energy, and petrochemical industries. Given our expertise, the Firm is often retained to represent groups of companies through joint defense arrangements. Clients also frequently retain our lawyers to consult on broader issues presented by cases in which other lawyers are serving as lead counsel, and to complement or support lead counsel on discrete issues, including with respect to dispositive motion practice, company witnesses, and settlement.

Recent Successes

Winning summary judgment of significant toxic tort action brought against our client, a Fortune 500 specialty chemical company, in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Camden County);
Successfully resolving several large inventories of solvent exposure cases pending in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and California.
Taking lead for a group of more than fifteen defendants, defeating motion to remand toxic tort action from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, arguing that non-diverse corporate defendant had been fraudulently joined to the action;
Securing summary judgment dismissal of asbestos litigation pending in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas on behalf of our client, an international automotive parts manufacturer (Philadelphia County);

Securing a voluntary dismissal with prejudice of a toxic tort wrongful death action brought against our client, a Fortune 100 petroleum company, in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Camden County);
Securing a voluntary dismissal with prejudice of toxic tort claims brought against the Firm’s client, a specialty paint and sealant manufacturer, in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (Philadelphia County);
In our role as special settlement counsel, successfully resolving on behalf of a Fortune 100 energy and petrochemical company, two toxic tort actions pending in the Supreme Court of New York (Kings County) and the Circuit Court of Florida (Broward County);
Securing summary judgment dismissal of asbestos litigation pending in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Middlesex County);
Favorably resolving cancer claims pending in the Circuit Court of Florida (Dade County) against a group of our clients, each of which had initially retained local Florida counsel to represent its interests before formally substituting in or turning to our lawyers;
Forcing, through dispositive motion practice, a voluntary dismissal with prejudice, without consideration, of wrongful death claims brought against our client in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Middlesex County) arising from a decedent exterminator’s workplace exposure to our client’s pesticide products;
Securing a nuisance value settlement of claims brought in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Middlesex County) alleging that plaintiff contracted myelodysplasia syndrome as a result of his occupational exposures to pure benzene supplied by the Firm’s client;
Successfully resolving cancer claims (bladder, prostate, kidney, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) brought by several chemical workers against three of the Firm’s petrochemical clients in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Essex County);
Securing a voluntary dismissal of claims brought in four related cases in the Circuit Court of Florida (Marion County) by plaintiffs who claimed that they contracted cancers (lung, brain, bone, and skin) and chronic lung disease from their inhalation of allegedly carcinogenic materials as plastic tank welders;
Favorably resolving claims brought in the Superior Court of Massachusetts (Middlesex County), under Massachusetts’ Product Liability Act, alleging that plaintiff contracted acute myelogenous leukemia from exposure to lacquer thinners throughout his career in the printing industry;
Favorably resolving wrongful death claims brought in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Camden County) based on cancer that plaintiff claimed her decedent contracted due to his workplace exposure to brake part cleaners and gasoline;
Favorably resolving claims brought in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey alleging that plaintiff contracted cancers as a result of his exposure to benzene-containing substances during the course of his engineering work at petroleum refining facilities;
Securing a voluntary dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint brought in the Supreme Court of New York (Suffolk County), in which plaintiff alleged that her decedent contracted acute myelogenous leukemia from his exposure to a large number of benzene-containing products;
Securing summary judgment in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Bergen County) against plaintiff’s cancer claims, and persuading the New Jersey’s Appellate Division to affirm on appeal and the New Jersey Supreme Court to deny certification, on the basis of OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard;
Trying to defense verdict in the Supreme Court of New York (Erie County) a wrongful death, pure benzene exposure case, the first of its kind in New York State;
Favorably resolving plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma claims brought in a number of related actions in the Superior Court of Connecticut (Judicial District of Waterbury);
Securing summary judgment against plaintiff’s cancer/wrongful death claims in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Bergen County) based on the absence of reliable expert opinion that our client’s product was defective;
Securing summary judgment against plaintiff’s complaint in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Cape May County) alleging respiratory injuries due to occupational chemical exposures;
Securing voluntary dismissal of plaintiff’s claims in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island seeking damages for “toxic-induced injuries” arising from his alleged occupational exposure to styrene; and
Securing a voluntary dismissal of complaint brought in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey alleging injury to plaintiff’s pancreas from exposure to fiberglass resins.