Clifford J. Zatz is the senior trial lawyer in the firm's Torts Group. He focuses on the trial of complex medical and scientific cases.
For almost thirty years, Cliff has defended personal injury cases involving consumer, occupational, and environmental exposure to chemicals and other products. He has tried cases arising out of environmental exposure to trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, PCBs, and dioxins; formaldehyde in home insulation; and occupational exposure to benzene and isocyanates.
Cliff has represented clients in individual, class action, and community-wide exposure cases. He was on the defense team in one of the earliest lawsuits alleging personal injury from exposure to trichloroethylene in groundwater. Thirty plaintiffs' claims of neurological injury, immune dysfunction, and "chronic systemic chemical poisoning" were resolved in a three-day summary jury trial in federal district court in Michigan.
Together with Louisville co-counsel, Cliff defended thousands of claims brought by workers and neighbors at a Superfund site in southeastern Kentucky. After a month-long jury trial, the team won a defense verdict against three coal mining companies that sought $140 million in lost profits as a result of their proximity to the site. The National Law Journal recognized the victory in its annual list of the country's top defense verdicts. The next year, Cliff and his team defended bellwether claims of multiple myeloma, childhood leukemia, and other illnesses in a 52-day jury trial that led to a mass settlement of more than 550 plaintiffs' cases. Later, he and his co-counsel won a week-long arbitration of a tort of outrageous conduct action and, in another bellwether plaintiff case, won summary judgment after excluding all of the causation experts under Daubert.
Cliff defended two of the nation's largest chemical manufacturers against twenty-five plaintiffs' claims of occupational asthma as a result of exposure to isocyanates and ethylene diamine in the manufacture of the Gore-Tex® waterproof membrane. After a 45-day trial, the jury returned fifty defense verdicts. Cliff successfully defended the verdicts twice on appeal in Kennedy v. Mobay Corp., 579 A.2d 1191 (Md. App. 1991), aff'd per curiam, 601 A.2d 123 ( Md. 1992), which established the "sophisticated user" defense as the law of Maryland. He was also trial counsel for manufacturers of rubber solvent in a four-week trial of three leukemia death cases arising in a Virginia tire manufacturing plant.
More recently, Cliff has:
· Won a two-week trial before a Florida administrative law judge, defeating a community's challenge to an environmental site assessment and remedial action plan.
· Successfully opposed, in a four-day evidentiary hearing and on appeal, certification of a class action seeking lifetime medical monitoring for beryllium disease.
· Led a trial team in defense of the first citizens' suit brought against a wind energy facility under the Endangered Species Act. This unusual "green v. green" trial received national media attention and was reported on the front page of The Washington Post.
· Won dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, after an evidentiary hearing, of a wrongful death case brought in federal court in Atlanta against a Kuwaiti government contractor. Baragona v. Kuwait Gulf Link Transport Co., 691 F. Supp.2d 1346 (N.D. Ga. 2007), aff'd, 594 F.3d 852 (11th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 130 S.Ct. 3473 (2010).
· Defended lawsuits in Florida in which more than 300 plaintiffs alleged personal injury, diminution of property value, and emotional distress as a result of occupational and environmental exposure to chlorinated solvents and beryllium.
· Served on the national coordinating counsel team in asbestos litigation for a major telecommunications company.
In addition to his toxic tort and environmental litigation practice, Cliff has advised and represented companies on product liability issues involving automotive products, alcoholic beverages, cellular telephones, and food products. He has also handled lawsuits in such areas as intellectual property, telecommunications, and government contracts. He has defended patent cases involving digital cellular telephone technology, contact lens solution, and the design patent on the "scrunchie" fabric-covered ponytail holder. He won an international trademark dispute, before the American Arbitration Association, on behalf of a leading Italian men's clothing company. He successfully represented one of the country's largest engineering firms in a product liability and breach of contract action against the United States and its contractors under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Tucker Act. Cliff has also litigated OSHA, worker's compensation, and labor and employment discrimination cases before trial and appellate courts, arbitrators, and administrative agencies.
Cliff speaks and writes regularly on litigation strategy and medical issues. He has served for eleven years as a faculty member for the NITA Washington, DC Regional program in Trial Advocacy Skills. Cliff has been recognized in the area of Mass Tort Litigation by The Best Lawyers In America annually since 2008.
Cliff is a member of the firm's Diversity Council. He has done pro bono work in such areas as fair housing, Feemster v. BSA Limited Partnership, 471 F. Supp. 2d 87(D.D.C. 2007), aff'd, 548 F. 3d 1063 (D.C. Cir. 2008); discrimination against the HIV-positive in adoption; and the recognition of a cause of action for negligent handgun storage, Jupin v. Kask, 447 Mass. 141 (2006).
Publications
· "Defending the Toxic Tort of Outrage: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Claims," For The Defense (March 2011). Co-Authors: Clifford J. Zatz and Kevin C. Mayer.
· "Taking the Offensive in the Long Toxic Tort Trial," For The Defense (March 1998). Author: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Defenses on the Frontiers of Science," Litigation (Fall 1992). Author: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Summary Jury Trial: The Settlement of a Toxic Tort Case," 2 BNA's Toxics Law Reporter 929, reprinted in 2 BNA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Report 145 (1988). Author: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Defending Speculative Injury Claims," 2 BNA's Toxics Law Reporter 76, reprinted in Birnbaum, ed., Preparation and Trial of a Toxic Tort Case 1988, Practicing Law Institute (June 17, 1987). Co-Authors: Clifford J. Zatz and J. Sherwood.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Expanding U.S. Jurisdictional Reach over Foreign Manufacturers," International Trade Bulletin (January 26, 2011). Contacts: Lisa J. Savitt, Laurel Pyke Malson, Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Proposed OSHA Noise Regulations Reverse Long-Standing Interpretations And Increase Potential Costs To Employers," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (November 24, 2010). Contacts: Kevin C. Mayer, Clifford J. Zatz, Jeffrey W. Pagano, Ira M. Saxe.
Speaking Engagements
· "Does Every Exposure Really Count?" 2009 DRI Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Seminar, Phoenix, Arizona (March 20, 2009). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Case Screening Issues in Benzene Litigation," Mealey's Benzene Litigation Conference, Marina del Rey, California (June 12, 2006). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Environmental Tort Liabilities of Government Contractors," Ounce of Prevention Seminar XXII, Washington, D.C. (April 28, 2006). Presenters: Clifford J. Zatz and Beth M. Kramer.
· "Benzene Case Screening Wrap-Up," Mealey's Benzene Litigation Conference, Phoenix, Arizona (October 17-18, 2005). Moderator: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Junk Science-Bunked and Debunked," ABA Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee, La Jolla, California (March 12, 1999). Panelist: Clifford J. Zatz.
· ABA Section of Litigation, Legal Services Advocacy Training Program, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America - Washington, D.C. (June 2, 1995). Faculty: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Legal Issues in Occupational Asthma," Symposium on "Allergy and Immunology in the Workplace," 1992 American Occupational Health Conference, 77th Annual Meeting of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine," Washington, D.C. (May 6, 1992). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Civil and Criminal Liability of Terrorist Acts," Annual Meeting, American Society of International Law and International Law Students Association, Washington, D.C. (April 3, 1992). Panelist: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Ten Thoughts on Defending a Toxic Tort Case," D.C. Bar Program, "Toxic Torts: a Practical Primer," Washington, D.C. (January 23, 1992). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Toxic Tort Actions at Federal Facilities," Executive Enterprises, Inc. Briefing on Environmental Compliance at Federal Facilities, Washington, D.C. (November 6, 1991). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "How to Represent the Patient and Industry in Occupational Disease," American College of Allergy & Immunology, 47th Annual Meeting, Plenary Session, Orlando, Florida (November 13, 1989). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· Workshop on Summary Jury Trial, National Conference on Dispute Resolution and the State Courts, Baltimore, Maryland (November 17, 1988). Panelist: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "The Attorney's Approach to Alleged Allergic and Immunologic Injury," Sixth Annual Aspen Allergy Conference, Aspen, Colorado (July 30, 1988). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Summary Jury Trial in Toxic Tort Litigation," Toxic Tort Information Group, Chemical Manufacturers Association, Chicago, Illinois (July 15, 1988). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Chemicals AIDS: Litigating Immune Dysfunction Cases," Symposium on Science in the Courtroom, Third Chemical Congress of North America/American Chemical Society National Meeting, Toronto, Canada (June 9, 1988). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Painting Injury by the Numbers: The Myth of the Omniscient Laboratory," Symposium, "Immunotoxicology: From Lab to Law," Cornell University Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, Ithaca, New York (October 16, 1987). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.
· "Use of Summary Judgment to Dispose of Fear of Cancer and Risk of Cancer Claims," Toxic Tort Information Group, Chemical Manufacturers Association, Washington, D.C. (October 14, 1987). Presenter: Clifford J. Zatz.