Practice Areas & Industries: Jones Day

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Named the "Best Product Liability Practice" by The American Lawyer in January 2004, Jones Day's Product Liability & Regulation Practice advises and defends a broad range of national and international manufacturers of a variety of products, including chemicals, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, tobacco, firearms, lead-based paint, tires, and industrial equipment. We serve as national trial and coordinating counsel in high-profile multijurisdictional matters, including class actions, throughout the U.S. In addition, we regularly counsel clients on liability prevention in the U.S. and around the world, as well as regulatory and legislative issues.

Over the past several years, The National Law Journal has recognized seven Jones Day product liability trial victories in either its annual "Top Defense Verdicts of the Year" or its "Winning" special features. We believe no firm has appeared on these lists as consistently, or as often, as Jones Day. These honors are as follows:

• "Top Defense Wins of 2004" and also the 2004 "Winning" special feature - for the defense of International Business Machines Corporation in the In re San Jose IBM Workers Litigation trial in Santa Clara, California.
• 2003 "Top Defense Verdicts of the Year" special edition of The National Law Journal - Tom Fennell and Mike Rice, of the Firm's Dallas Office, for heading the Firm's defense of Colt's Manufacturing in the nuisance action brought by the NAACP, which was tried in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
• 2003 "Winning" - Ted Grossman, of our Cleveland Office, for the defense verdict in Lucier v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a health and smoking action tried in state court in Sacramento, California.
• 2002 "Top Defense Verdicts of the Year" - Terry Murphy and Roy Atwood, of our Dallas Office, for their defense of U.S. Silica in Bryant v. U.S. Gypsum, a product liability action brought by foundry workers alleging they suffered from silicosis, tried in Smith County, Texas.
• 2001 "Top Defense Verdicts of the Year" - Sydney McDole and Roy Atwood, of our Dallas Office, and Robert Faxon, of our Cleveland Office, for obtaining a jury verdict for the defense of a product liability and conspiracy case, Ballinger v. Brush Wellman Inc., tried in Jefferson County, Colorado.
• 1999 "Defense Wins" - for our representation of R.J. Reynolds and the tobacco industry in the defense of a RICO-based conspiracy class action brought by the Ironworkers Local Union No. 17 Insurance Fund that sought up to $2 billion for reimbursement of health care costs.
• 1998 "Top Defense Wins" - Ted Grossman for a complete defense jury verdict after a four-week trial in Jacksonville, Florida in Karbiwnyk v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

The above-named individuals are not the only members of Jones Day's Product Liability Practice, but they exemplify our ability to create a cohesive team of lawyers with the proper match of experience and skills, given the particular client's situation, needs, and expectations. We possess not only the trial skills but also in-depth experience in a broad range of issues, such as class actions, e-discovery, emergency writ procedures, epidemiology, statistics, and toxicology.

Jones Day members in the Product Liability Advisory Council are Tom Fennell (Dallas), Chuck Moellenberg (Pittsburgh), and Laura Ellsworth (Pittsburgh).

You may also be interested to learn that Jones Day has a significant presence outside the U.S., now numbering approximately 550 lawyers. Included in that figure are approximately 80 litigators in Europe and 65 in Asia who possess local law and cross-border litigation, arbitration, and mediation experience. In addition, we have local law product liability and product recall experience for services provided to U.S. companies that fall under foreign jurisdiction as well as non-U.S. companies with operations or sales in the United States.

Contact(s)

Paul M. Pohl
Pittsburgh
Tel: 1.412.391.3939