Ray Mullady, a partner in Blank Rome's Washington, DC office, is a trial lawyer with more than 25 years of commercial litigation experience, including more than 20 jury trials.
Drawing on his extensive trial experience in a number of areas, Mr. Mullady helps life sciences companies successfully defend high-stakes product liability and toxic tort litigation. For example, as a member of the firm's Marcellus Shale litigation team, Mr. Mullady presently is assisting clients with issues and claims relating to hydraulic fracturing activity and other aspects of shale gas drilling and production.
He has tried cases to verdict in state and federal courts throughout the country and before arbitration panels, and has briefed and argued cases before numerous federal and state appellate courts.
Mr. Mullady is an active member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, where he serves on the Drug, Device and Biotechnology Committee and the Toxic and Hazardous Substances Litigation Committee.
Mr. Mullady writes and lectures frequently on liability prevention, defense strategy, and other litigation topics. Publications include:
· Congressional Democrats' Report on Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals Provides No Evidence of Chemicals' Potential Harm to Human Health or the Environment," Marcellus Shale Alert, Blank Rome LLP, April 2011 (No. 4).
· "Generic Drugs Under Attack: The Case for Supreme Court Reversal of Demahy and Mensing," Co-Author with Dior Watanabe, Rx for the Defense (Fall 2010).
· "Qui Tams: Being Prepared for Whistleblowers," Co-Author with Christopher O'Connell, ACI's 3rd National Conference for the Drug & Device Industries, June 24-25, 2008, Philadelphia, PA.
· "Protecting Trade Secrets and Other Intellectual Property in Drug and Medical Device Litigation," Rx for the Defense DRI (Winter 2004), Co-Author with S. Hansen and J. Pelletier.
· "Everything You Needed and Wanted to Know About Black Box Warnings," Drug & Medical Device Litigation, Defense Counsel Journal, Vol. 68, No. 1 January, 2001.
· "Everything You Wanted to Know About Black Box Warnings," Drug & Medical Device Litigation, Defense Practice Course Book, The DRI Course Book Series, April 2000.
· "The Federal Preemptive Effect of FDA Pre-Market Approval on Product Liability Claims For Regulated Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices," Food, Drug, Cosmetic and Medical Device Law Device Law Digest, Vol. aa, No. e, October 1994, Co-Author with J. Quigley.
· "Sources of Toxics Liability to Private Parties, The Defense and Management of Toxics Litigation," Government Institutes, Inc., 1990, Co-Author with R. Blue.
· "Considerations in the Management and Defense of Pharmaceutical Litigation in the United States," Fulbright Papers 9, Products Liability, Insurance and the Pharmaceutical Industry, 1990, G. Howells (Ed.).
· "Products Liability Law Manual," Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, Inc., 1990, Co-Author with J. Dewey and F. Burch.
· "Probation Revocation in: The Effect of Nonfinal and Reversed Criminal Convictions,"42 Maryland Law Review, 1996, 1983.
Representative Matters
· Life Sciences Litigation. Mr. Mullady represents life sciences companies in product liability and toxic tort litigation. He has defended clients in some of the most celebrated litigation in this area in the past three decades, obtaining key victories for manufacturers of prescription medications, childhood vaccines, medical devices, herbicides, chemicals, asbestos and tobacco products.
· Shale Oil & Gas. Mr. Mullady and the firm currently act as national counsel for a leading oilfield services company in regard to issues relating to shale oil and gas development.
· CPSC Investigations and Litigation. Mr. Mullady currently represents clients in the juvenile products industry in Section 15 investigations and litigation initiated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Department of Justice, as well as product liability litigation involving such products. He also assists clients in challenging and responding to reports of harm published on the CPSC's saferproducts.gov database.
· Air France 447 Litigation. Mr. Mullady represents a leading manufacturer of avionics in litigation arising from the crash of Air France 447 off the coast of Rio De Janeiro, on June 1, 2009, which resulted in the deaths of 228 passengers and crew and the initiation of 56 lawsuits in various US courts. The cases are consolidated in a multi-district litigation in the Northern District of California before the Honorable Charles Breyer.
· First Amendment Litigation. Mr. Mullady currently represents an individual defendant in a high profile commercial defamation case brought by a Fortune 100 corporation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In the same case he is also lead counsel on an interlocutory appeal to the D.C. Circuit on an issue of first impression in the D.C. Circuit involving the application of the D.C. Anti-SLAPP Act to cases in federal court. Over the course of his nearly 30-year career, Mr. Mullady has represented individuals and media outlets as libel and First Amendment counsel. In 2000, he tried to verdict a two-week libel case involving a public figure plaintiff in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County Maryland.
· Daubert/Frye-Reed. Mr. Mullady represents clients litigating Daubert and Frye-Reed challenges to "junk science" and unreliable plaintiff expert testimony. In 2009, he was part of a team of lawyers who extended the boundaries of Frye-Reed in Maryland to preclude expert testimony hypothesizing that the presence of the preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines causes neurological defects, such as autism. Blackwell v. Wyeth, Inc., Court of Appeals of Maryland, No. 112, September Term 2008 (May 7, 2009). In 1996, he secured the disqualification of the lead, national plaintiff expert in tire/rim "mismatch" personal injury litigation, in the District of Nebraska. He argued the appeal of that decision before the Eighth Circuit, and obtained an affirmance of the lower court's Daubert ruling in Pietzmeier v. Hennessy Industries, Inc., 97 F.3d 293 (8th Cir. 1996), cert denied 117 S.Ct. 1552 (1997). This case was a precursor to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Kuhmo Tire, Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999), holding that Daubert applies not only to testimony based on scientific knowledge, but also to testimony based on technical or other specialized knowledge.
Historical Matters:
· W.R. Grace Bankruptcy. Mr. Mullady was lead trial counsel for the court-appointed representative of future asbestos personal injury claimants in In re W.R. Grace & Co., Case No. 01-1137 (JKF), in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Following several weeks of trial in the Spring of 2008, W.R. Grace reached an agreement with the present and future asbestos claimants that would allow it to emerge from bankruptcy.
· Wyeth/Pfizer. Mr. Mullady represented Wyeth in numerous product liability actions involving thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines, diet medications, DTP and oral polio vaccines, tetracycline, anti-depressants, and over-the-counter products.
· Roche Molecular Systems. Mr. Mullady was counsel for Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. and Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc. in U.S. ex rel. Promega v. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc., et al., a qui tam case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The case involved patents and licensing programs relating to Roche's Nobel Prize-winning polymerase chain reaction ("PCR") process for amplifying DNA for research, diagnostic and forensic uses. Mr. Mullady led a team of lawyers who obtained a dismissal of the case with prejudice in September 2004.
· American Cyanamid Company. Mr. Mullady represented American Cyanamid in Worm v. American Cyanamid Co., 970 F.2d 1301, on remand, 1992 WL 386062, aff'd 5F.3d 744 (4th Cir. 1993), a herbicide product liability case in which he obtained summary judgment on the basis of federal preemption. He argued the case twice before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, each time obtaining an affirmance of the trial court's preemption ruling. Mr. Mullady also represented American Cyanamid in a series of lead pigment-in-paint case spending in state and federal courts around the country. Thecases included actions on behalf of states, municipalities, and governmental units, private classes and individuals, and involved both personal injury and property damage claims.
· Sioux City Air Crash Defendant. Mr. Mullady represented a defendant in 18 wrongful death and personal injury cases filed in the Baltimore City, Maryland state court arising out of the 1989 Sioux City, Iowa air crash disaster involving the MDL DC-10 aircraft. Although the plaintiffs alleged that the design of the hydraulic systems that operated the aircraft's flight controls was defective, discovery established (and the National Transportation Safety Board found) that the probable cause of the accident was a fatigue crack originating from a previously undetected metallurgical defect in the stage 1 fan disk manufactured by a co-defendant. Mr. Mullady first-chaired all motions, hearing and court appearances in the Maryland cases and was lead counsel on all discovery and motions practice in that venue.
· Major Tobacco Company. Mr. Mullady was regional counsel for a major tobacco company in individual smoker litigation in three mid-Atlantic states and represented the company in the Maryland Attorney General's medical cost reimbursement case against the major tobacco companies. He also defended the company in a class action lawsuit that was decertified on mandamus by the Maryland Court of Appeals.
· Intellectual Property. In 2002, Mr. Mullady tried to verdict a four-week patent infringement case involving an over-the-counter drug product in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 2001-2002, he was lead counsel on behalf of the inventor of a revolutionary protease inhibitor AIDS treatment drug in a US $1 billion fraud and breach of contract case, which was resolved.
Memberships
Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Defense Research Institute
International Association of Defense Counsel
Events
PENNSYLVANIA'S OIL & GAS AMENDMENTS: A DISCUSSION OF THE IMPACTS AND NEXT STEPS
[Event]
Webinar
March 1, 2012
Margaret Anne Hill, Mary Ann Mullaney, Christopher A. Lewis and Raymond G. Mullady, Jr.
3RD ANNUAL SIGNIFICANT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING THE CHEMICAL, OIL AND GAS INDUSTRIES
[Event]
Houston, TX and Philadelphia, PA
December 7 and December 13, 2011
Kevin J. Bruno, Francis E. Dehel, Heather L. Demirjian, Jeanne M. Grasso, Margaret Anne Hill, Jay P. Lessler, et al.
7TH ANNUAL EMERGING ISSUES FOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
[Event]
Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY
November 4th and November 11th, 2011
Susan L. Bickley, Mark Blondman, Sheila E. Branyan, Edward N. Cahn, Cheryl S. Chang, William R. Cruse, et al.
BLANK ROME'S SHALE OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT GROUP SPONSORS SHALE GAS INSIGHT CONFERENCE
[Event]
Shale Gas Insight 2011
Philadelphia Convention Center
September 7-8, 2011
Margaret Anne Hill, Mary Ann Mullaney, Christopher A. Lewis, Jeffrey S. Moller, Laurie Alberts Salita, Raymond G. Mullady, Jr., et al.
MARCELLUS SHALE GAS DEVELOPMENT IN NEW YORK STATE: THE ISSUES AND THE PLAYERS
[Event]
Online via webcast, or live at
Blank Rome LLP
The Chrysler Building, 405 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
June 29, 2011
Margaret Anne Hill, Jeffrey S. Moller, Raymond G. Mullady, Jr. and Mary Ann Mullaney
THE LATEST IN MEDICAL DEVICE LITIGATION
[Event]
The American Law Journal
WFMZ-TV 69
January 31, 2011
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr.
Publications
DEFENDING MARCELLUS SHALE GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION CLAIMS: THE CASE AGAINST CLASS ACTIONS AND OTHER THEORIES OF LIABILITY
[Article]
Defense Counsel Journal (Vol. 79, No. 2)
April 2012
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr., Sandra J. Doyle, Charles A. Fitzpatrick IV and Angela M. Guarino
ENVIRONMENTAL AND LEGAL ISSUES SURROUNDING DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARCELLUS SHALE
[Article]
Aspatore Special Report: Navigating Legal Issues around the Marcellus Shale (Thomson Reuters/Aspatore)
2011
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr., Joseph F. Speelman and Margaret Anne Hill
CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS' REPORT ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING CHEMICALS PROVIDES NO EVIDENCE OF CHEMICALS' POTENTIAL HARM TO HUMAN HEALTH OR THE ENVIRONMENT
[Alert]
Marcellus Shale Alert
April 2011 (No. 4)
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr.
MARCELLUS SHALE WASTEWATER: COMMENTS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES' SERIES
[Alert]
Marcellus Shale Alert
March 2011 (No. 3)
James T. Smith, Joseph F. Speelman, Margaret Anne Hill, Raymond G. Mullady, Jr., Mary Ann Mullaney and Heather L. Demirjian
GENERIC DRUGS UNDER ATTACK: THE CASE FOR SUPREME COURT REVERSAL OF DEMAHY AND MENSING
[Article]
Rx for the Defense
October 11, 2010
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr. and Dior T. Watanabe
SIFTING THROUGH THE WRECKAGE: AN ANALYSIS OF MDL PRACTICE, JURISDICTION AND DAMAGES IN AN AIR CRASH SCENARIO
[Article]
Prepared for Presentation to Global Aerospace
July 2010
Laurie Alberts Salita, Raymond G. Mullady, Jr. and Elaine D. Solomon
News
BLANK ROME HOSTS PROGRAM ON LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING THE CHEMICAL, OIL & GAS INDUSTRIES IN PHILADELPHIA
[Press Release]
December 13, 2011
Kevin J. Bruno, Francis E. Dehel, Heather L. Demirjian, Jeanne M. Grasso, Margaret Anne Hill, Jay P. Lessler, et al.
DECIDING A VENUE FOR BP SPILL LITIGANTS
[Media Coverage]
June 22, 2010
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr.
RAY MULLADY JOINS FIRM & ENHANCES WASHINGTON OFFICE'S LITIGATION TEAM
[Press Release]
January 4, 2010
Raymond G. Mullady, Jr.