Class
action litigation has dramatically increased in recent years. Aggrieved
plaintiffs routinely transform their individual claims into class claims,
magnifying even seemingly trivial complaints into ones that cannot be ignored.
This trend, combined with plaintiffs' lawyers' affection for Louisiana courts,
presents unique and continuing challenges to the business community. We help meet
that challenge with an exclusively defense-oriented class action practice.
Jones
Walker's interdisciplinary class action attorneys have successfully defended a
broad spectrum of claims most typically asserted in class actions:
- Antitrust
- Business &
Commercial Litigation
- Energy
- Environmental &
Toxic Torts
- Employee Benefits,
ERISA & Executive Compensation
- Labor &
Employment
- Products Liability
- Telecommunications &
Utilities
We have
defended nearly 100 class action lawsuits in recent years. Our experience
includes state-only and nationwide classes, as well as multi-district
litigation.
Presently,
Jones Walker is representing several defendants named in the In re FEMA
Formaldehyde Litigation, No. 07-MDL-1873, a large scale multi-district
proceeding pending before Judge Kurt Engelhardt of the U.S.D.C. for the Eastern
District of Louisiana. The litigation includes claims by approximately 30,000
individual claimants. Jones Walker's trial team includes lawyers who have
been appointed by the Court to the defense steering committee, and who are
actively involved in working with the defense liaison counsel to coordinate the
litigation. Through its representation of multiple defendants, our team has
played an active role in managing the litigation.
Our
strategy we employ in each case is determined by the unique facts of each case,
but is always designed to seek an early resolution in the most appropriate
forum, whether state or federal. We have been successful in aggressively
removing cases to federal court. When competing class actions are filed around
the country in federal courts, we seek to use multi-district litigation as
appropriate.
We have
filed early motions to dismiss before class certification is ever addressed,
e.g., In re Air Bag Prods. Liab. Litig., 7 F. Supp.2d 792 (E.D. La.
1998) (MDL No. 1181), where Jones Walker served as defendants' liaison counsel.
In other situations not readily susceptible to motions to dismiss, we have
aggressively prepared for class certification hearings, have succeeded in
limiting discovery to class issues only, and have ultimately defeated
certification. Two recent examples are Maldonado v. Ochsner Clinic
Foundation, 493 F.3d 521 (5th Cir. 2007) and Cole v. General Motors Corp.,
484 F.3d 717 (5th Cir. 2007). Where appropriate, however, we have negotiated
class settlements and guided the settlements through the court approval and
notice procedures.
Our attorneys have worked with the Louisiana
State Legislature to accomplish class action reform, including the significant
revisions in 1997 to Louisiana's class action law. Special counsel F. Charles
McMains, Jr. is a former member
of the Louisiana House of Representatives; during his tenure, Mr. McMains
authored legislation completely revising Louisiana's class action articles,
which incorporated much of Federal Rule 23 as well as other provisions designed
to curb abuse of class actions. He also authored the legislation repealing
punitive damages, joint and several liability, strict liability, and the
medical monitoring remedy.
