Mass Tort and Class Action Litigation

Our attorneys have extensive experience defending class actions in the federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration, in a wide variety of subject matter areas. We have succeeded in defeating class actions via motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, defeating class certification motions, obtaining favorable settlements, and through victories at trial. Examples of our broad experience include:

• Defending various securities fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty class actions against officers and directors, accounting firms, and issuers and underwriters of securities.
• Defended national telecommunications carrier in nationwide consumer class actions (resolved via favorable settlements).
• Defended City of Baltimore and its housing authority in nationally significant federal class action brought by ACLU on behalf of 14,000 public housing residents alleging violations of fair housing laws (obtained defense verdicts after 4-week trial).
• Defended, and won by summary judgment, ERISA and common law class action brought by 7,800 retired maritime officers contesting the elimination of retirement benefits.
• Defended multinational chemical corporation in industry-wide property damage class action for lead paint remediation (obtained dismissals on motions).
• Defended major manufacturer in products liability class action involving over 10,000 plaintiffs.
• Defended industry trade group in tobacco class action involving alleged violation of consumer protection law, unfair trade practices and warranty claims (class was ultimately decertified by Maryland Court of Appeals).
• Defended, and won by summary judgment, Georgia state court consumer class action filed against credit counseling organization arising out of debt management and counseling practices.
• Ongoing defense of consumer class arbitration proceedings and related judicial review proceedings involving alleged violations of the federal Credit Repair Organizations Act, Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and the RICO statute, as well as various state consumer protection laws.

Our attorneys also have deep, demonstrated and state-of-the-art experience in defending, administering and handling mass tort and multiple claim cases. Our experience includes such diverse matters as:

• Trying to verdict in one trial 8,500 personal injury asbestos cases that were consolidated for trial on common issues of negligence, strict liability and failure-to-warn issues.
• Defending a national paper manufacturer in Maryland, Virginia and DC against alleged multi-chemical sensitivity claims by telephone operators arising out of alleged exposure to carbonless copy paper.
• Defense of 350 breast implant cases against a manufacturer of silicone breast implants in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.
• Defending consolidated claims by five Maryland municipalities to recover costs of remediating alleged MTBE-contaminated groundwater.
• Serving as national trial counsel for national companies in asbestos personal injury litigation.
• Defense of a group of manufacturers of welding combustibles against claims for alleged Parkinson's disease allegedly resulting from exposure to welding fumes.
• Representation of multiple defendants in defense of 10,000 consolidated asbestos personal injury claims.
• Defense of petroleum distributor against consolidated claims by 22 homeowners for alleged physical injuries, medical monitoring, emotional distress, property value diminution, and punitive damages, and to obtain funds for an alternate community water supply, allegedly resulting from groundwater contamination (summary judgment already obtained for defense on all claims except for alleged damage to property values and alternate water supply, thereby reducing exposure significantly prior to trial).

As the breadth of these cases illustrates, our firm is well-equipped and trained to defend, evaluate and administer complex personal injury and property damage cases involving multiple parties, issues and jurisdictions.