Chemical exposure and groundwater contamination litigation significantly impacts industry in a continually evolving landscape of new theories of liability. Butler Snow has successfully represented global manufacturers and suppliers against claims of bodily injury resulting from exposure and property damage.
Our team’s depth of knowledge of the medical and scientific issues involved in these cases enables us to effectively handle complex claims in a cost-effective manner. We are highly skilled at managing and coordinating expert discovery by identifying thought-leader experts and working closely with our experts through every stage of litigation.
We have been successful at implementing well-designed mediation settlement strategies, but when the cases proceed to trial, we have extensive experience in applying pre-trial management strategies developed through leadership roles coordinating mass torts. We have an established track record of providing a non-competitive ecosystem for creating trial teams that combine the skills of lawyers from firms throughout the country. Our teams have tried numerous chemical exposure cases to verdict.
Highlights
- Represented a manufacturer of PCBs as trial counsel in two jurisdictions, including the successful litigation to full defense verdict of a case before a Los Angeles jury alleging that PCBs caused the plaintiffs’ cancer.
- Served on a national coordinating counsel (NCC) team defending a target benzene defendant facing approximately 175 individual lawsuits in more than 30 states.
- Developed a comprehensive strategy to tell a corporate story through coordinated discovery responses, locate and cultivate relationships with retired employees to serve as corporate witnesses, identify and retain medical and industrial hygiene experts, pursue discovery to support dispositive and expert motions, and demonstrate a willingness to try cases when necessary, even in some of the nation’s most difficult venues.
- Defended community-wide groundwater contamination cases involving TCE plumes, involving dozens of plaintiffs and multiple lawsuits, including attorney general actions related to two different sites:
- Obtained an advantageous settlement of the personal injury claims in one action after successful expert motions practice winnowed the claims;
- Settled the property damage claims in the other action using a strategic value assurance mediation approach combined with a robust expert presentation.
- Currently serving as monitoring counsel in community-wide litigation involving multiple TCE plumes across different facilities resulting in personal injury claims.
- Currently representing a leading chemical manufacturer in environmental and product liability claims alleging groundwater contamination and personal injury; includes roles on the management, case workup, expert, motions, and appellate trial counsel teams.
