When major incidents occur, companies often face simultaneous litigation, regulatory scrutiny, government investigations, public attention, and operational disruption. We help clients navigate these multifaceted crises from the earliest stages through trial, appeal, and resolution.

• Charter Communications, Maui Wildfires. Defending Charter Communications and its subsidiary, Spectrum, in multiple cases alleging that Spectrum’s cables contributed to the fires that destroyed the town of Lahaina and severely damaged other areas on Maui.
• Norfolk Southern, East Palestine Derailment. Serving as environmental and mass tort counsel in one of the most high-profile rail incidents in recent history, managing complex multiforum litigation involving chemical releases and a controlled vent and burn.
• Veolia, Flint Water Crisis. Defended Veolia S.A. and its US subsidiary in one of the highest-profile cases in the United States—including a putative class action and thousands of individual cases—and successfully defended the company through a six-month federal trial that resulted in a mistrial.
• United Airlines, September 11th. Defended United Airlines against wrongful death and property damage suits arising from the 9/11 terrorist hijacking and deliberate crashing of two transcontinental flights, with plaintiffs seeking billions of dollars in damages.
• CSX/Conrail, Paulsboro Derailment. Defended CSX/Conrail against 25+ lawsuits by more than 1,200 claimants following a train derailment and vinyl chloride release in New Jersey.

We are at the forefront of litigation involving PFAS, asbestos, industrial chemicals, legacy substances, and emerging contaminants. Our experience includes individual claims, class actions, MDLs, governmental actions, and environmental litigation involving complex scientific and causation issues.

• 3M, PFAS Litigation. Represented 3M as national counsel in high-stakes litigation involving thousands of claims pending nationwide alleging personal injury, property damage, and environmental harm from per- and polyfluorinated alkyl (PFAS) substances—including state attorneys general actions, the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam MDL, and numerous additional claims covered extensively by national media.
• Dow Chemical Company, Workplace Chemical Exposure. Defended Dow Chemical in cases involving alleged workplace exposure to ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, and other chemicals, developing science-based defense strategies that resulted in favorable settlement.
• Tetra Tech EC, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Defended Tetra Tech EC in related litigations arising from radiological remediation work in San Francisco, including False Claims Act and CERCLA claims, three mass tort actions, and development delay claims.
• Union Carbide Corporation, Asbestos Litigation. Represented Union Carbide as national counsel overseeing the defense of thousands of cases nationwide, handling complex Daubert/Frye hearings, and serving as lead trial counsel.
• Caterpillar, Cadmium Exposure. Defended Caterpillar in federal litigation by current and former employees alleging injury from cadmium exposure in manufacturing, ultimately inducing plaintiffs to dismiss without payment after extensive discovery and motion practice.

We defend pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device manufacturers in some of the nation’s largest and most complex product liability and mass tort proceedings.

• Medtronic, Sprint Fidelis Defibrillator Leads. Represented Medtronic as national counsel defending against claims brought by more than 9,000 plaintiffs following voluntary market withdrawal of defibrillator leads, obtaining dismissal of master complaints in both the federal MDL (affirmed by the Eighth Circuit) and coordinated state court proceedings.
• UCB, Inc., Reglan/Metoclopramide Litigation. Defended UCB, Inc. and its subsidiary in more than 8,000 product liability cases, convincing more than 100 courts to decline to adopt innovator liability—with favorable rulings affirmed by six federal circuits—and designing a national settlement program on favorable terms.
• Solvay S.A., Androgel MDL. Defended Solvay in two MDL proceedings involving claims related to testosterone medication, securing dismissal from one proceeding on jurisdictional grounds and advancing dismissal in the remaining proceeding.
• Endo, Opioid Litigation. Served as counsel to navigate discovery violation allegations across opioid litigation nationwide after a Tennessee chancellor declared Endo liable by default, managing the resulting avalanche of similar allegations in cases across the United States.

We regularly represent companies in contamination disputes, CERCLA matters, natural resource damages claims, remediation obligations, and environmental litigation involving significant scientific and technical issues.

• Avient, Calvert City. Represented Avient in litigation and arbitration to allocate costs at a Superfund site in Kentucky.
• Nicor, City of Evanston Contamination Claims. Represented Nicor in a two-week trial with more than 10 experts, with the federal court ruling there was no evidence of contamination of the city’s water mains or risk to its 77,000 residents.
• Cargill, CERCLA Superfund Defense. Prevailed on summary judgment at a CERCLA site in Grand Island, Nebraska—despite an aggressive plaintiffs’ campaign involving environmental activist Erin Brockovich—and used the ruling to establish insufficient evidence for EPA to identify Cargill as a potentially responsible party.
• Frontier Communications, Penobscot River. Defended Frontier in multiparty litigation over sediment contamination in Maine’s Penobscot River, negotiating a settlement limiting our client’s costs to $7.625 million against initial exposure exceeding $150 million, unanimously approved by the First Circuit.
• Tarkowski, Defeating EPA Access. Defeated EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice at trial when the agency sought to enter private property for a CERCLA removal action—the first recorded instance of EPA losing a demand for access under Section 104(e)—with the victory affirmed on appeal and the court ordering the government to pay attorneys’ fees.

Our lawyers advise and defend manufacturers, distributors, and retailers facing product liability claims, recalls, contamination events, consumer class actions, and related regulatory scrutiny.

• Cargill, Nationwide Turkey Recall. Served as national counsel defending consumer and product liability claims arising from a nationwide recall of more than 16 million pounds of turkey deli meats due to potential listeria contamination, successfully resolving all claims.
• U.S. Sugar Corporation, Class Action Victory. Secured a complete victory in a putative class action in the Southern District of Florida seeking property damages and medical monitoring related to pre-harvest sugarcane burning, with plaintiffs voluntarily dismissing all remaining claims.
• Kerry Foods, Diacetyl/Butter Flavoring. Served as national counsel in numerous food-flavoring cases alleging a causal link between injured lungs and inhalation of butter flavoring chemicals.

We represent individuals and companies facing federal or state prosecution for environmental and related crimes.

• Unlawful Disposal Investigation. Represented a construction company in federal criminal investigation of alleged unlawful disposal of hazardous waste and hazardous substances. No charges were filed.
• Clean Air Act. Represented a company in federal criminal investigation of alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. No charges were filed.
• Endangered Species Act. Represented an individual in criminal prosecution under the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act for alleged unlawful transactions involving protected wildlife. All charges were dismissed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

• 3M, Aqueous Fim-Forming Foam Litigation. Represented 3M as national counsel in high-stakes litigation involving thousands of claims pending nationwide alleging personal injury, property damage, and environmental harm from per- and polyfluorinated alkyl (PFAS) substances—including state attorneys general actions, the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam MDL, and numerous additional claims covered extensively by national media.
• Generac, SnapRS Litigation. Represented Generac Power Systems, Inc. and Generac Holdings, Inc. as lead counsel in MDL consolidating multiple putative class action lawsuits involving allegedly defective rapid shutdown components in solar power storage systems.
• Big Ten Conference, Concussion Litigation. Represented the Big Ten Conference in a federal MDL and individual lawsuits brought by former athletes alleging injuries from purported concussions suffered while attending member institutions.

Our appellate experience has helped shape product liability, environmental, and administrative law nationwide.

• Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service. Secured a unanimous Supreme Court victory reversing the designation of private land as “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act, holding that an area must first qualify as “habitat” before it can be designated a critical.
• “Waters of the United States” (National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense). Prevailed 9-0 on behalf of 14 major industry groups challenging EPA’s Clean Water Act jurisdiction—featured in Law360’s “Biggest Environmental Rulings of 2018”—and subsequently persuaded district courts that the 2015 Rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
• Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center. Secured a 7-1 Supreme Court victory holding that forest road stormwater runoff does not require NPDES permits under the Clean Water Act, on behalf of forest and paper products companies and trade groups.
• Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Won a landmark Supreme Court decision on behalf of SWANCC holding that the Corps’ rule extending “navigable waters” to include intrastate waters used by migratory birds exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act.
• Arkema, Hurricane Harvey Chemical Releases. Represented Arkema in an appeal from a class certification order arising out of airborne and waterborne chemical releases following Hurricane Harvey flooding. The Fifth Circuit vacated the class certification order, holding the district court abused its discretion by not adequately scrutinizing plaintiffs’ experts.

Environmental liabilities can materially affect the value, structure, and success of major transactions. Our lawyers help clients identify, quantify, allocate, and manage environmental risk in some of the largest transactions worldwide.

• Caterpillar/Bucyrus Acquisition. Conducted environmental due diligence on over 150 facilities worldwide on an expedited basis in connection with Caterpillar’s $7.6 billion acquisition of Bucyrus, a mining equipment manufacturer.
• Nestlé/Pfizer Infant Nutrition. Advised Nestlé on environmental due diligence and negotiation with respect to manufacturing facilities in China, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines, and Singapore in an $11.9 billion transaction, one of the largest acquisitions of 2012.
• U.S. Steel, Chicago South Works Brownfield Redevelopment. Represented U.S. Steel in the redevelopment of its former 537-acre steel manufacturing site—the largest brownfield in the City of Chicago—including obtaining No Further Remediation Letters and key environmental insurance policies to facilitate transformation into a new lakefront neighborhood.