This past January, we stepped into the new decade with an ambitious caseload backed by the full momentum of 30 years of leadership in personal injury mass tort litigation.
Our goal?
First, to build on 2019, a year of powerful successes when we expanded our fight for America’s families in these challenging arenas:
- Big Pharma – prosecuting cases against pharmaceuticals causing hearing loss, as well as faulty hip and knee implants, and surgical mesh products.
- E-cigarettes – litigating JUUL e-cigarette’s causal relationship to serious and occasionally fatal heart and lung conditions, in addition to youth addiction and behavioral consequences.
- Environmental harm – representing towns and municipalities to address the dangers caused by PFASs in their communities and water supplies; continued national leadership in cancer-causing pesticide litigation.
Then, on to blaze new trails in 2020.
Already our award-winning team was litigating a diverse new series of cases targeting pharmaceuticals causing eye damage, the weighty cost of opioid drug abuse placed on local municipalities, and the deceptive cost of children’s life insurance/savings plans.
We were also increasing our pursuit of justice for victims of child sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Our attorneys are filing cases and fighting the battle against the organizations who protected these perpetrators.
Then came March and the unthinkable. COVID 19 shut down society and the economy; home became the 24/7 center of life and work. We streamlined and adapted in record time.
Informing our decisions throughout this time is our belief that every crisis — even one that brings life to a screeching halt — holds within it the possibility for learning. To deliver on our bedrock commitment to provide the highest quality of service possible to every client, we optimized technology.
Although there sometimes may be a computer screen between us, we still hold face-to-face meetings. Our phones are busier than ever as we advise, consult, and answer your questions with as much precision as possible.
While the courts are open, even with limitations, we are still focused on your cases. Our expert team of professionals have been diligently working to obtain, analyze, and assemble documents pertinent to your cases.
We confer with fellow professionals when needed. And we continue our conscientious scrutiny of emergent trends to anticipate where our mass tort expertise can make a difference.
Throughout this most difficult of times, the victims of COVID-19 and their families have remained in our thoughts. We are saddened by so much loss, and our hearts go out to all affected. Our resolve to do well — by all of our fellow Americans — has only grown stronger.
As the states and cities continue to open up, we eagerly begin returning to our offices. As always, we continue to prosecute your case to the full extent of our capabilities and deliver the justice you deserve.
Measurable Success as Our Momentum Continues
2019 Achievements
- #1 Product Liability firm — nationwide based on number of cases filed (2015 to 2019) according to Law360.com.
- #1 Asbestos litigation firm — New York City based on number of cases filed.
- #2 Asbestos litigation firm — U.S. based on number of mesothelioma cases filed.
- 17,285 — the number of new, retained clients we’re fighting for.
2020 Achievements
- Top MDL firm — by number of appointments to federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) leadership positions.
- $400 million settlement — dicamba MDL litigation agreement reached with Monsanto.
- Financial settlement for clients — Roundup® weed killer cancer litigation settled with Monsanto.
Exceptional Individual Honors and Accolades
- Charles M. Ferguson, Asbestos Litigation Practice Group Chair named the 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers (New York Mass Tort, Plaintiff).
- Robin L. Greenwald, Environmental Practice Group Chair appointed to national leadership as lead co-counsel in the Roundup multidistrict litigation.
- Ellen Relkin, Drug & Medical Device Litigation Practice Group Co-Chair testified before Congress regarding its pending legislation involving viability of the “SNAP removal loophole.” Co-lead counsel in In Re Juul Labs, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, Northern District of California.
- James Bilsborrow, Environmental Associate Attorney, named to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the dicamba multidistrict litigation.
