Products Liability, Toxic Tort and Mass Tort

Riker Danzig is recognized in New Jersey and around the country for its products liability and mass tort defense group. We have the proven ability to litigate substantial, novel and complex cases innovatively and efficiently. Since 2007, the Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers Client's Guide has ranked our Products Liability Practice as among the leading practices in New Jersey, praising our "strong expertise" and "notable profile" in the products liability arena. The Guide notes how the “breadth of coverage, allied with superlative client service, keeps the firm at the head of the market.”

Our attorneys handle complex civil litigation, products liability and toxic torts in both federal and state courts, at the trial and appellate levels. We are experienced in litigation assigned to New Jersey's mass tort court system and in handling class action litigation in the federal and state courts. We have consistently proven our ability to achieve successful results, working closely with our clients so that their litigation objectives and business goals are effectively achieved.

We have defended major pharmaceutical products liability cases for over 40 years. We serve as New Jersey counsel for many leading manufacturers of drugs and medical devices, defending wrongful death, personal injury, fraud and consumer fraud claims with respect to a variety of prescription pharmaceutical products, in individual and multi-plaintiff actions. We have been involved in some of the most significant pharmaceutical products liability decisions in New Jersey. We are New Jersey counsel to a major cigarette manufacturer in the defense of smoking and health litigation. We represent industrial manufacturers in defense of claims relating to alleged exposures, as well as the manufacturers of industrial and commercial machinery, equipment and supplies. We have extensive experience in the defense of class actions, and have successfully argued class certification issues in several state and federal courts.

In New Jersey, mass tort litigation has become increasingly important. The mass tort courts have been established to manage product liability, toxic tort and environmental cases involving claims by individuals, groups, governmental entities, and classes of plaintiffs seeking personal injury, medical monitoring, property, economic, and punitive damages. Riker Danzig is intimately familiar with the theories of fact and law that arise in the context of the mass tort court system. We have coordinated our products liability and toxic tort practice with the vast expertise of our environmental practice group to litigate these complex cases effectively. Additionally, Riker Danzig's attorneys and paralegals have experience with the technical and information services that support the necessary aspects of modern mass tort litigation, including filing, storage and presentation of information in electronic formats.

The results we have achieved in product liability, toxic tort and mass tort practice are a product of effective coordination with our clients and national and regional counsel. We are experienced and effective in cooperation with clients and coordinating counsel on the investigation of claims, discovery, class discovery, pretrial preparation, trial and appellate work. Our partners work hard to ensure that work is handled at an appropriate and cost-efficient level in conformance with each client's individual needs and procedures.

Our attorneys are frequently asked to speak at continuing education seminars about products liability and mass torts. One of our partners is past Chair of the Product Liability and Toxic Tort Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a Trustee of the Association of the Federal Bar. Another serves on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee charged with the revision of model civil jury instructions. Riker Danzig also has the considerable benefit of having two retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justices who offer an invaluable resource to our attorneys, including serving to advise in connection with novel, creative and complex legal issues.

Representative Cases

Riker Danzig has a long tradition of representing pharmaceutical companies. We defend manufacturers of a broad variety of prescription and non-prescription medications and medical devices.

The firm serves as New Jersey counsel to a major cigarette producer in the defense of smoking and health-related cases, and has been involved in those matters at the cutting edge of products liability law. These cases have included putative class actions as well as individual personal injury actions.

Riker Danzig has represented various defendants in mass tort litigation, including litigation involving latex gloves, clotting factor products in HIV/hemophilia litigation, FRT plywood, lead paint and utility by-products. We have been asked to write and file briefs in various other mass tort matters on behalf of amici curiae.

We represent chemical manufacturers in connection with toxic tort claims involving personal injury from exposure to products used in the workplace, as well as consumer claims regarding chemical products. We currently serve as New Jersey counsel to several defendants alleged to have supplied poly vinyl chloride and vinyl chloride in connection with individual actions and a putative class action seeking damages from alleged overexposure to vinyl chloride by employees at a New Jersey plant over the course of several decades. We represent the interests of a national utility corporation in mass toxic tort litigation involving its formerly owned manufactured gas plant sites where some surrounding residents are claiming, under various theories of law, a right to monetary recovery for alleged property damage and personal injury as a result of alleged exposure to by-products of the gas manufacturing process conducted on those sites over fifty years ago. We have also represented utilities in products liability and negligence actions involving explosions and fires, as well as in commercial disputes relating to energy production equipment. We obtained a substantial settlement on behalf of a local utility in a lawsuit seeking $200 million in damages from a manufacturer of defective components for the loss of use of two nuclear power stations and the cost of replacement power.

We represented one of the country's largest owners of commercial real estate in a lawsuit seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars of costs involved in abating asbestos building products in some 60 building complexes throughout the United States.

The firm has served as New Jersey counsel to a firearms manufacturer in litigation brought by New Jersey governmental entities seeking damages in the form of increased expenses due to firearm violence within cities. We have served as New Jersey counsel for a major tire manufacturer in connection with a class action brought in New Jersey seeking damages under New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act relating to alleged defects in tire products.

We represent manufacturers of industrial products in connection with workplace and non-workplace personal injury matters relating to machinery and devices, including products such as press machines, injection molding machines, blast cleaning machines, meat processors, multi-piece wheel rims, tractor-trailer trucks, asphalt anti-icing additives and pool chemicals.

The firm represented a manufacturer of components of the device used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had sued numerous companies for damages resulting from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, alleging that our client's products used to make the bomb could have been made less dangerous. These claims were dismissed.

We have defended clients in connection with automobile negligence cases involving their sales personnel and their product transport drivers.

Riker Danzig's experience in products liability and toxic tort litigation spans nearly four decades. The firm served as New Jersey counsel for a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in Bendectin litigation, and as national coordinating counsel for that same corporation in suits brought by foreign nationals in federal and state courts in the United States. We have effectively drawn upon this institutional experience and successfully adapted to the changing dynamics and challenges that modern complex and mass litigation present.

Governmental Affairs Practice

Our products liability group is complimented by Riker Danzig's governmental affairs group, which represents clients in legislative matters and guides them through the complexities of dealing with administrative agencies. Because of the firm's extensive first-hand experience in government, we can realistically apprise clients of the prospects of obtaining their objectives, and can offer imaginative and workable solutions to a variety of their problems. We have provided governmental affairs services over the past several years to a variety of clients, including AT&T, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, General Electric, Bayer Corporation and First Energy/JCP&L.

We are experienced in investigating the dynamics behind particular bills, and in developing legislative strategy to advance our clients' interests. In addition, we are often called upon to lobby our clients' interests and secure legislative sponsorship and passage of bills, some of which we draft for those clients. We testify before committees and assist clients in preparing testimony. We have worked both independently and in concert with appropriate coalitions in support of or in opposition to legislation. We played a lead role in securing passage of landmark legislation reforming products liability law in New Jersey, which has been considered a prototype by industry in other states. We have also had a significant role in crafting aspects of New Jersey's recent health insurance and property and casualty insurance reform laws.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Increasingly, suits are being settled through alternative dispute resolution. The firm regularly represents claimants and respondents in all manner of arbitration proceedings. This practice compliments our products liability, toxic tort and mass tort practice. The breadth of our practice allows us to offer unique services to those seeking alternative methods of resolving disputes. In providing these services, our attorneys bring expertise in matters pertaining to employment, intellectual property, family law, commercial law, construction, environmental matters, utilities, health care, trust and estates, insurance, business, real estate and personal injuries. The attorneys in our ADR group regularly serve as arbitrators, mediators and negotiators. They also provide services in managing complex cases, including serving as special masters and discovery masters.