Experience
- Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices: Seroquel, Trasylol, Yaz/Yasmin, methadone, pamidronate, blood products, breast implants, IUDs, hemodialysis machines, PPA medications, feminine products, “Fen-Phen” and other diet drugs, natural rubber latex gloves, orthopedic implants and vaccines.
- Toxic Tort Litigation: chlorine, chlorine dioxide and other chemicals used widely in paper manufacturing; PCBs; benzene, MTBE and other petroleum products; Proposition 65; diesel fuel; hydraulic fracturing; secondhand smoke; asbestos; lead; uranium; manganese; isocyanates; herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and other agricultural chemicals; and airborne toxins, including mold and anthrax, in industrial, occupational and residential settings.
- Industrial, Transportation and Building Products: automobile airbags, trailers, automobile tires, boat motors, farm machinery, Homewrap™ and StuccoWrap™ Tyvek™ water-resistive barrier building products, industrial foam, automobile sensors and electrical components, industrial electrical equipment, and general building products.
- Consumer Products/Food & Beverage: home appliances, artificial sweeteners, cellular telephones, computers, utility lighters, toys, food/beverage products, vitamins, nutritional supplements, alcoholic beverages and playground equipment.
- Consumer Product Regulatory, Testing and Recalls: Toys, pool and spa products, juvenile and children’s products, child care articles, camping and sporting goods, skateboards, bicycle parts, computers, youth and adult apparel, electric blankets, electronics, batteries, modems, automotive parts and supplies, tools, home furnishings and decorative accessories, furniture and rugs, jewelry accessories, health care products, disposable consumer paper products and building supplies.
- Scientific Evidence: Seroquel, radiation/uranium ore, orthopedic implants, fertilizer, asbestos, wireless phones, diesel exhaust, neurology, infectious disease, phentermine and breast implants.
Accolades
Lisa Gilford:
- 2011 Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyers in California
- 2011 Daily Journal Top Woman Litigator
Bernard Taylor:
- Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
- Chambers
- Georgia Litigation: General Commercial
- Recognized by Minority Corporate Counsel Association as a "Leading Law Firm Rainmaker" in its 2010 "Best of the Best" edition.
- Best Lawyers in America
- Mass Tort Litigation (since 2005)
- Personal Injury Litigation (since 2005)
- Product Liability Litigation (since 2005)
- Super Lawyers
- Top 100 lawyers in Georgia (since 2004)
Jane Thorpe:
- Law 360's 2010 “Most Admired Product Liability Attorneys”
- Chambers
- Food & Beverages: Regulatory & Litigation
- Litigation: General Commercial
- Guide to the World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers (votes by in-house counsel and peers placed her among the Top 30)
- 25 “Women to Watch” in Atlanta
- Best Lawyers in America
- Mass Tort Litigation (since 2001)
Judson Graves:
- Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
- Chambers
- Georgia Litigation: General Commercial
- Best Lawyers in America
- Bet the Company Litigation (since 2001)
- Commercial Litigation (since 2001)
- Personal Injury Litigation (since 2001)
- In 2009, he was named one of three Georgia “Lawyers of the Year”
- Defense verdicts featured in The National Law Journal’s annual compilation of “Top Defense Winners” on three separate occasions.
- Super Lawyers
- Top 100 lawyers in Georgia (since 2004)
- In 2008 he was the third-highest point getter in the state in the Georgia Super Lawyers annual survey of the top lawyers in the state
Lawrie Demorest:
Bringing Value to Our Clients
Alston & Bird’s products liability lawyers are “litigation stoppers.” Time and time again, our products liability lawyers have stopped medical device, pharmaceutical and mass tort litigation in its tracks. A few of our notable “litigation stopper” victories include:
- Our novel specific-causation Daubert strategy in a federal MDL and in state courts in Delaware and New Jersey involving the drug Seroquel resulted in the exclusion of the plaintiffs’ specific-causation experts and summary judgment for our client in six separate opinions; it also prevented the plaintiffs from trying any of their bellwether cases in the federal MDL or consolidated state court litigation in Delaware.
- In the only “Fen-Phen” case tried against a phentermine defendant, we obtained a directed verdict in a Fayette, Mississippi, state court case based on scientific evidence issues.
- Our work as lead Daubert counsel on behalf of ConocoPhillips, General Atomics and Chevron in suits alleging that ionizing radiation/natural uranium ore dust caused 18 different types of cancers resulted in the exclusion of the plaintiffs’ key expert testimony and summary judgment for all defendants. This victory prevented any cases from going to trial and resulted in favorable settlements for all defendants.
- Our complete Daubert victory on behalf of Verizon Wireless, which resulted in the exclusion of six expert witnesses who asserted that wireless phones cause brain cancer, has prevented any case alleging health effects from wireless phone use from going to trial.
- We served as Denny’s national counsel in litigation alleging that Denny’s defrauded its customers by failing to disclose the sodium content of its food. Through an aggressive motion practice, we obtained the early dismissal of classes in two jurisdictions (Illinois and New Jersey), thereby preventing the types of “tag-along” suits that typically follow such consumer fraud class actions.