Representative Cases for Mass Tort Litigation

LCBF manages the cost and complexities of our clients’ litigations involving hundreds to thousands of claimants and thousands to millions of documents on the local, regional and national level. We recognize the importance of early identification of key factual, expert and legal issues.

As trial lawyers at heart, we continually hone in on core evidence and defense themes and meticulously shape strategies for resolution. Always focused on vital issues, we work diligently to defeat class certifications, develop and support summary judgment, Frye and Daubert motions, and stay ahead of adversaries. As appropriate, we mobilize and coordinate teams of attorneys, office staff and technicians, and establish document databases and extranet sites with the goal of containing the inherent costs.

As a result, we have successfully handled and tried a variety of mass toxic tort actions. For example, in connection with its representation of Amtrak in the MDL arising out of the May 12, 2015 derailment in Philadelphia, which generated over 120 lawsuits on behalf of more than 150  passengers who suffered injuries and the families of passengers who died in the accident, LCBF negotiated a $265 million global resolution with the Plaintiffs’ Management Committee. On July 31, 2017, U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis lauded Mark Landman in a written opinion approving the settlement. He found Mark “instrumental to a timely and fair disposition of this MDL” and “Amtrak’s early acknowledgment of liability and … agreement to tender $265 million upfront, rather than four or five years in the future… allowed everyone to focus on settlement.” He thanked Mark and his counterparts for “exceptional” leadership and the parties for minimizing costs, “working together toward realizing shared goals and objectives as quickly as practicable,” and enhancing “the overall quality of the litigation process, and hopefully … public confidence in the court as an institution."

We defended a case venued in St. Louis, where over one hundred railroad workers in a locomotive maintenance facility claimed exposure to Trichloroethylene (TCE) and accompanying neurological and respiratory impairments. A very favorable settlement was achieved just prior to summations, demonstrating the importance of relying on lawyers who have the wherewithal to both properly prepare and successfully try cases of this magnitude.

We successfully tried the lead asbestos case of one hundred asbestos cases brought against a railroad and have taken over 50 asbestos verdicts.

We also tried the first consolidated “toxic mold” case in New York involving over 450 plaintiffs in the Phipps Mold Litigation, during which we succeeded on a Frye motion that eliminated all claims of neurological impairment due to toxic mold exposure. Over two months into trial, a highly favorable settlement was reached.

In addition, we successfully achieved dismissal for one client, and continue to proactively defend other clients, against claims of exposure to toxic fumes arising from the World Trade Center debris.

As with our other practice areas involving large amounts of information, our clients count on our skills at efficiently managing and assessing electronic discovery and very large volumes of documents, and protecting them from spoliation claims.