Litigation
Product Liability & Mass Torts
Roetzel understands the significant impact that litigation involving products liability and/or mass torts can have on a business. Our experienced attorneys have the skills and knowledge to implement the best strategy to protect our clients’ interests.
Roetzel’s focus on early case assessment and collaboration with our clients often results in effective results that are cost-efficient.
Whether the matter involves developing preventative measures, defending a matter through the course of litigation, or implementing an alternative dispute approach, our attorneys focus on developing customized plans to achieve success for our clients. Our team serves as national, regional and local counsel in products liability and mass tort matters and has extensive experience with any size case from individual lawsuits to mass tort filings involving multi-defendants to class actions. Roetzel’s focus on early case assessment and collaboration with our clients often results in effective results that are cost-efficient.
Product Liability:
Our Product Liability attorneys provide experienced, aggressive counsel to manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of consumer and industrial products on a national, regional and statewide basis involving claims of manufacture and design defect, duty to warn, product misuse, and other allegations. We represent clients in a broad range of industries, including automobiles; consumer products, construction equipment, industrial equipment, food and flavoring, medical devices, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electrical and mechanical products. Our team also advises clients on appropriate responses to events that could generate product liability, personal injury or property damage claims, and we help our client manage expectations and requirements of federal and state government regulatory agencies.
Mass Torts:
Roetzel’s Mass Tort attorneys immerse themselves in the scientific and medical issues that are associated with mass tort cases, so they are fully prepared to defend our clients. Our team handles a significant amount of cases involving asbestos, talc, silica, benzene, diacetyl, mold, methane gas, and other chemicals, and has tremendous experience serving as national and/or regional counsel in these cases. Our team litigates matters involving alleged injuries and property damage claims resulting from contamination from fires, spills, toxic substances, exposure to chemicals, building and commercial products, and air, water and soil contamination.
Our Experience
Product Liability
We Serve as:
- National counsel for manufacturer of food flavoring products in defense of personal injury claims
- Ohio counsel in cosmetic talc cases involving product liability allegations
- National coordinating counsel for a major tire manufacturer in product liability lawsuits
- National coordinating counsel for a major tool manufacturer in product liability lawsuits
- Statewide product liability counsel for a Fortune 500 diversified manufacturing company
- General counsel for an automotive association and successfully represented the standardizing body for the tire, rim, valve and allied parts industry in products liability litigation involving tire and rim issues
- Regional counsel to a major ladder manufacturer in product liability lawsuits
We Represented:
- A manufacturer in a product liability claim by an employee who was injured due to an exploding aerosol can while working on an assembly line
- A chemical manufacturing company before the Florida Department of Health regarding an alleged product violation
- A motorcycle manufacturer in an alleged product defect case
- A circular saw power tool manufacturer in product liability matters
- A power tools, equipment, and accessories manufacturer on a product liability/personal injury case involving brain injury from a pneumatic nailer
- An oil and gas well operator in federal court against allegations of negligent drilling and fracking
We Have Also:
- Served as lead trial counsel representing a latex glove manufacturer involved in latex product liability litigation
- Designated national coordinating counsel for product liability manufacturers involved in trend lawsuits
- Handled fire litigation for both a television manufacturer and an appliance manufacturer
- Coordinated discovery on a national basis in product liability cases for a tire manufacturer
- Defended a prominent foreign manufacturer against claims of negligent design and manufacture involving serious personal injury
- Defended more than 30 foreign object food-related cases throughout the U.S.
- Obtained a dismissal for a food manufacturer in a canning defect case
- Obtained summary judgment for an equipment rental and security company in a traumatic brain injury and death case
Representative Products Defended by Roetzel:
| Adhesives | E-Cigarettes | Perfumes |
| Algaecides | Fertilizers | Pharmaceuticals |
| Apparel | Firearms | Plumbing Equipment |
| Appliances | Foods | Saws |
| Asbestos | Gas Propane Dispensing/ Delivery Systems | Silicas |
| Benzenes | Hair Dyes | Tree Chippers/ Shredders |
| Brake Manufacturers | Heating Systems | Televisions |
| Chemicals | Herbicides & Pesticides | Tires & Rubber Products |
| Clothes Dryers | Industrial Equipment & Machinery | Toasters |
| Coffee Makers | Ladders | Tools |
| Consumer Products | Medical devices | Trailers |
| Dishwashing Machines | Microwaves | Tree Stands |
| Electrical Equipment | Nailers |
Mass Torts
We Serve as:
- National counsel for manufacturer of food flavoring products in numerous actions nationwide involving diacetyl claims
- Ohio counsel in cosmetic talc litigation
- Ohio counsel in asbestos litigation for the world’s largest integrated oil company
- Ohio counsel in asbestos litigation for two large domestic auto manufacturers
- Counsel for food manufacturer in defense of claims alleging lung injury due to butter flavoring
- Counsel for a manufacturer of gaskets and other high-temperature sealing products in more than 3,000 asbestos cases
We Represented:
- A Fortune 50 domestic automobile manufacturer against claims that the plaintiff developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos
- A leading provider of agricultural products and solutions against a plaintiff claim that her husband's exposure to PCBs caused his leukemia and death
- An energy company in a personal injury case involving discharge of fly ash emissions
- A global supplier of metallurgical products against a claimed class action for personal injury and property damage as a result of exposure to radioactive slag
- Property owners against allegations brought on behalf of two plaintiffs that they were exposed to lead in an apartment and developed severe brain damage and developmental disabilities
- A submersible pump manufacturer against plaintiffs' claims that their various medical problems were caused by exposure to PAHs from lubricating oil used in the pump, which had leaked into their well water
- A shared counsel group of chemical manufacturers against a former employee's family claim that exposure to toluene and xylene caused the employee's leukemia and death
- A Fortune 250 chemical manufacturer in a wrongful death case in which an employee alleged that exposure to paints and other chemicals in the workplace caused an employee's decedent to contract nasopharyngeal cancer
- Several large chemical manufacturers in a shared counsel group in a case involving exposure to 1,1,1 trichloroethane
- Eight chemical manufacturers in a vinyl chloride monomer exposure case in which a railroad worker claimed cancer as a result of exposure to various manufacturers' products in tanker railcars in rail yards
- A large local company in a suit involving exposure to halon gas alleged to cause permanent respiratory damage
We Defended:
- A class action suit involving radioactive slag which was accidentally spread throughout a community as driveway gravel, road aggregate, and foundation material
- A lawsuit by a school district resulting from a ground water plumb containing TCE that migrated below the school and to the local water system
- A lawsuit for property damage allegedly resulting from release of hexavalent chromium
- Cases alleging migration of methane gas from solid waste landfills and construction and demolition landfills
- A mold remediation and drying contractor against allegations of bodily injury and property damage because of exposure to mold. The plaintiffs were homeowners who hired the contractor to complete mold
- A lawsuit dealing with allegations of chemical exposure allegedly due to a defective / malfunctioning furnace motor
- A masonry materials provider against claims involving silica exposure due to working with bricks and blocks sold by the company
- A manufacturer of welding products against a personal injury action for welding rod discharge, allegedly causing Parkinson's disease
- A latex balloon manufacturer against allegations of latex exposure
- Numerous industrial clients involving benzene exposure
- Various clients in cases alleging personal injury and property damage due to mold
- A class action involving claims of toxic exposure from a lithium fire
What We Do
- Class action litigation
- Federal and state government regulatory issues
- Insurance coverage
- Loss prevention analysis
- Mass tort litigation
- Predecessor and successor liability issues
- Risk management analysis