Services Mass Tort & Class Action Litigation Defense

From its inception, Kean Miller has been a recognized leader in class action and mass tort defense litigation. Kean Miller understands the complex challenges presented by mass tort litigation through our decades of experience managing and defending tens of thousands of claims for clients in the energy, chemical, and manufacturing sectors. We strive to protect our clients’ interests by providing sound legal strategies to mitigate risk, minimize financial exposure, and defend against unwarranted claims. Our team of experienced trial attorneys defend clients against multi-party lawsuits involving claims of personal injury, product defects, environmental hazards, property damage, pharmaceutical issues, and other large-scale, multi-party claims.

We work closely with our clients to navigate the intricacies of these high-stakes cases, ensuring robust representation from the initial notice of an incident through trial.  Our team has extensive experience with all phases of the mass tort litigation process, including crisis management, regulatory compliance, early case assessment and initial strategy development, comprehensive investigation and discovery, expert witness coordination, multi-district litigation and class action defense, risk mitigation, litigation management, settlement negotiations, claims management, jury consulting, and bench and jury trials, and appellate litigation.

Representative Experience

• Representation of a chemical refinery in a 20,000+ claimant class action as a result of a 13-hour release of SO2. The Kean Miller team was on-site when state and federal authorities demanded entry into the facility. We assisted the investigating team, assembled outside consultants and experts, and handled the resulting litigation. As a result of our efforts, we achieved a relatively fast resolution of class action litigation on a favorable basis to the client.
• Representation of a major Louisiana chemical manufacturing facility in high-profile mass tort litigation arising out of an explosion and fire and involving over 275 plaintiffs bringing claims in multiple venues. The litigation involved three waves of bellwether jury trials and eventual global resolution through multiple rounds of mediation.
• Representation of major petrochemical manufacturing facility in class action litigation arising out of a facility fire and the release of chlorine.
• Representation of major petrochemical refining company in class action litigation arising out of the release of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide into surrounding communities.
• Representation of major agricultural product supplier and transporter in class action litigation arising out of a large fire at a storage facility that burned for several weeks and involved alleged near-site and community exposures.
• Representation of major petroleum refinery in class action litigation brought by members of the surrounding communities involving industrial flaring and routine air emissions from its facility.
• Representation of Fortune 500 manufacturer in class action litigation involving alleged product defects in barges.
• Louisiana counsel to a worldwide software company in class action litigation alleging that its operating system software was defective.
• Representation as Louisiana counsel for a major technology company in class actions asserting various alleged antitrust and state unfair trade practice violations.
• Representation of an international pesticide manufacturer in class action litigation involving the alleged contamination of crawfish farming facilities.
• Representation of a chemical company in over 150 lawsuits filed in Louisiana and Mississippi as a result of a rupture of a nitrogen tetroxide railcar which resulted in the evacuation of significant portions of the surrounding town.