Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Environmental Litigation & Mass Tort Practice Group has defended companies against mass toxic tort cases across the country and internationally for the past 20 years.

Our approach to toxic tort cases takes into consideration their factual, scientific, and legal complexities, as well as the challenges that come with their potentially huge liability and the experienced plaintiffs’ counsel who are often involved.  We work closely with our clients to develop comprehensive strategies that are sensitive to their priorities, with a focus on issues that may create opportunities for early defeat or reasonable resolution of these cases. 

The Practice Group maintains an extensive and centralized library of the recurring legal and scientific issues that often arise in these cases.  As a result, we are able to efficiently identify and master the issues that are critical to a successful defense of the action.

Representative matters include:  

• Represented a major food company in a series of toxic tort lawsuits involving thousands of Latin American workers claiming personal injuries from exposure to a chemical used on banana farms.  After an adverse verdict in the first trial in these cases, we were brought in and succeeded in overturning the verdict granting punitive damages.
• Represented a large defense contractor in toxic tort lawsuit involving a putative class and approximately 800 plaintiffs in Southern California, claiming personal injuries, wrongful death, medical monitoring and property damage resulting from alleged exposure to chemicals in drinking water.  Through a series of unparalleled pre-trial motions and appellate victories, we obtained complete defense judgments against the first group of 50 plaintiffs selected by their counsel.
• Represent a large government services company in two toxic tort lawsuits, both pending in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Riverside.  One lawsuit involves claims by more than 100 plaintiffs who assert claims for personal injury, wrongful death and property damage stemming from alleged vapor intrusion of TCE and other chemicals.  The other case, styled as a class action, alleges property and stigma damages resulting from same alleged contamination.  In a related case, the firm also represented the client in federal litigation to enforce a contractual indemnity provision to require another company to defend and indemnify in the above lawsuits.  Summary judgment in favor of our client was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit.
• Represented a large petroleum company in defense of toxic tort action brought by community surrounding oil production site in Los Angeles.  Plaintiffs ultimately dropped all claims and dismissed case with prejudice without any payment by the defendant.  Crude oil was the compound of concern.
• Represent a large petroleum company in defense of toxic tort action brought by residential community surrounding plating facility in Los Angeles alleging hexavalent chromium exposure.  Case is pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court and discovery is underway .
• Represent Fortune 100 Company in defense of toxic tort claims by 500+ plaintiffs claiming exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) from manufacturing plant in Asia.
• Represent a large computer services company in community toxic tort case pending in the United States District Court of Nebraska.
• Represented a large university in class action brought by residents of student housing over alleged toxic exposures.  After defeating class certification, the case settled for nominal amount.
• Represented a large university in property damage and personal injury claims of nearby residents claiming exposure to radiation during nuclear experiments in the 1960s.  Obtained a favorable settlement while summary judgment motion was pending.
• Represented prominent law firm in $200 million alleged malpractice case brought regarding environmental matters.  The claim, by the Los Angeles Unified School District, was made in connection with the law firm's 10-year representation of the School District over the Belmont High School in downtown Los Angeles.  The School District alleged that the law firm failed to adequately consider the environmental hazards to schoolchildren associated with the location of the school on an oil field.  After a highly publicized report from an independent auditor found that the law firm had mismanaged the School District representation, we successfully defended the case, winning a complete defense judgment on summary judgment.
• Represent major pet food manufacturer in community toxic tort nuisance action brought in San Bernardino County Superior Court by community residents.  Case is still in the discovery stages.
• Represented a major trash hauler in a state action in Los Angeles County Superior Court.  Seventy-seven plaintiffs living in the surrounding community alleged causes of action for nuisance and unfair business practices.  Plaintiffs claimed damages for personal injury, diminution of property value, loss of use and enjoyment, and are seeking injunctive relief to shut down the client’s facility.  Obtained a dismissal based on the statute of limitations of plaintiffs' diminution of property value and a dismissal of the unfair business practices claim.  Case settled after key plaintiffs' depositions taken.
• Represented a large defense contractor in federal and state toxic tort litigation involving alleged community exposure to contaminants released to the air and groundwater during 50 years of aircraft manufacture at facilities in Southern California.  GD&C obtained a series of major rulings in these cases that resulted in the state cases settling pre-trial and the federal case settling during trial.
• Represented two companies in defense of toxic tort action entitled In re Groundwater Cases (Baldwin Park) brought by over 1,000 plaintiffs from residential communities in the San Gabriel Valley alleging exposure to ammonium perchlorate, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene in drinking water due to contamination from Federal Superfund sites.  Obtained favorable and early settlement. 
• Represented a large petroleum company in a butadiene community exposure case in Houston.  Plaintiffs sought to certify a 10,000 person class action involving an accidental release of butadiene in Corpus Christi, Texas.  After extensive discovery revealed the gaps in plaintiffs' proof, we tried the case to a defense verdict on causation and damages.
• Represented a major pharmaceutical company in birth control litigation. In 1985, completed work as trial and appellate counsel for manufacturer of prescription medication in a published case often cited in toxic tort cases as the watershed case in California on the standards of proving medical causation.   
• Defended large landlord against personal injury claims by tenants alleging toxic exposures.  Case settled by insurer with no contribution from landlord.
• Defended large landlord against personal injury claims by multiple tenants in Sacramento commercial spaces.  Case settled by insurer with no contribution by landlord to settlement.
• Represented a construction company (at insurer’s request) in a series of cases involving solvent exposures allegedly causing permanent brain damage ("toxic encephalopathy") to numerous medical personnel at a regional medical center in Florida.
• Represented a large computer services company in Puerto Rico litigation brought by community residents involving the release of halogenated solvents from an industrial site west of San Juan.
• Represented multiple clients in a Louisiana class action suit involving alleged exposure to herbicide wastes.
• Represented a large electronics manufacturer in litigation involving an alleged encephalopathy cluster in Brownsville, Texas attributed to industrial contaminants.
• Represented a large petroleum company in eight consolidated class actions involving alleged exposure to a broad suite of radionuclides emitted during the 50-year operation of Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
• Represented  a major university in litigation relating to an alleged brain cancer cluster resulting from aqueous discharges of radionuclides at the Los Alamos site.
• Represented a pipeline service company in litigation and investigations by the NTSB, GAO and state of Alaska arising out of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
• Represented a major insurance company in a jury trial involving claims of indoor air pollution in a commercial high rise.