CONSUMER PRODUCTS LITIGATION

Case Studies

Silencing product liability claims against a siren manufacturer

Thompson Coburn has represented Kawasaki Motors USA for more than a decade. We serve as national counsel on product liability matters related to personal watercraft, ATVs and motorcycles. We have successfully represented Kawasaki in even the most challenging venues, compiling a track record that includes winning summary judgments and seeing cases dropped by plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Blue v. Kawasaki Motors Corp. USA
This suit was filed in Johnson County, Texas, a nationally known class action venue. The presiding judge in the case had ruled on nearly every class action filed in that venue in the preceding 10 years and had certified every single one. Thompson Coburn represented Kawasaki. Discovery was very broad and lasted for almost two years. During a two-week certification hearing, both sides presented expert testimony, including legal experts, economists and engineers. Our work during the certification was so compelling that the plaintiff’s counsel withdrew the action before the closing arguments in the hearing.

Thompson Coburn represented Kawasaki Heavy Industries and its subsidiaries in major patent litigation against Bombardier Recreational Products. Bombardier first filed suit in the Middle District of Florida (Bombardier Recreational Prods., Inc. et al v. Kawasaki Heavy Indus., Ltd., et al.) on several patents and demanded a substantial royalty payment. We successfully petitioned the USPTO to re-examine all of the patents in suit from the Florida litigation, resulting in a Court Order staying that litigation. Simultaneously, Kawasaki filed suit against Bombardier in the Eastern District of Texas on several Kawasaki patents, thus shifting the advantage to Kawasaki. See Kawasaki Heavy indus. Ltd. v. Bombardier Recreational Prods., Inc., et al. No. 5:06-cv-222-DF (E.D. Tex.). The parties settled on terms favorable to Kawasaki.

Tobacco Litigation, Medical Monitoring Cases, Civil Action No. 0-C-6000
This product liability class action of 270,000 West Virginia cigarette smokers was tried to a jury verdict. The first trial ended in a mistrial. The second trial lasted 26 trial days. We obtained defense verdicts on all counts, including product defect, negligence and breach of voluntary undertaking.

United States of America v. Philip Morris USA Inc., f/k/a Philip Morris Inc., et al.
We tried this case as part of our ongoing role as national counsel for Lorillard Tobacco Company. A team of our attorneys and staff lived in Washington, D.C., for nearly a year defending Lorillard at trial. The case was extraordinarily large and complex by any measure, involving tens of millions of document pages and hundreds of expert and fact depositions. Following the trial, the parties submitted proposed post-trial findings and conclusions that totaled nearly 5,000 pages. The District Court filed its 1,652-page opinion in August 2006, which, upon motion by the defendants, was stayed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in October 2006.

We continue to represent Lorillard in matters related to the recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision in United States v. Philip Morris, Inc.; in a lawsuit brought by 52 Missouri hospitals seeking to recover unreimbursed costs of treating smokers; and in a consolidation of some 700 personal injury cases in West Virginia.