Representative Engagements

• AbbVie Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company, as lead trial counsel in more than 4,000 product liability lawsuits brought by plaintiffs who alleged that they suffered serious adverse side effects as a result of their use of AndroGel, the nation’s leading testosterone replacement therapy.
• Becton Dickinson, a global medical technology company, in multiple product liability actions involving health care workers claiming that they were infected with HIV by allegedly defectively designed needles.
• The Boeing Company in defense of design defect claims in the multibillion-dollar property damage lawsuits filed against the airline industry arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
• Exxon Mobil Corporation in various matters, including in:
  • defense of class and individual actions brought by residents and property owners in Greenpoint, Brooklyn seeking damages from alleged environmental contamination from refining operations; and
  • the favorable settlement, affirmed on appeal, of an unprecedented natural resource damages litigation brought by the State of New Jersey asserting $8.9 billion in claimed losses due to alleged discharges of hazardous substances at two former refineries. After an eight-month bench trial, which was one of the largest environmental damages cases ever tried, the case settled for $225 million.
• Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in securing the dismissal of a nationwide putative class action brought by current and former youth soccer players against FIFA and five U.S.-based soccer organizations seeking injunctive relief in the form of rules changes that they claimed would reduce the risk of preventable head injuries as a result of the defendants alleged failure to provide adequate concussion management policies.
• Future asbestos claimants as court-appointed representative in connection with the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust.
• JM Eagle, the world’s largest plastic pipe manufacturer, in a federal qui tam litigation brought on behalf of dozens of state and local water districts asserting $1 billion in potential damages regarding allegations that JM Eagle misrepresented that its PVC pipe complied with industry standards. Paul, Weiss was retained after JM Eagle lost the liability phase of the trial. At the conclusion of the first damages trial, a federal district judge limited plaintiffs’ recovery claims from $58 million (before trebling) to, at most, $1.2 to $2.1 million and declared a mistrial when jurors were unable to agree that the plaintiffs suffered any damages from the earlier liability finding.
• The National Football League (NFL) as lead counsel in its sprawling concussion multidistrict litigation brought on behalf of more than 5,000 former NFL players arising from the alleged long-term effects of concussions sustained while playing professional football. Paul, Weiss negotiated the billion dollar global settlement, overcoming a series of appellate challenges, and continues to represent the NFL and certain of its member clubs in numerous opt-out claims.
• Pfizer, as lead trial counsel, in securing major victories in the first two Zoloft birth defect cases to go to trial in the U.S. which alleged that the use of Zoloft during pregnancy caused cardiac birth defects. Paul, Weiss tried two separate cases over the course of a two-month period, with each jury returning a complete defense verdict.
• Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., a developer and publisher of video games, in securing the dismissal of wrongful death and strict liability claims in connection with its top-selling video game, Grand Theft Auto.