Foley Mansfield

$27

Asbestos Litigation Defense

Foley & Mansfield attorneys Diane Babbitt and Brian Smith won a significant victory for client Pryor Giggey, a manufacturer of boiler insulation accused of sending asbestos-containing insulation to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where the plaintiff worked as a boilermaker and sought $27 million in damages. The Foley & Mansfield team argued and proved the absence of evidence of the claims and in a 10-2 jury vote, cleared their client of the claims.

$26

Toxic Tort Defense

On October 21, 2016, following a nearly 10-week trial, Foley & Mansfield’s Oakland team received a defense verdict in an alleged occupational exposure case involving cosmetic talc distributed by our client Whittaker, Clark & Daniels. In closing argument, plaintiffs requested the jury award more than $26 million in damages. After two full days of deliberation, the jury returned a 10-2 verdict in favor of Whittaker.

$19

Product Liability Defense

Gary D. Sharp and Keith M. Ameele of Foley & Mansfield’s Los Angeles office teamed with Meredith Shaw of the San Francisco office of Quinn Emanuel to represent Colgate-Palmolive Company in a case filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Plaintiff Anna Blount filed her case claiming that she suffers from a terminal illness (peritoneal mesothelioma) and that a product manufactured by Colgate was the cause of her disease. The case was tried over a 2 ½ week period in the Chatsworth Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court. During closing arguments, plaintiffs requested $19 million dollars in damages and a finding of punitive damages. The jury deliberated for less than 3 ½ hours before returning a verdict in favor of Colgate and rejecting all of plaintiffs’ claims.

$5

Medical Malpractice Defense

On September 27, 2016, Foley & Mansfield attorneys Kevin O’Connor and Jaime Alvarez obtained a defense verdict in Martin County, Florida, on behalf of an emergency room doctor following an 11-day trial involving the alleged failure to diagnose timely Plaintiff’s ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Plaintiff sought over $5.4 million in damages.

$5

Talcum Powder Litigation Defense

In the first cosmetic talcum powder trial ever held in Kentucky, Peter Mularczyk of Foley & Mansfield’s Los Angeles office teamed with Edward Slaughter of Gordon & Rees’ Dallas office and Meredith Shaw of Quinn Emanuel’s New York office to successfully defend Colgate-Palmolive Company. The jury returned a complete defense verdict for defendants Colgate-Palmolive Company and Johnson & Johnson after less than one hour of deliberation. The Plaintiff sued both Colgate-Palmolive Company and Johnson & Johnson, claiming her mother’s mesothelioma and death were caused by exposure to asbestos through her use of allegedly contaminated talcum powder. During closing arguments, the Plaintiff requested more than $5 million in damages and a finding of punitive damages.

$4

Medical Malpractice Defense

On Tuesday, November 4, 2014, a jury for the 20th Judicial Circuit Court for Fort Meyers, Florida, found in favor of an emergency department physician and a physician’s assistant accused of failing to diagnose a patient’s pulmonary embolism that caused her death. The decedent, a 42-year old woman, died three days after being discharged from the emergency department. Alleging that the physicians failed to order necessary diagnostic tests to rule out the patient’s embolism, the decedent’s husband and daughter asked the jury for $3.7 million dollars in damages. However, the defense successfully argued that the decedent’s fatal embolism developed after she left the emergency room, and that the physicians made the appropriate diagnosis of acute bronchitis prior to discharge. After a compelling closing argument by lead counsel Kevin O’Connor, the jury returned a defense verdict after four hours of deliberation.