Asbestos and Mass Tort Litigation

Since the inception of toxic tort litigation, Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin has been heavily involved in a wide variety of such matters, with a particular focus on the defense of asbestos claims and suits. Beginning in the mid-1970s, we represented Johns Manville Corporation, the largest manufacturer of asbestos products in North America, in all asbestos litigation in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. When the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust was established in the late 1980s, we served as Northeast Region Consulting Counsel for the Trust.

The attorneys in our asbestos litigation practice group, residing in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, have defended a significant number of manufacturers, distributors, contractors and premises owners in thousands of asbestos personal injury claims brought against them. The majority of our attorneys who work in this practice group have in excess of 20 years of experience in toxic tort and mass tort litigation. Our trial team has tried hundreds of these claims to verdict and is the most experienced team in Philadelphia. This extensive trial experience has enabled our clients to secure outstanding results through both trials and settlements.

Recently, our asbestos litigation practice has significantly expanded its scope of representation with offices on Long Island, New York. The attorneys in our New York office represent clients in the New York courts, as well as numerous other jurisdictions throughout the country. Several of the newest members of this practice group serve as national counsel for their clients, serve on the New York Supreme Court's Asbestos Litigation Case Management Committee, and were founding members of the Joint Medical Defense Group, a cooperative group that shares responsibility for preparing medical defenses on common cases. Also, several of these attorneys act as liaison counsel in many of the New York City extremis clusters and are called upon by the court and Special Master to resolve disputes and to enable the extremis cases, which are prepared on a very short schedule, to proceed to trial as efficiently as possible.

An understandable concern of every client in significant environmental and toxic tort cases is the extent of legal fees and costs. Our firm began as an insurance defense firm and, although we have expanded our practice areas considerably, we have never lost our sensitivity to our clients' desire to control legal expenses. This is especially true in the environmental and toxic tort areas where multi-party, complex cases make control of expenses all the more important. We always handle cases with a practical, result-oriented approach, balancing strong representation of our clients with realistic cost containment. In addition to our fees being very competitive, we work with our clients to develop innovative, alternative approaches to normal file handling that result in considerable savings to our clients without sacrificing quality legal representation.

We welcome the opportunity to work with you in handling your asbestos litigation matters. We are also available to give presentations or to conduct training seminars on environmental and toxic tort topics at your location or ours.