Practice

Mass Torts, Class Actions and Product Liability

From early dismissals through precedent-setting victories at trial

Munger, Tolles & Olson is known for innovative legal strategies and extraordinary results in class action and mass torts litigation, including civil litigation, public entity litigation, and governmental litigation and investigations. Our lawyers have pioneered and implemented tailored national defense strategies for bet-the-company matters spanning jurisdictions and legal disciplines. Through strategic, aggressive, and careful lawyering, our lawyers have a track record of achieving excellent results, whether through early risk-mitigation strategies, a strategic settlement strategy, or trial.

We have significant experience in representing a diverse spectrum of clients in cases in coordinated mass tort proceedings ranging from wildfires to environmental events, e-cigarettes, social media platforms, medical devices, and mass shootings. This includes successfully representing clients in arguing against coordination before the federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, and in all stages of federal MDL and state-equivalent coordinated proceedings, including through the selection and trying of bellwether cases to global resolution.

We routinely obtain dismissals of class actions at the pleading stage or denials of class certification, and if necessary, we are equally adept at defending and trying certified class actions — often being substituted in as trial counsel following certification.

Clients

We represent a wide range of clients, including:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • AbbVie, Inc.
  • Activision
  • American Standard
  • BNSF Railway
  • Chevron
  • Electronic Arts
  • Google
  • Halyard Health Inc.
  • Intel
  • Juul Labs, Inc.
  • Mattel
  • MGM Resorts International
  • Microsoft
  • National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
  • Netflix
  • Occidental Chemical
  • Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
  • Philip Morris USA
  • Plains All American Pipeline
  • Shea Homes
  • Shell Oil
  • Snap, Inc.
  • Solvay Pharmaceuticals
  • Sotera Health
  • Southern California Edison (SCE)
  • Sterigenics
  • Swedish Match
  • Takeda Pharmaceuticals
  • Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)
  • Transocean
  • Universal City Studios, Inc.
  • Verizon
  • Wells Fargo
  • YouTube

Related Practices

Team

Experience

Clients turn to our group when the case presents important, difficult issues. Ours is not a commodity practice. In addition to smarts and hard work, our team brings creativity and the ability to try a case, a rarity amongst the consumer class action bar.

What distinguishes Munger, Tolles & Olson from competitors is our deep, high-stakes trial experience. Our team has successfully tried myriad cases to verdict, and our attorneys have a national reputation for guiding clients through seemingly insurmountable crises.

Key recent representations include:

  • Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. and subsidiaries as lead counsel in civil litigation and several class actions regarding the August 2023 devastating Maui wildfires, including the Lahaina Fire, which was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century.
  • Swedish Match North America LLC in putative class action and individual lawsuits pending in Florida, California, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut regarding alleged injuries purportedly caused by addiction to ZYN nicotine pouches or marketing of ZYN pouches.
  • Snap, Inc., in ongoing multidistrict litigation and a California state court coordinated proceeding, alleging injuries to minor users from alleged “addiction” to social media. Recently, in the California state court litigation, the defendants, which include Meta, Google and a video platform, won a dismissal without leave to amend of four test cases brought by school districts on public nuisance claims.
  • Juul Labs, Inc. in state and federal courts. There were over a thousand suits, including consumer class actions, suits by public entity plaintiffs such as school boards and suits by individuals alleging personal injury. The company has settled with 48 states and territories for more than $1 billion.
  • Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) on high-stakes cases challenging PG&E’s alleged role in California’s historic wildfires, including in criminal investigations and charges arising out of catastrophic wildfires.
    • Dixie Fire (one of the largest in California history). Handled investigation and negotiations resulting in declination of all charges.
    • Kincade Fire. Handled investigation and preliminary hearing, resulting in stipulated judgment dismissing all charges.
    • Zogg Fire. Handled investigation and preliminary hearing, resulting in order dismissing most charges, followed by stipulated judgment dismissing all remaining charges.
  • Plains All American Pipeline in multiple civil lawsuits, a criminal trial, and government enforcement actions arising from a crude oil spill near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County in May 2015. We tried the criminal case to verdict, avoiding any conviction for a “knowing” violation; tried a civil case until settlement after seven weeks of trial; defeated certification of two classes; and reached settlements with two other classes in the Central District of California.
  • MGM Resorts International and Mandalay Bay in obtaining a favorable settlement arising from the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. The settlement, a result of an innovative legal strategy, occurred before discovery, used almost entirely insurance funds, and saved years of litigation.
  • National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as lead counsel in a putative class action brought by three former track and field athletes alleging failure to protect student-athletes from sexual abuse. MTO filed a successful motion to dismiss in the Northern District of California.
  • Electronic Arts in nationwide products liability cases regarding the design of video games, in which the defendants defeated a petition to consolidate the cases before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
  • Wells Fargo in numerous cases that spring from the opening of unauthorized accounts by Wells Fargo personnel — one of the biggest and most high-profile challenges the bank has faced. MTO negotiated a $142 million class action settlement resolving customers’ civil claims.
  • A national pharmacy chain in an imminent appeal of an adverse verdict on a public nuisance theory of liability in In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit.
  • Intel in obtaining a settlement in a certified class action brought on behalf of several million purchasers of computers containing the first version of the Pentium 4 processor alleging violations of the Unfair Competition Law.
  • Transocean, a drilling company, as lead trial counsel in civil litigation and criminal investigations arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After a months-long trial, we obtained a verdict that, under the drilling contract, Transocean was not grossly negligent and, therefore was (1) fully indemnified by BP for compensatory damages and (2) not liable for punitive damages. BP bore indemnity obligations for the millions of barrels of oil discharged from the Macondo well. In actions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Munger Tolles secured a favorable settlement.

News

Lawdragon Names 18 Munger, Tolles & Olson Partners to 2025 500 Leading Litigators in America List

Lawdragon has recognized 18 Munger, Tolles & Olson partners in the third annual edition of its 500 Leading Litigators in America list....
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Munger, Tolles & Olson Secures Significant Defense Win in Nationwide Social Media Litigation

Munger, Tolles & Olson secured a major defense win for Snap when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that four public school districts cannot proceed wit...
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Munger, Tolles & Olson Firm Chair Brad Brian Set As Panelist for 2023 Edison Electric Institute Fall Legal Conference

Munger, Tolles & Olson Firm Chair Brad Brian will speak at the 2023 Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Fall Legal Conference, which will be hosted this week from...
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