Over his 3-decades-long career, John has represented a wide array of clients in high-stakes litigation, including Union Pacific, Bayer Animal Health, Hallmark/Crayola, Bayer, Philip Morris, Lorillard Tobacco Company, DuPont, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Peabody Energy, Home Depot and General Motors, among others. These varied engagements have given John a depth of understanding about how to handle difficult and costly matters for large corporate clients.
Tobacco: Over two decades, represented Philip Morris, Lorillard Tobacco Co and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co in over 50 proposed class actions filed across the country.
Environmental: As lead class counsel for TVA, defended several proposed class actions which concerned a fly ash containment dike failure at a power plant in Kingston, Tennessee.
Automotive: As class counsel for General Motors, obtained the dismissal of a proposed nationwide class action involving allegedly defective windshield wipers. Successfully defended the dismissal before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Toxic Tort: Lead class counsel for Peabody Energy, responsible for class discovery, briefing and expert development in a proposed class action arising out of historical lead mining activities in Pitcher, Oklahoma. After a hearing in which arguments were presented for the industry, the court denied class certification.
Consumer Products: In 3 proposed class actions alleging CCA treated wood-leached toxins into the soil, causing property damage and the need for medical monitoring, represented Home Depot; After briefing and oral argument, class certification was denied in all 3 cases.
Contracts: As lead class counsel, represented Cingular Wireless in a proposed class action arising from cell phone contracts. After presenting the argument for Cingular, class certification was denied.
Class Settlements:
Consumer Products: As lead counsel for Crayola, crafted a preemptive, nationwide settlement of a class action arising from allegedly defective children’s painting products.
Alcoholic Beverages: In a case alleging that imagery on beer packaging was misleading, with colleagues won the approval of a nationwide class settlement which extinguished the consumer-fraud-based claims.
MDLs: As lead counsel for Bayer Animal Health, obtained dismissal of multiple cases joined in an MDL in Ohio arising from alleged consumer fraud in the sale of flea and tick products.
Pharmaceutical Devices: Served as class counsel in an MDL which contained both class actions and individual cases. Its focus was on pacemakers and other heart devices. These cases were settled on favorable terms. For DuPont, worked with multiple firms to defeat 28 proposed class actions which were joined in an MDL in Iowa.
Presentations: La State Bar Assoc Complex Litigation Symposium in New Orleans, presented on class action, complex litigation and ethics issues.
Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims Conference in Atlanta, panel discussions of class action issues and bellwether trials with judges and lawyers in 2017.
ABA Emerging Issues in Motor Vehicle Litigation National Conference, moderated in-house counsel panel on best practices 2017.
Presentations about class actions and group actions to international counsel in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
