Tanenbaum Keale LLP

Tanenbaum Keale LLP is a litigation boutique dedicated to providing clients with multidimensional solutions to meet business and litigation needs whether they are being resolved in the courtroom or the boardroom. TK was created to partner closely with clients to identify the issues that arise in today’s litigious world and resolve those challenges efficiently and effectively.

Products Liability

Our specialization in products liability litigation gives us deep insight into solving the problems that our clients face. We do not merely handle the occasional case in the area of products liability law – it is our primary focus. The specialized and extensive experience that we possess in this area allows us to achieve superior results for our clients. Indeed, the New Jersey Law Journal has recently recognized us as “Products Liability Litigation Department of the Year”.

We have decades of experience serving as national, regional, local and lead MDL counsel to a variety of product manufacturers. Our attorneys have handled tens of thousands of product liability lawsuits that vary in complexity and exposure, ranging from the strategic management and defense of mass torts to the boots on the ground defense of single plaintiff product liability cases often alleging catastrophic injuries. It is for that reason that we have focused on risk identification and mitigation and the defense of clients in the industries where our experience has been proven — medical device & pharmaceuticals, automotive, construction and mining equipment, and consumer products.

At our core, we are trial attorneys and are frequently hired when a claim is asserted, often long before a lawsuit is filed, to investigate accidents or assess the risks presented to our client’s business or product lines. As a result, we approach every case with a trial lawyer’s eye and a commitment to being thoroughly prepared to defend our clients up to and through trial in those matters that our clients believe may need to be tried to defend the integrity of their products and their brand. Our adversaries know we have the skill, resolve and resources to try any case to verdict.

Of course, not all cases are tried or should be tried, and often our clients do not view resolution by trial as the preferred outcome. Our aggressive and thorough approach, however, serves the goals of these clients as we provide leverage so that they may successfully resolve cases prior to trial. In fact, for this reason, we are often able to help our clients resolve matters before they are even filed.

Mass Tort

Mass tort litigation threatens companies with massive liabilities and requires integrated and complementary litigation and resolution strategies to protect the value of a product, business image and financial stability.

We have the ability to manage the most complex mass tort matters from inception to trial and through appeal, having experience in national, regional and local counsel roles. Our firm provides clients with unique insight into the likely trajectory of mass tort litigation and identifies instances where associated litigation has the potential to develop into mass tort litigation, allowing us to provide clients with decisive pathways to evaluate, allowing them to choose from alternative litigation and resolution strategies.

Our experience includes complex matters related to products, consumer goods, environmental contamination, chemical spills and toxic materials and substances. We have represented clients from a wide variety of industries including Automotive, Power Systems, Construction and Mining, Medical Devices and more.

Our focus remains on providing viable strategic alternatives with the goal of avoiding unnecessary litigation. However, when litigation cannot be avoided, we have the ability to quickly assess potential legal exposure. Our firm utilizes proprietary data management software to track individual claims, determine trends, evaluate risk and provide the tools clients need to meet internal and external reporting obligations.

Tanenbaum Keale attorneys have significant experience in the following types of actions related to multiparty litigation:

• Medical Devices
• Toxic Tort
• Commercial

In view of the fact that mass tort actions, including class actions, rarely end up at trial, Tanenbaum Keale has developed an intentional emphasis on providing resolution counsel. This includes providing clients with the advantages and disadvantages of settlements with a keen understanding of the impacts from costly and time-consuming litigation on the long-term viability and financial well-being of a company.

Our firm is expeditious in coordinating and executing on document discovery, expert testimony development, depositions and motions beneficial to our clients regardless of the eventual course of the litigation. We understand time is of the essence in managing mass tort litigation to make sure the company not only survives the challenge but also maintains a positive image with the consumers and the public during the fallout.

Tanenbaum Keale does not revert to “traditional” litigation strategies for mass torts with multiple defendants. We want to offer aggressive, innovative options that protect our clients’ interests, regardless of the jurisdiction where the threatened litigation is venued.

Environmental and Toxic Tort

Our attorneys have decades of experience defending clients in asbestos, benzene, chemical exposure, environmental spills, lead, silica cases, and we provide a sophisticated, efficient and effective defense aligned with the risk and exposure each case poses. We regularly identify, retain and prepare cancer researchers, chemists, engineers and risk assessment experts from around the world utilizing cutting-edge science in formulating defense strategies that evolve throughout the litigation.

The greatest risk in defending environmental tort litigation is to rest upon defense strategies developed in the past. Being current, innovative and diligent are among our strongest qualities.

Tanenbaum Keale brings a solid understanding and experience with providing counsel with virtually all major environmental statutes and understanding the environmental risks and potential liability related to properties, land purchases and other transactional matters. We work to avoid litigation for our clients but have the proven ability to work quickly when faced with instances or alleged instances of chemicals, waste or other hazardous materials being discharged, leaked, spilled or mishandled; being inhaled, ingested or absorbed by workers and/or members of the public; or contaminating air, ground or water; as well as any other chemical or environmental factor leading to damage, illness, injury or death.

We have spent time defending manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, distributors, transportation operations and other industrial businesses in legal venues across the country. Our attorneys have the ability to utilize the relevant scientific evidence related to any environmental or toxic tort matter to provide clients with a best path forward to successfully mitigate the claim or claims made in a lawsuit.

Resolution Counsel

We love trying cases. From start to finish, we immerse ourselves in the strategy and its execution, whether we are developing experts, exposing junk science or preparing the company story. On a parallel track, as desired by our clients, our team simultaneously models scenarios that could lead our clients to favorable forms of resolution. We understand that the vast majority of cases end in settlement, not jury verdicts.

This approach led us to create a practice that is dedicated to serving as resolution counsel for clients. Whether it’s drug or medical device litigation, an environmental disaster or a toxic tort, clients need an experienced legal team to help assess liabilities, develop strategies for resolution and implement integrated plans that use litigation leverage to drive resolution.

Our experience handling and managing litigation from inception to trial and through appeal equips our attorneys with unique insight into the likely trajectories of litigation. This experience also enables us to provide our clients with decision pathways that allows them to evaluate and choose from different litigation and resolution strategies designed to meet their business goals.

We use proprietary data management software to track individual claims, determine trends, evaluate risk and provide the tools for clients to meet internal and external reporting obligations. We rely on our experience with major plaintiff firms and knowledge about every plaintiff-friendly venue across the United States to develop risk assessment models and strategies. This allows our clients to best decide how to use litigation and resolution resources interactively to create strategic litigation leverage. Furthermore, our attorneys rely on their knowledge of judges and procedural rules to strategically craft settlements that maximize closure for our clients and deliver the results our clients desire at the lowest possible overall cost.

PFAS

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as PFAS, have become the subject of an evolving and increasingly complex regulatory and compliance landscape. The prevalence of these compounds in industrial operations and consumer goods alike creates significant and burgeoning litigation risks, including consumer class actions, mass torts, and individual product liability lawsuits.

Tanenbaum Keale’s proven experience in risk identification and mitigation and a track record of success in product liability litigation, specifically related to hazardous materials and chemicals, uniquely position us to serve as a trusted resource when considering legal strategies related to PFAS. In particular, Tanenbaum Keale developed a reputation as a leader in asbestos and talc matters, which may share similarities with the eventual trajectory of PFAS litigation.

Commonly used in manufacturing for decades, PFAS are highly soluble and persistent in the environment, most notably in water systems and the food chain, and have allegedly been linked to various health issues, including cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to lead the effort in regulating and curbing the use of these chemicals. Governmental entities — domestic, foreign, and globally integrated — began investigating the environmental and public health impacts of PFAS years ago, and the increased involvement of public interest organizations and plaintiffs’ attorneys has led to a dramatic rise in regulatory activity and associated litigation. While the EPA is likely to increase enforcement actions at the federal level, states continue to institute and update more locally focused mandates that can create a complex interplay of regulatory responsibilities.

While some PFAS have been phased out of production processes, the next generation of these chemical compounds was developed as a substitute and will likely become a target of regulatory agencies and legal challenges. We maintain a commitment to providing guidance aimed at adhering to strict reporting standards and proactively assessing risk in an effort to limit monetary and reputational exposure related to remediation in the use of PFAS.

Automotive

Having developed a national reputation for automotive products and related litigation, we handle cases ranging from the simple to the complex, including high-volume litigation and catastrophic personal injury cases filed in a variety of jurisdictions on behalf of auto manufacturers. A lawyer must be experienced and informed to be both a strong advocate and valued advisor to the manufacturer, and our attorneys bring intimate familiarity with issues related to vehicle design, accident dynamics, occupant kinematics, biomechanics and injury causation issues, adhering to a collaborative approach in handling litigation to provide the best result, whether by jury verdict or alternative dispute resolution methods.

We have worked with — and against — most of the leading experts in automotive products liability litigation and have accumulated a wealth of valuable information that informs our approach to complex and challenging cases. Our attorneys stay abreast of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rulemaking, consumer information and research activities and frequently present to defense bar organizations and professional industry groups on a wide variety of important topics relevant to automotive engineers and manufacturers.

Our team understands that the future of automotive products litigation will be intricately linked to the continued development of autonomous vehicles, as well as hybrid, fully electric and other alternative fuel vehicles. We stay at the forefront of those emerging technologies in order to better advise our clients in these areas, particularly as it relates to claims resolution and litigation.

Managing high-stakes litigation extends well beyond the courtroom, and our firm works closely with our clients to develop and coordinate defense strategy and test programs, research and risk management projects. We have extensive experience preparing and defending corporate witnesses and designees at deposition and trial, as well as consulting with company engineers and outside experts to develop and conduct research and litigation test programs for rollover and crashworthiness litigation.

Our firm currently serves as lead counsel and lead trial counsel for numerous top-tier automotive clients in crashworthiness cases pending in courts throughout the United States. Partners at our firm also represent a variety of automotive clients and suppliers in asbestos matters.