Experience

Product Liability

Industrial Risk

• Representing a US electric equipment manufacturer in relation to a court-ordered investigation, in addition to an investigation by the BEA (a French government agency authorized to investigate accidents posing significant industrial risk), following a fire at a major European data centre causing significant disruption to online services.
• Representing a US manufacturer of automotive parts in a dispute with a multinational automotive manufacturer concerning alleged defective engine parts. The dispute is worth in excess of EUR 100m.

E-commerce

• Representing a US e-commerce company in relation to the delisting of its shopping platform from the search engines operating in France. This involved regulatory and criminal investigations by the French Authorities and related administrative proceedings. Advising the client on the compliance of its terms and policies with the EU and French law.
• Representing a leading US e-commerce company in relation to investigations by the French market surveillance authorities on the safety and compliance of products available on their platform.

Toxic Tort

Toxic Tort/Chemical Substances

• Representing a US tyre manufacturer in a precedent-setting claim filed by over 500 individuals concerning their anxiety to develop cancer from alleged exposure to chemical substances contained in the tyres and alleged lack of sufficient warning to the end-users of the risks. The total value of the claims is EUR 50m. More significantly, should this claim prevail, it would have enormous consequences for the manufacturing industry as this is a civil claim filed by non-employees and not related to asbestos (which to date is the only substance giving the right to the “anxiety damage”).

Toxic Tort/Asbestos Disease

• Representing leading manufacturers and large industrial groups in relation to more than 600 separate claims in different courts in France filed by former employees claiming to have developed asbestos-related diseases.

Toxic Tort/Asbestos Anxiety

• Representing leading manufacturers and large industrial groups in relation to more than 10,000 separate claims in more than 10 different courts in France filed by individuals on the grounds of their anxiety to develop an asbestos-related disease in the future (“fear of cancer” cases).

Other

• Advising a cosmetic manufacturer in relation to a commercial dispute with its packaging and raw material providers.
• Advising a Canadian company and collating a legal analysis report concerning the availability and mechanics of collective redress procedures in over 40 jurisdictions around the world.
• Representing a court-appointed toxicology and chemistry expert in defence of a negligence claim brought by a food manufacturing company following the expert’s investigation of its products. The manufacturer’s claim challenged the expert’s methodology in testing the products in order to determine whether the manufacturer had artificially lengthened the food product lifespans in breach of the applicable regulation.