McCarter and English Client Highlights
Hayward Industries, Inc.
Hayward Industries, Inc. completed the restructuring and expansion of its debt facilities with a syndicate led by Bank of America, N.A. and including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of New York, Wachovia, PNC and Sovereign. Proceeds were used to refinance Hayward's acquisition on August 25 of Goldline Controls, Inc., of Providence, a major new product line. Howard Kailes, Alan H. Fox, and Steven Bechtler represented Hayward in the debt transaction with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer assisting in perfecting the German and Belgian collateral and Ogilvy Renault in perfecting the Canadian collateral; Reed Smith LLP represented the bank consortiun and Bingham McCutchen LLP represented Hayward' s noteholders. Howard Kailes, Ward Laracy, Lisa Heeb and Steven Bechtler represented Hayward in the acquisition, where Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP represented Goldline.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucent Technologies
McCarter & English successfully defended Lucent Technologies in a Texas federal court against a motion to certify a class action by plaintiffs alleging Cold War era injury from radar equipment. The proposed class included U.S. and NATO military personnel who claimed they were injured by ionizing radiation from radar equipment from 1958 to 1994.
Besides Lucent, the defendants were Raytheon Co., General Electric Company, ITT Industries, Inc. and Honeywell International, Inc. Plaintiffs originally filed actions in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Texas state courts. These were each removed to federal court and then transferred and consolidated before Judge Phillip R. Martinez of the Western District of Texas.
Through the long-running litigation, the McCarter & English defense team has been instrumental in securing expert reports, critical documents, generating 50 state surveys on the differences in the law on the primary legal issues, and securing expert opinions on foreign law in several European countries, nearly all of which was cited by the court in denying class certification. The team also had primary responsibility for writing the brief for the defense group.
The court decision denying class status found that common issues do not predominate because of the numerous individual factual and legal issues that had to be resolved, the laws of multiple jurisdictions that had to be applied, and the failure of the plaintiffs to demonstrate that the plaintiffs' "proffered issues [would] be central to the litigation." The court also found that a class action was not superior to individual lawsuits for two reasons. First, class actions are particularly appropriate in "negative value" cases (where the cost to bring the suit outweighs the recovered benefit), but that the plaintiffs' claims here are not negative value cases because the individual plaintiffs allege significant bodily injury. Second, a class action was likely to be unmanageable for many of the same reasons that common issues did not predominate over individual issues (individualized factual and legal issues, choice-of-law issues), as well the failure of the plaintiffs to offer any suggestions on how to deal with the manageability issues nor any evidence on manageability based on prior radiation injury cases.
The McCarter & English team included Charles F. Rysavy, J. Wylie Donald, David Quigg, and Carey Francis.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McDonald's Corp., and McDonald's Restaurant of Delaware, Inc.
March 2005 - The firm received a big win in the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware in the case of Susan Rizzitiello v. McDonald's Corp., and McDonald's Restaurant of Delaware, Inc. The plaintiff was an employee of McDonald's but resigned when she was told that she was being suspended pending an investigation of inventory issues. Her appeal centers on the claim that McDonald's breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by treating her in a racially disparate manner and falsifying records in order to create a fictitious ground for terminating her employment. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Superior Court, granting Summary Judgment in favor of our clients, McDonald's Corp., and McDonald's Restaurant of Delaware, Inc. Michael P. Kelly lead the defense team.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Novartis Wins Key PPA Case In NJ
January 16, 2004 - With thousands of cases pending against pharmaceutical manufacturers of cold/cough medicines containing PPA (phenylpropanolamine), McCarter & English, LLP and Kaye Scholer LLP today succeeded in refuting a plaintiff’s claim that the PPA contained in Switzerland-based Novartis Consumer Health, Inc.’s Tavist-D caused her hemorrhagic stroke. This was the first jury verdict in the nation among the thousands of pending PPA cases.
The jury unanimously rejected the plaintiff’s claim that Tavist-D was defectively designed because it included PPA and that Tavist-D contained an inadequate warning. Judge Bryan Garruto, Superior Court, Middlesex County, NJ presided over the case. All cold/cough products containing PPA manufactured by Novartis and other pharmaceutical companies were voluntarily taken off the market by the manufacturers in November 2000 at the request of the FDA.
"We’re very pleased with the result and particularly happy that the jury could appreciate the scientific evidence that demonstrated that the product is not defective," said Gita Rothschild of McCarter & English, lead trial counsel in the case. "Our client, Novartis, is gratified that the jury has confirmed its consistent view that PPA was a safe and effective product when used as directed," said Randy Sherman of Kaye Scholer, national coordinating counsel for Novartis.
In addition to Ms. Rothschild, the trial team included James Herschlein of Kaye Scholer and John Brenner and Nathan Schachtman of McCarter & English. The plaintiff was represented by the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
