Because legal issues are often dispositive of trial-court litigation, and because such issues must be properly presented and preserved at the trial level in order to be raised on appeal, Sidley lawyers serve a variety of roles in high-stakes trial litigation. These roles include formulating legal theories and strategy, serving as substantive motions counsel and drafting briefs on issues critical to a case or important on a recurring basis to our clients. Among the issues we routinely address are federal preemption, the removal of cases to federal court, class action and multi-plaintiff consolidation, exclusion of putative expert testimony under Daubert and state-law analogs and state and federal limitations on punitive damages. Sidley has performed these roles in a number of products liability cases and trials for pharmaceutical manufacturers and for automobile and aviation companies. The following examples illustrate our work:
- Jensen v. Bayer, 862 N.E.2d 1091 (1st Dist. Ill. 2007), summary judgment and denial of class certification on behalf of maker of prescription medication
- Marmo v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., 457 F.3d 748 (8th Cir. 2006), unjust enrichment, continuous tort doctrine and expert issues in emissions case
- In re Bextra & Celebrex Mktg. Sales Pracs. & Prods. Liab. Litig., No. MDL-1699, 2006 WL 2374742, *1 (N.D. Cal. 2006), preemption of failure to warn claims involving prescription medications
- Pa. Employee Benefit Trust Fund v. Zeneca, Inc. (PEBTF), No. 05-cv-75, 2005 WL 2993937 (D. Del. Nov. 8, 2005) (appeal pending), preemption of claims of false advertising of a prescription drug
- Zehel-Miller v. AstraZeneca Pharms., LP, 223 F.R.D. 659 (M.D. Fla. 2004), denial of class certification
- Bayer AG v. Paul, No 04-559, 2004 WL 2409180 (U.S. Oct. 25, 2004), petition for certiorari, reviewability of remand decision