Hunton Andrews Kurth’s product liability and mass tort litigation team, which is ranked as a top national practice in Chambers USA (2024) and The Legal 500 (2024), has been defending companies in asbestos litigation for decades. Our lawyers have been involved in every major wave of asbestos litigation, and have fought battles in trial and appellate courts around the country, including in the most high-risk jurisdictions. Our clients include large industrial companies, equipment and product manufacturers, and retailers and distributors. We have defended these clients against all types of claims (including product liability, premises liability, direct occupational exposure, bystander exposure and para-occupational or “take-home” exposure) in all types and stages of litigation (including individual plaintiff trials, mass-consolidated trials, high-profile appeals and extraordinary writs to state and federal appellate courts). Further, our lawyers have been at the forefront of national strategic initiatives, serving as liaisons between counsel and the MDL and various courts, and leading high-profile appeals; federal, state and local policy efforts; and major tort reform initiatives.

Our representative experience includes:

• National strategic, trial and appellate counsel for a major government contractor, including successfully defending numerous take-home and Navy sailor exposure claims.
• National coordinating, trial and strategic counsel for a lawn and garden product company’s vermiculite product liability cases, including obtaining a defense verdict on behalf of the client in one of the highest-risk jurisdictions in the country.
• National coordinating counsel and trial counsel for an international manufacturer of marine and industrial equipment.
• National coordinating counsel and trial counsel for a national “big box” retailer’s product liability claims related to sales of asbestos-containing products.
• National coordinating counsel and trial counsel for asbestos-related premises claims against a major meat processing company.
• National coordinating counsel and trial counsel for one of the largest distributors of building products in the United States.
• Formerly national coordinating counsel and trial counsel for a Fortune 100 aluminum producer’s nationwide docket of asbestos-related product and premises liability claims.
• Serving as Texas and Southern regional toxic tort counsel for several companies, including a major oil and gas exploration and production company—one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world.