The American Lawyer Names Covington “Litigation Department of the Year: Product Liability”

WASHINGTON, DC, December 22, 2015 - The American Lawyer has named Covington its “Litigation Department of the Year: Product Liability.” The magazine recognizes the firm for its “string of big victories in trial and appellate courts, major settlements, plus a creative strategic edge that sets it apart.”

In its profile of the firm in its January 2016 issue, The American Lawyer praises the firm’s work for Eli Lilly and Co. in its Cymbalta litigation. Facing lawsuits from nearly 1,000 plaintiffs alleging severe withdrawal symptoms, the company turned to the firm to defend against the claims. During the past year, the Covington team won three Cymbalta jury trials on two different coasts in a four-week time frame, twice defeated class certification, and continues to successfully fight back plaintiffs’ attempts to consolidate the cases in multi-district litigation. The magazine also highlighted Covington’s recent, major success for Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., maker of the acne medicine Accutane, where the Covington team played a central role in securing dismissals of thousands of cases and reversing judgments totaling more than $78 million since 2009.

The magazine noted that Covington’s “dynamic and burgeoning products liability practice” came to prominence only recently, emphasizing that the group “continues to be led by rising stars in the field.” Covington’s team regularly serves as trial and appellate counsel in product liability and mass tort lawsuits, and as strategic advisors for companies and trade associations with national or multi-state liability risks or actions.