Goldberg Partners with NAM to Discuss Paint Lawsuits

Shook Partner Phil Goldberg has co-authored an opinion piece with Linda Kelly, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the National Association of Manufacturers, for The Morning Call arguing that two counties in Pennsylvania should not have filed lawsuits attempting to hold modern paint manufacturers liable for the effects of lead paints produced more than 70 years ago. "Lawsuits similar to the ones by Lehigh and Montgomery counties have already been dismissed by the Supreme Courts of Rhode Island, New Jersey, Missouri and Illinois," Goldberg and Kelly explain. "Also, the Ohio and Wisconsin legislatures enacted laws to make clear that these lawsuits, which invoke a little-known tort theory of public nuisance, cannot overtake longstanding products law."
 
"The next time trial lawyers roll into town with lawsuits promising a payday, the government lawyers should listen to the sage advice our parents gave us: If a deal sounds too good to be true, don’t buy it," the authors assert. "Hiring lawyers on a contingency fee basis may sound like a great, low-risk deal. But the cost of this litigation is to push manufacturing out of the state or even the country."