David F. Abernethy

Product Liability Litigation

As national coordinating counsel or national appellate counsel, David has managed large-scale product and personal injury litigation involving thousands of claims. As trial counsel in individual cases, he has worked with teams to craft persuasive narratives for trial and presented them successively to judges and juries. As an appellate lawyer he has presented winning arguments in an array of cases involving pharmaceutical and other products.

Representative Experience

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

• Acted as national counsel for a major pharmaceutical company, in a mass tort that involved more than 13,000 claims asserted in several different state courts, David developed overall strategy; led teams handling depositions, document discovery, expert development and motions practice; tried multiple cases; and consulted on appeals.
• Served as first- and second-chair trial counsel in numerous jury trials involving drugs and medical devices, including two of the most widely used over-the-counter medications in the United States, surgical staplers and polypropylene sutures widely used in a number of surgical procedures, and frequently prescribed medications. Among David’s trial victories was a defense verdict after an 11-day trial in which the jury found that his client’s medication did not cause a rare skin reaction that seriously injured a young child.
• Took and defended hundreds of fact and expert depositions, recruited and developed experts from among the country’s leading medical professionals, and briefed and argued motions and appeals in multiple pharmaceutical cases.
• Prepared and presented at trial — and deposed or defended at deposition — experts in diverse areas including endocrinology, psychiatry, toxicology and regulatory issues, and litigated issues relating to the admissibility of testimony from many of those experts.

Appellate Advocacy

David has briefed and argued dozens of appeals in state and federal appellate courts in toxic tort, product liability, insurance coverage and civil rights cases. Trained as a journalist, David brings a clear and direct style to the presentation of even the most complex legal issues.

Insurance Coverage Litigation

David has represented primary and excess insurers in coverage disputes and bad-faith claims involving general liability, directors’ and officers’ liability, and professional liability policies. He has counseled and defended insurers in coverage disputes related to asbestos bodily injury and property damage claims, bodily injury claims arising from alleged contamination of blood products, environmental pollution claims, securities actions and consumer class actions. One example of his appellate work is a successful challenge to an award of prejudgment interest against a group of excess insurers involving potential exposure of more than $100 million.

Commercial Litigation

David has litigated and tried cases involving a wide range of contract and commercial disputes, and consumer class actions, including disputes involving joint venture agreements, allegations of consumer fraud and breach-of-warranty actions.