Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Erin Burke practices in the area of general civil litigation, with an emphasis in toxic torts, mass torts, and product liability. Erin's product liability experience encompasses products ranging from microelectronics and semiconductor technology, personal protective equipment, sealants, and roofing products to truck/automotive parts. Her toxic tort experience includes defending against claims of cancer, a variety of other chronic diseases, infertility, mesothelioma, asbestosis, and silicosis. She has worked with a wide range of experts, at the pretrial and trial phases, including in the fields of chemistry, epidemiology, toxicology, meteorology, obstetrics and gynecology, HVAC systems, computational fluid dynamics and other modeling, industrial hygiene, and psychology.

Erin has been a member of several trial teams, most recently the team defending Dole in Tellez v. Dole Food Co. in a five-month trial involving 12 Nicaraguan men who claimed that they were rendered infertile due to exposure to a pesticide while working on banana farms in Nicaragua in the 1970s. The Tellez case was the first of its kind to go to trial in the United States.

In 2003-2004, Erin was also a member of the trial team defending IBM in In re San Jose IBM Workers Litigation, a high-profile case involving complex issues of chemical exposure and alleged health effects, which resulted in a unanimous jury verdict for IBM. The defense verdict for IBM in this litigation — the first of its type to go to trial against the microelectronics industry — was recognized as one of the top defense verdicts of 2004.

In addition, Erin has had substantial experience in a wide variety of other complex civil cases, in state and federal courts, including in the areas of health care litigation, shareholder disputes, securities, intellectual property (trade secret and Lanham Act litigation), fraud and unfair business practices, antitrust violations, violations of California's Proposition 65, contract disputes, and business torts.

Erin is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. She is active in Firm recruiting, serving on the Los Angeles Recruiting Committee and as co-coordinator of the office's New Lawyers Group.

Areas of Practice

• Product Liability & Tort Litigation
• Trial Practice

Representative Cases

• CareMore v. Blue Shield of California
• In re IBM San Jose Workers Litigation, Case No. 1-98-CV-772093 (Cal. Super. Ct., Santa Clara County)
• Leib v. Unocal Corporation, et al., and consolidated / related actions
• Michael Stowers v. Sutter Roseville Medical Center, et al.
• Mitchell Rubber v. Firestone Building Products Corporation
• Stewart v. Mine Safety Appliances Company, et al (C.D. Ca)
• Tellez v. Dole, L.A. Sup. Ct., Central West (2007)
• DBCP Litigation
• Respirator Product Liability Actions
• Sutter Health Uninsured Pricing Cases

West Practice Categories

Alcoholic Beverages, Apparel, Asbestos, Bankruptcy Litigation, Chemicals & Cosmetics, Class Actions, Complex Litigation, Federal Appellate Practice, Federal Claims Court, Federal Trial Practice, Firearms, Food & Agricultural Products, International Trade Litigation, Litigation & Appeals, Machinery & Tools, Medical Products & Devices, Military & Veterans Appeals, Motor Vehicle Defects, Multidistrict Litigation, Patent Litigation, Pharmaceutical Products, Products Liability Law, Recreational Products, State Appellate Practice, State Trial Practice, Tax Litigation, Tobacco, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, US Supreme Court

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• U of California - Davis

Published Works

• Have You Been Served? For Foreign Companies, It’s Hard to Tell, coauthor, Dailey Journal, 2009

Address

555 South Flower Street
Fiftieth Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-2300

Phones

1.213.243.2692 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.213.243.2539 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com