Fennell, Thomas E.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Tom Fennell manages the Dallas product liability/toxic tort group. He has served as national counsel in numerous complex product liability/toxic tort matters. He has broad product defense experience across industries involving class actions, MDL proceedings, crisis management, state attorney general investigations, and congressional investigations and testimony.

Tom is currently lead counsel for Mattel involving actions arising out of alleged excessive lead in toys, including several U.S. and foreign class action lawsuits and congressional/state investigations; Yamaha in MDL 2016, coordinating more than 140 federal cases involving the Rhino; Parker Hannifin in several commercial aircraft crash cases pending in the U.S. and overseas; Xcel Energy in several suits related to alleged global warming; and Colt Manufacturing in litigation brought by cities, states, and others against the firearms industry. Tom served as one of four lead defense counsel in the highly publicized trial of NAACP v. AA Arms, Inc., et al. The defense win was selected as one of the top 10 defense verdicts of 2003 by The National Law Journal.

The Firm's products practice, including matters on which Tom was involved, was selected "Products Liability Department of the Year in 2003" and as one of two finalists in 2005 in The American Lawyer "Products Liability Department of the Year" competition. Tom has argued appeals in state intermediate appellate and supreme courts and in various U.S. federal courts of appeal. He has lectured and written on trial tactics, international law, evidence, expert witnesses, deposition techniques, and jury research.

Areas of Practice

• Product Liability & Tort Litigation
• Product Response Team
• Class Action and Multidistrict Product Liability Litigation
• Consumer Goods Product Liability Litigation
• Coordination of Product Liability Litigation
• Airlines & Aviation
• Automotive
• Energy/Utilities
• Toxic Tort Exposure Litigation (Chemical, Environmental, and Occupational)
• Trial Experience in Product Liability Cases

Representative Cases

• Mattel settles voluntary toy recall litigation , (2009)
• Parker Hannifin obtains dismissal of multi-plaintiff wrongful death action arising from crash of flight en route from Egypt to France , (2009)
• Parker Hannifin settles during appeal claims filed in wake of SilkAir crash , (2009)
• Sherwin-Williams defends against Milwaukee public nuisance action , (2009)
• Xcel and other energy utilities defend against claims by state Attorneys General and citizen groups that carbon dioxide emissions contributed to global warming , (2009)
• Xcel Energy defends property damage class action claiming that global climate change caused Hurricane Katrina , (2009)
• Xcel Energy obtains dismissal of claims that global warming damaged Native coastal village in Alaska , (2009)
• Yamaha defends nationwide litigation of product liability cases and claims involving the Rhino side-by-side ("SxS") vehicle , (2009)

West Practice Categories

Alcoholic Beverages, Apparel, Asbestos, Asbestos, Chemicals & Cosmetics, Chemicals & Cosmetics, Class Actions, Class Actions, Environmental Law, Firearms, Food & Agricultural Products, Hazardous Waste, Hazardous Waste, Litigation & Appeals, Machinery & Tools, Medical Products & Devices, Medical Products & Devices, Motor Vehicle Defects, Multidistrict Litigation, Pesticides, Pharmaceutical Products, Pharmaceutical Products, Products Liability Law, Radiation & Electromagnetic Energy, Recreational Products, Solid Waste, Tobacco, Tobacco, Toxic Torts, Water Pollution

Bar Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• Texas

Education

• Ohio State University
• U of Toledo

Published Works

• PFOA Litigation: More to Come? Also printed in Mealey’s Emerging Toxic Torts, May 5, 2006, 2006
• Attacks on Food Industry Escalate: An Update, also published in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, April 2006, 2006
• Attempts to Expand Public Nuisance Laws to Reach Products, Texas Lawyer and Law.com, 2003
• The Use of Complex Statistical Proofs in the New Wave of Public Tort Cases, coauthor, Product Liability Advisory Council, Damages Deskbook, 2nd edition, 1999

Address

2727 North Harwood Street
Dallas, TX 75201-1515

Phones

1.214.969.5130 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.214.969.5100 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com