Our clients know what it feels like to have an advocate on their side.
Sometimes individuals are injured by occurrences involving a company’s negligence or other misconduct where many others are also injured or harmed. These can include mass disasters such as a chemical spill, train derailment, or other mass-injury event. In addition to the physical harms experienced, those injured individuals can end up feeling like they’ve become nameless, faceless victims of the company that committed the wrongdoing against so many victims. At Zimmerman Reed, we built our Mass Tort practice both to help our clients recover for their injuries and to navigate the sometimes dehumanizing aspects of mass tort litigation. As a result, our clients know what it feels like to have an advocate on their side.
Our firm has been a leader in Mass Tort litigation for forty years. That experience has taught us the critical importance of understanding the full dimensions of what our clients endure. That’s why our multi-disciplinary team takes the time to learn not only the details of the injury incident and the conduct that allowed the harm, but also how each client’s life has changed because of what they’ve been through. Then, we use our decades of experience to seek justice on their behalf.
Our work has earned us a national reputation for excellence in mass tort litigation. We fight hard for our clients. Our ability to master complexity, define key questions, and demand action has resulted in an impressive record of results. Because of this, courts across the country have repeatedly appointed us to leadership roles in mass tort litigation matters.
If you have questions about a current case or potential case, contact us.
Dicamba Litigation
The Dicamba litigation was initiated by farmers against Bayer AG, formerly Monsanto Company. The farmers alleged that the company’s herbicide improperly drifted from where it was applied and damaged neighboring fields, harming vulnerable crops, including soybeans. Zimmerman Reed represented farmers across various states and ZR partners were appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the litigation and helped negotiate the settlement. Under the settlement’s terms, Bayer agreed to pay up to $400 million to resolve eligible farmer’s crop damage claims for the 2015 through 2020 growing seasons.
Airport Noise
Zimmerman Reed represented homeowners whose property was within a certain distance of the MSP International Airport. The lawsuit, filed against the Metropolitan Airports Commission (“MAC”), alleged that MAC breached a promise to provide noise mitigation to certain homes surrounding the Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl. Airport after the decision was made to expand rather than build another location. Weeks before trial, a settlement was reached with the MAC and then with the Cities who were also seeking to enforce promises made, providing noise mitigation for more than 9,500 homes in the areas surrounding the International Airport.
Minot Train Derailment
On January 18, 2002, the largest release of anhydrous ammonia in U.S. history occurred when a Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed in Minot, North Dakota. Zimmerman Reed represented hundreds of individuals injured by the release and achieved a successful settlement in the matter. Separately, Zimmerman Reed took the case of two individuals to trial and obtained a $1.2 million jury verdict in Minneapolis, MN on behalf of those clients.
Imprelis
A settlement was reached on behalf of a class of homeowners, golf course companies, and other property owners in a lawsuit against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company after their herbicide product, Imprelis, caused mature trees to die across the country following lawn application.