Christopher J. Garvey
Areas of Practice
Christopher Garvey, a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department and a member of the Products Liability & Mass Tort Group, is an experienced trial lawyer who concentrates his practice in the defense of complex litigation matters, including mass tort and toxic and environmental exposure matters. Mr. Garvey has also developed an expertise in counseling companies concerning product liability exposure, and in conducting product liability “due diligence” regarding such issues as successor liability, insurance coverage and corporate veil protection.
Work for Clients
Mr. Garvey has extensive experience in the defense of mass tort, toxic tort, environmental exposure and product liability claims. He currently serves as national counsel representing a number of branded and unbranded marketers and distributors of petroleum and gasoline products in the MTBE Products Liability multi-district litigation. In this highly complex matter, Mr. Garvey and a Goodwin Procter team represent clients in a litigation that consolidates over 100 cases, pending in both federal court in New York and in a variety of state courts. Recently, he served as lead trial counsel for one of these clients and obtained, after a four month trial, the first defense verdict in the country in an MTBE case involving claims of threatened future impacts to public supply wells (Plainview Water District v. Exxon Mobil corp., et al., Case No 9975/2001). Mr. Garvey continues to represent his clients in the MTBE MDL proceedings, with the first MDL bellwether trial scheduled for September 2008. Critical initial victories in the litigation occurred when a substantial portion of the plaintiffs’ complaint was dismissed at the motion to dismiss stage, In re Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether Prods. Liab. Litig., 175 F. Supp. 2d 593 (S.D.N.Y. 2001), and plaintiffs’ class certification efforts were summarily rejected by the federal MDL court, In re Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether Prods. Liab. Litig., 209 F.R.D. 323 (S.D.N.Y. 2002). There are numerous other published decisions in...more » Mr. Garvey has extensive experience in the defense of mass tort, toxic tort, environmental exposure and product liability claims. He currently serves as national counsel representing a number of branded and unbranded marketers and distributors of petroleum and gasoline products in the MTBE Products Liability multi-district litigation. In this highly complex matter, Mr. Garvey and a Goodwin Procter team represent clients in a litigation that consolidates over 100 cases, pending in both federal court in New York and in a variety of state courts. Recently, he served as lead trial counsel for one of these clients and obtained, after a four month trial, the first defense verdict in the country in an MTBE case involving claims of threatened future impacts to public supply wells (Plainview Water District v. Exxon Mobil corp., et al., Case No 9975/2001). Mr. Garvey continues to represent his clients in the MTBE MDL proceedings, with the first MDL bellwether trial scheduled for September 2008. Critical initial victories in the litigation occurred when a substantial portion of the plaintiffs’ complaint was dismissed at the motion to dismiss stage, In re Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether Prods. Liab. Litig., 175 F. Supp. 2d 593 (S.D.N.Y. 2001), and plaintiffs’ class certification efforts were summarily rejected by the federal MDL court, In re Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether Prods. Liab. Litig., 209 F.R.D. 323 (S.D.N.Y. 2002). There are numerous other published decisions in this matter, reflecting the wealth of novel and prominent legal issues being debated. Mr. Garvey also currently serves as national counsel and national coordinating counsel for an international adhesives manufacturer in the defense of its national asbestos litigation docket. He and his team defend cases brought against affiliates that manufactured and sold epoxies and other industrial materials alleged to contain asbestos. Mr. Garvey serves as lead trial counsel for this litigation. He also supervises local counsel throughout the United States and is responsible for the overall defense of the litigation, as well as coordinating and maintaining a consistent litigation strategy on a nationwide basis. Mr. Garvey has worked on a host of other tort and product liability matters. These include benzene, where he led a successful defense challenge, on Frye grounds, to plaintiff’s general and specific causation experts, in Nawrocki v. Coastal Corp., et al., 45 A.D.3d 1341 (4th Dep’t 2007). He has also worked extensively through the years in pharmaceutical and dietary supplement litigations, including DES, fen-phen, PPA and ephedra. Mr. Garvey’s experience in the area of complex business and bankruptcy litigation includes representing creditors in secured collateral, lien and real estate repossession and foreclosure litigation. He has litigated extensively in the bankruptcy courts, representing parties and successfully arguing motions in the Westinghouse and Enron bankruptcy proceedings, among others, prosecuting automatic stay, adequate protection, assumption or rejection of executory contracts and objection to discharge matters, as well as prosecuting and defending adversary proceedings. Mr. Garvey has also litigated franchising disputes in the hospitality and other industries, represented creditors in the Venezuelan loan default consolidated cases and represented clients in a number of post-closing disputes and insurance coverage matters. In the pro bono realm, Mr. Garvey helped lead a team that achieved an historic victory on behalf of a class of homeless children in New York. He served as co-lead class counsel, representing the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and a number of homeless families and children, in a lawsuit brought against New York State and various other state and local authorities. The lawsuit confirmed the plaintiffs’ private right of action under 28 U.S.C. § 1983 and, after the Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, resulted in a consent decree that secured various education and transportation rights under federal law for the class of homeless children. As a result of these efforts, Goodwin Procter was awarded the 2005 Pro Bono Award by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. less »
Professional Activities
Mr. Garvey is a member of the New York State Bar Association and its Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. He is also a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where he was the Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee, and currently sits on the Products Liability Committee. Mr. Garvey also is a member of the DRI’s Drug and Medical Device Committee and its Toxic Torts Committee. Mr. Garvey was recognized as a New York Super Lawyer in 2006 and 2007 in the area of Mass Torts & Class Action Defense.
Publications/Presentations
Mr. Garvey has published or presented in several contexts, including: author of “Effective Use of Expert Witnesses, Mastering the Practice Aspects of Using Experts,” Strafford Publications, April 2008; author of “MTBE Litigation and You,” in the April 2008 edition of NACS Magazine ; presenter at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s November 2006 webcast, “Anatomy of a Mass Tort;” presenter at the July 2006 teleconference of the DRI’s Drug and Medical Device Committee, “The Admissibility of Recall Notices at Trial;” co-author of “The Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act: Anticipating and Conducting Product Recalls,” which appeared in the May 2006 volume of DRI’s For The Defense; presenter at the May 2006 Goodwin Procter webinar on the topic, “Benzene Basics;” and co-author of the Goodwin Procter February 2005 client alert on the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. While in law school, Mr. Garvey was a member and note and comments editor of the Albany Law Review.
Professional Experience
While in law school, Mr. Garvey interned for The Honorable Con G. Cholakis, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York (1992).
Bar and Court Admissions
Mr. Garvey is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Second Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of New York, as well as the bars of the State of New York and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Education
J.D., Albany Law School of Union University, 1992 (cum laude)
B.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1990 (cum laude)
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