Neal Walters

Litigation, Product Liability and Mass Tort, Commercial Litigation, Consumer Class Action Litigation, Consumer Financial Services, E-Discovery and Data Management

Neal Walters is a partner in the Litigation Department, Practice Leader of the Product Liability and Mass Tort Group, and a member of the Commercial Litigation, Consumer Class Action Litigation, Consumer Financial Services, and E-Discovery and Data Management Groups. Mr. Walters and his national team enjoy a diverse trial and litigation practice focused on protecting product companies, and clients involved in technical matters, against a broad range of risks. As national counsel for several consumer product manufacturers, Mr. Walters has defended and coordinated product liability and consumer claims through trial in jurisdictions around the country. He also counsels companies on regulatory and liability issues arising in the sale and marketing of products.

Mr. Walters has significant experience defending class certification proceedings, with a focus on consumer fraud and unfair trade practices. He and his team have achieved the rare feat of trying two product class actions to full verdicts, with one resulting in a full defense verdict and the other in decertification of the class. Mr. Walters has successfully challenged class proceedings in a variety of settings, including striking the pleadings, developing and challenging certification expert proofs, extensive CAFA analysis, and coordination of MDL and competing actions. He also has focused heavily upon decertification efforts, discovery from absent class members, settlement approval proceedings, and appellate practice. Mr. Walters regularly speaks and publishes in this area.

Mr. Walters and his team also have experience counseling companies about, and defending, complex tort actions arising from industrial accidents. Mr. Walters recently has counseled companies on developing procedures to manage electronic discovery and is a lecturer and author on this topic.  

Representative Matters

• Successfully defended a motor vehicle manufacturer in MDL proceedings to defeat consumer fraud and warranty claims arising from the sale and marketing of OnStar telecommunications services
• Defends a manufacturer of vehicle component parts and coordinates multiple product liability actions around the country alleging vehicle defects and personal injury
• Defended a product manufacturer in a four-week jury trial of a class action, alleging product defects and consumer fraud in connection with the sale and servicing of 8,000 motor vehicles, resulting in limiting plaintiff's damages to less than one-tenth of the damages sought; achieved post-trial decertification of the class and engaged in claims process and fee petition proceedings raising due process and appellate issues
• Counsels a product manufacturer regarding the development, manufacture, marketing, and product support of a new line of specialty vehicles
• Secured a defense verdict as lead counsel in a four-week jury trial in California state court, defeating consumer fraud and false advertising claims filed on behalf of the public seeking rescission and injunctive relief, including corrective advertising for an entire product line
• Defends a global manufacturer of refractory brick against claims of a steel furnace operator arising from a large-scale molten steel breakout accident 
• Secured dismissal of product liability claims against a manufacturer of high-pressure nitrogen cylinders brought by a worker sustaining catastrophic injuries from cylinder rupture, involving the coordination of multiple liability experts
• Successfully prosecuted an action on behalf of a sophisticated welding company to recover substantial receivable owing on contract for the fabrication and sale of large-scale steel cylinders used to manufacture silicon chips
• Secured a nuisance value settlement on behalf of a flexible gas connector manufacturer against product liability claims of victims sustaining substantial burn injuries from a gas explosion that leveled an apartment building
  
• Prevailed on motion to dismiss complex breach of contract action seeking compensatory damages and injunctive relief for the return of liquor license associated with the closure of Garden State Race Track
• Negotiated a class settlement on behalf of New Jersey's largest title company involving alleged RESPA violations
• Counseled a product manufacturer to develop e-discovery compliance procedures
• Defeated a competitor's bid protest before the GAO and GSBCA on behalf of a telecommunications company awarded a multimillion-dollar contract
• Achieved summary judgment or nuisance value settlements on behalf of employers faced with unique challenges to New Jersey's workers' compensation immunity statute, including extensive analyses of the special employer, borrowed servant, and intentional wrong doctrines
• Prevailed on creative motion for summary judgment at the outset of the case to strike national class allegations filed on behalf of 250,000 product owners prior to the court's holding a class certification hearing in the Superior Court of New Jersey
• Successfully defended a conversion van company against rollover and roof crush allegations of a quadriplegic arising out of a multivehicle accident in North Carolina; achieved nuisance value settlement; plaintiff proceeded to trial against the van chassis manufacturer in New Jersey and secured an $8 million verdict
• Obtained a dismissal of unfair trade practice claims in statewide class action against a vehicle manufacturer in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Secured summary judgment on behalf of an automobile manufacturer to dismiss defective restraint system claims in the Superior Court of New Jersey

Pro Bono Experience

Mr. Walters served as a part of a team that successfully pursued litigation, regulatory, and legislative action on behalf of an Indian tribe to secure Historic Preservation protection for a 10,000-year-old archaeological site in Northern New Jersey.

Professional Activities

Rutgers School of Law-Camden, Adjunct Professor, Pretrial Advocacy and Electronic Discovery

Defense Research Institute

Recognition & Accomplishments

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, products liability and mass torts (national ranking), 2009-2011

Recipient, New Jersey Law Journal "40 Under 40" award, 2007

Recipient, 2003 Conservation Award, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, for his team's pro bono efforts in successfully pursuing an injunction to preserve a site of archaeological significance on behalf of the Lenni-Lenape Indians

Publications

Co-author, "A Red Light for Federal Class Certification in California," Law360, February 2, 2012

Co-author, "Putting The Brakes On Class Certification Under Dukes," Law360, January 20, 2012

Co-author, "United States Supreme Court to Tackle Stream of Commerce Theory for Personal Jurisdiction," New Jersey State Bar Association's Product Liability and Toxic Tort Law Section newsletter, Volume 12, No. 2, January 2011

Co-author, "Plaintiffs Pick Your Poison: Curtailing CFA Claims Premised on Traditional Product Liability Risks," New Jersey State Bar Association's Product Liability and Toxic Tort Law Section newsletter, Volume 12, No. 2, January 2011; and DRI's The Voice, Volume 9 Issue 44, November 3, 2010

Co-author, "Sorry, Party's Over: Defeating the Class After Certification," DRI's The Voice, December 9, 2009

"Defending the Consumer Fraud Case Through Trial," Pennsylvania Bar Quarterly, January 2007

"Handling Costly E-Discovery Obligations in 'Smaller' Cases," "Understanding the New E-Discovery Rules," Defense Research Institute, November 2006

"Consumers Have Changed, So Why Not The Law? Defending Claims Under The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act," New Jersey Law Journal, December 2005

Editor and author, "The Complete Preemption Doctrine and Federal Question Removal" chapter from "Getting Out of Dodge, Effective Methods of Achieving Removal," Product Liability Advisory Council, 2003

Speaking Engagements

Panelist, "Prevailing Trends in Consumer Product Liability: Allegations of Fraud," Strafford Publications, Inc., webinar, February 21, 2012

"Class Dismissed: Best Practices for Defeating Consumer Product Class Actions," DRI Product Liability Conference, New Orleans, April 2011

Panelist, "Electronic Discovery – Taking Stock and Moving Forward," Ballard Spahr CLE, December 17, 2009

"Insights from the Trenches: Determining Early On What Your Client's True Pressure Points Are While Outlining a Defensive Strategy That is Both Cost- and Reputation-Conscious," American Conference Institute, Phoenix, September 23, 2009

"Challenging Experts in Class Action Litigation," a pre-Peroxide discussion of strategies for effectively mitigating class experts impact upon certification issues, DRI Commercial Litigation Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November 2008

Moderator and speaker, "Practical Tips for Litigating Cases Under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act," New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, December 2007

"Identifying and Defending 'Individual' Consumer Product Claims with Class Consequences," ACI's Defending Consumer Litigation, May 2007

"Managing E-Discovery Under The New Federal And State Rules," June 2006

Community Activities

Mr. Walters was a collegiate baseball player and is an athletics enthusiast. He is an avid golfer and is actively involved in coaching a variety of youth sports for the Marlton (New Jersey) Recreation Council.

Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey School of Law-Newark (J.D. 1993)

Rutgers College (B.A. 1990)

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit