Walker, et al. v. RJR Tobacco

Case Updates

Click here to view the order.

Click here to view the U.S. Chamber’s second amicus brief filed in support of rehearing.

In the renewed rehearing petition, Alan E. Untereiner and Joshua S. Bolian of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc.

Before the Court acted on the petition for rehearing, the original three-judge panel replaced its opinion with a revised opinion. Accordingly, the Eleventh Circuit declined to review the original panel opinion. The Court rejected the proposed amicus briefs.

The U.S. Chamber asked the Eleventh Circuit to rehear the panel decision in Walker v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.(11th Cir. Sept. 6, 2013) because the panel’s decision threatens to eviscerate core due-process protections by permitting the use of a novel “preclusion” doctrine to bar litigation of specific claims based on a general verdict by a jury that may or may not have endorsed the precluded theory of liability. The Chamber’s brief argued that if allowed to stand, the panel’s ruling has the potential to dramatically transform the law of preclusion and improperly increase the liability exposure for all companies doing business in the United States.

John H. Beisner, Jessica Davidson Miller, and Geoffrey M. Wyatt of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc. in the initial rehearing petition.