Robert Friedman is a partner with King & Spalding’s Tort Litigation Practice, where he represents foreign and domestic companies in high exposure product liability and personal injury cases across the country.

Mr. Friedman’s practice focuses on the pharmaceutical and automotive industries.  His experiences include advising clients confronted with “bet-the-company” litigation involving flagship brands, helping clients respond to congressional and other governmental inquiries, and actively litigating personal injury cases in the country’s most dangerous jurisdictions.  He has represented product manufacturers including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., General Motors, Nissan, The Coca-Cola Company, Purdue Pharma LP, Chevron-Texaco, Isuzu, and Mazda in the federal and state courts of over 20 states.

Examples of Mr. Friedman’s recent litigation experience include:

• Member of a King & Spalding team that is serving as national coordinating counsel and trial counsel in product liability litigation involving GlaxoSmithKline’s antidepressant Paxil®. Mr. Friedman has specific responsibility for coordinating defensive discovery across all cases.  Among Mr. Friedman’s achievements in this litigation is Richardson v. GSK, 412 F.Supp.2d 863 (W.D. Tenn. 2006), a summary judgment for GSK based on the absence of general and specific causation evidence.
  
  
• Representing an international beverage manufacturer against product liability class actions in Florida, Kansas, and New Jersey in which it was alleged that the products had the potential to contain benzene;
  
  
• Representing automobile manufacturers in cases involving the designs of fuel systems, air bags, roofs, seat belts, suspension systems, cruise control systems, and overall vehicle structure.  Among Mr. Friedman’s achievements in this area are Simmons v. Nissan North America, Inc., an airbag non-deployment case in which a Southern District of Georgia jury returned a defense verdict; and Jonas v. Isuzu, 210 F.Supp.2d 1373 (M.D. Ga. 2003), a triple-wrongful-death action in which Isuzu won summary judgment after the plaintiffs’ expert evidence was excluded.
  
  
• Defending an international petroleum company against a wrongful death claim arising out of a violent attack at one of its retail facilities;
  
  
• Successfully representing Purdue Pharma in multiple lawsuits filed throughout the Southeast claiming personal injury and death caused by the prescription medication OxyContin® resulting in dozens of dismissals and no settlements.
  
  
• Participating in successful appeals of judgments in Georgia state and federal courts.  Examples include Chep USA v. Mock Pallet Co., 138 Fed.Appx.229 (11th Cir. 2005); Barranco v. Welcome Years, Inc., 260 Ga.App. 256 (2003); Jonas v. Isuzu Motors Inc., 58 Fed.Appx. 837 (11th Cir. 2003); Ontario Sewing Maching Co., Ltd. v. Smith, 275 Ga. 683 (2002).

Mr. Friedman is a frequent speaker and author on a variety of litigation-related topics.  Recent publications and engagements include:

• “Controlling the Scope of Trial: Excluding Key Evidence in Pharmaceutical Litigation,” In-House Defense Quarterly, Summer 2008.
  
  
• “Strategies for Evaluating and Winning Appeals,” King & Spalding e-Learn Series, June 2007.
  
  
•  “Thinking Outside the Banker’s Box: Proven Strategies for Defensive Discovery in Pharmaceutical Litigation,” Defense Research Institute, Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Conference, Young Lawyer’s Breakout, May 2007.

Mr. Friedman has particular expertise in electronic discovery and is a member of the firm’s E-Discovery Practice Group.  He regularly advises clients on a host of E-Discovery issues, including both litigation preparedness and discovery strategy in active litigation.  Recent publications and speaking engagements regarding electronic discovery include:

• “E-Discovery/Risk Management and Preservation Obligations,”  BNA’s E-Discovery for the Enterprise conference, Arlington, VA, September 2008
  
  
• “When Does the Duty to Preserve Attach?”  Litigation Readiness Workshop, West LegalWorks, Atlanta, GA, March 2008
  
  
• “What’s in Your Closet? Discovery of Disaster Recovery, Legacy, and Other ‘Inaccessible’ Data,” Defense Research Institute Electronic Discovery Teleconference, June 2007.
  
  
•  “The New Federal Discovery Rules: An Expository Narrative”, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, March 2007.

Mr. Friedman is admitted to practice in the state courts of Georgia as well as in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia.  He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Litigation and Tort and Insurance Practice Sections, the State Bar of Georgia’s Product Liability and Appellate Sections, and the Defense Research Institute’s Product Liability, Pharmaceutical Litigation, and Discovery Committees.