Christopher Gismondi

Of Counsel

Emailchristopher.gismondi@us.dlapiper.com

Call+1 212 335 4876

New York

About

Chris Gismondi is Of Counsel in the Products Liability, Mass Tort, and Class Action group at AKD Partners LLP (US). Chris litigates high-stakes mass tort product liability and class action lawsuits.

His practice focuses on life sciences, defending companies in mass tort and class actions where general and specific personal injuries are alleged, as well as providing broad-based risk management, litigation, and regulatory support to a wide variety of sectors (including food and beverage, healthcare, and technology). He has taken a particular interest in the rise of claims relating to neurological-based injuries, and common parlance claims of addiction that conflict with, and undermine, the medical definition of addiction. His efforts focus on explaining complex scientific concepts to broad audiences that are not experts in the field and breaking the link of causation between the wrongdoing alleged by the plaintiff and the claimed injury. He handles cases before state and federal trial and appellate courts, arbitrators, and mediators.

Areas of FocusLitigation, Arbitration and Investigations

Bar admissionsNew York

CourtsAll New York state courtsUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkUnited States Court of Federal Claims

EXPERIENCE

Litigation Strategy & Defense Representative Matters

Defended food manufacturer in multi-district litigation alleging that its products were defectively designed and that it failed to warn consumers of risk of neurological injury posed by products, including defending multiple expert depositions, coordinating discovery responses, and developing strategy to disprove general causation
Defended food manufacturer in California state court mass tort action alleging that its products were defectively designed and that it failed to warn consumers of the risk of exposure to trace levels of metal(oids) in the products, including taking and defending depositions of C-level executives, taking and defending multiple expert depositions, and developing strategy to disprove causation and exposure
Defended multiple food and foodware manufacturers in class action lawsuits alleging economic loss associated with false labeling claims
Defended food manufacturer in state attorney general action alleging that products were fraudulently marketed and labeled in violation of consumer protection statutes
Defended healthcare facility against class action lawsuit alleging substandard care and understaffing
Defended international insurer in class action and 12 coordinated "opt-out" federal actions alleging violations of the 1933 Securities Act and 1934 Exchange Act with over US$2 billion in total damages, including coordinating the production of over 20 million pages of documents, taking and defending depositions of C-level executives, drafting discovery and dispositive motions, and creating strategy to resolve the 12 coordinated "opt-out" cases
Represented international insurer in litigation brought by the company's former majority shareholder against the US for an alleged violation of the Fifth Amendment, including an investigation of the claims, working with standard of care experts, and providing real time updates to the board of directors
Defended international financial institution in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into allegations that the institution violated its due diligence obligations in underwriting a follow-on offering for a corporation with its primary operating subsidiary in mainland China
Defended multiple Fortune 500 companies in class action lawsuits alleging violations of the 1933 Securities Act and 1934 Exchange Act, including companies in the insurance, financial services, and consumer goods sectors
Represented manufacturer of Cannabidiol (CBD) edibles in contract and employment dispute with one of the largest cannabis manufacturers in the world

Counseling Corporate Clients

Advised global food and beverage manufacturers on litigation and regulatory risks associated with food additives and underlying ingredients
Advised global food and beverage manufacturers on marketing campaigns
Advised healthcare facilities and insurance provider on COVID-related claims portfolio
Advised manufacturers and service providers on the provision of services to cannabis companies
Advised international pharmaceutical company on whether its psilocybin and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) research labs were compliant with the controlled substances act
Advised manufacturers on legality of cannabis products
Advised companies and investment funds on a variety of regulatory issues when pursuing acquisitions of cannabis- and tobacco-related businesses
Advised product manufacturers in responding to allegations that they manufactured defective products
Advised international insurer on potential indemnification obligations
Advised board of directors with respect to the proper procedure to protect legal privilege contained in the minutes of their meetings