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This privacy policy applies to information collected online from users of this website. In this policy, you can learn what kind of information we collect, when and how we might use that information, how we protect the information, and the choices you have with respect to your personal information.
What personal information is collected through this website and how is it used?
We collect information about our users in three ways: directly from the user, from our Web server logs and through cookies. We use the information primarily to provide you with a personalized Internet experience that delivers the information, resources, and services that are most relevant and helpful to you. We don't share any of the information you provide with others, unless we say so in this Privacy Policy, or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.
User-supplied information: If you fill out the “contact” form on this website, we will ask you to provide some personal information (such as e-mail address, name and phone number). We only require that you provide an e-mail address on the contact form. Please do not submit any confidential, proprietary or sensitive personally identifiable information (e.g. Social Security Number; date of birth; drivers license number; or credit card, bank account or other financial information) (collectively, "Sensitive Information"). If you submit any Sensitive Information, you do so at your own risk and we will not be liable to you or responsible for consequences of your submission.
Information that you provide to us through the contact form will be used so that we may respond to your inquiry. We may also use information you provide to us to communicate with you in the future. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you may opt out (unsubscribe) as described below.
Web server logs: When you visit our website, we may track information about your visit and store that information in web server logs, which are records of the activities on our sites. The servers automatically capture and save the information electronically. Examples of the information we may collect include:
- your unique Internet protocol address;
- the name of your unique Internet service provider;
- the town/city, county/state and country from which you access our website;
- the kind of browser or computer you use;
- the number of links you click within the site;
- the date and time of your visit;
- the web page from which you arrived to our site;
- the pages you viewed on the site; and
- certain searches/queries that you conducted via our website(s).
The information we collect in web server logs helps us administer the site, analyze its usage, protect the website and its content from inappropriate use and improve the user's experience.
Cookies: In order to offer and provide a customized and personal service, our website and applications may use cookies and similar technologies to store and help track information about you. Cookies are simply small pieces of data that are sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. We use cookies to help remind us who you are and to help you navigate our sites during your visits. Cookies also can tell us where visitors go on a website and allow us to save preferences for you so you won't have to re-enter them each time you visit. The use of cookies is relatively standard. Most Internet browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can use your browser to either notify you when you receive a cookie or to disable cookies.
If you wish to disable cookies from this site, you can do so using your browser. You should understand that some features of many sites may not function properly if you don't accept cookies. For more information about using browsers to manage cookies, please see All About Cookies. You can opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting Google's Ad Settings.
By visiting this website, you consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
Third-party Services: We may use services provided by third parties to display relevant content or services to you. These third parties may use cookies or similar technologies to collect or receive information from this website and elsewhere on the internet. Please keep in mind that we do not share your personal information with any third-party advertiser, ad server or ad network.
You can opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting Google's Ad Settings. Please see "Cookies" in the section above for more information on how you can control the use of cookies on your computer.
California Do Not Track: Our web services do not alter, change, or respond upon receiving Do Not Track (DNT) requests or signals in browsers. As described in more detail above, we track user activity using web server logs, cookies and similar technologies. Information collected in web server logs helps us analyze website usage and improve the user's experience. Cookies allow us to offer you a customized experience and present relevant advertising to you.
How is personal information protected?
We take certain appropriate security measures to help protect your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized persons will always be unable to defeat our security measures.
Who has access to the information?
We will not sell, rent, or lease mailing lists or other user data to others, and we will not make your personal information available to any unaffiliated parties, except as follows:
- to agents, website vendors and/or contractors who may use it on our behalf or in connection with their relationship with us;
- if we are unable to assist with your matter, but know an unaffiliated attorney or firm that may be able to help you, we may refer you and share information you provided us with that party; and
- as required by law, in a matter of public safety or policy, as needed in connection with the transfer of our business assets (for example, if we are acquired by another firm or if we are liquidated during bankruptcy proceedings), or if we believe in good faith that sharing the data is necessary to protect our rights or property.
How can I correct, amend or delete my personal information and/or opt out of future communications?
You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. Contact us via the phone number, contact form or mailing address on our website at any time to:
- see what data we have about you, if any;
- change/correct any data we have about you;
- ask us to delete any data we have about you; and/or
- opt out of future communications from us.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please contact us via the phone number, contact form or mailing address listed on this website. If our information practices change in a significant way, we will post the policy changes here.
Updated April 25, 2018.
Leger & Shaw is a full service New Orleans law firm assisting clients throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region in maritime and admiralty law issues, class actions and complex litigation, commercial litigation and serious personal injury cases. The firm has been successful in its legal practice due to the work ethic, experience, and knowledge of our attorneys.
Their commitment to the people and businesses of Louisiana is second to none. They demonstrate their genuine concern for the people of Louisiana through their civic service and community involvement.
Litigation against the Tobacco Industry
Castano Tobacco Litigation. The Castano Tobacco Litigation involved a team of 65 law firms from throughout the United States that came together to battle the tobacco industry in 1993. The case of Castano v. American Tobacco Company, et al., in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana was filed as a nationwide class-action on behalf of all addicted smokers. It was originally certified by the District Court, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decertified the class, finding that the laws of the 50 states varied so significantly that a national class action was inappropriate. The day after this Fifth Circuit ruling, the Castano attorneys filed suit against all major cigarette companies in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. See Scott, et al. v. the American Tobacco Company, et al. Shortly thereafter dozens of other class action were filed by Castano attorneys in other states.
Attorneys from the Leger firm played key roles on the Castano team.
Louisiana Attorney General Litigation. Around the same time, Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore filed suit on behalf of his state against the tobacco industry. Louisiana Attorney General Richard Ieyoub retained outside private counsel, including Russ Herman and Walter Leger. Louisiana was among the first states to file suit, assuming a major leadership role in the national effort.
Davis/Ellis California Litigation. Among the state cases led by members of the Castano group was the Davis/Ellis California Tobacco Litigation, advanced on behalf of the Governor of the State of California, Grey Davis, after the Attorney General had originally declined to file. As the Castano team made progress, the Attorney General finally joined forces.
The Master Settlement Agreement. As a result of the combined forces of the Attorneys General groups and the Castano group, the major tobacco companies and the 45 states that filed suit negotiated a Master Settlement Agreement. The settlement was valued in excess of $246 billion, believed to be the largest litigation settlement in history.
The nationwide settlement provided for a payment of approximately $4.6 billion to the State of Louisiana and approximately $27 billion to the State of California, states represented by Leger & Shaw attorneys were intimately involved in the negotiations and the litigation that led up to those negotiations.
Work performed by the Castano group under the leadership of Leger lawyers, among others, involved the discovery of literally millions of pages of documents, including documents from previous litigation against the tobacco industry.
Involvement of Leger & Shaw. Leger Firm members staffed the Administrative Committee, the Discovery Committee, the Law Committee, the Science Committee, and Leger was in charge of document discovery and what was called the "document boot camp." Leger’s team of dozens of lawyers and paralegals received and reviewed tens of thousands of documents comprising millions of pages, and, objectively coded, subjectively coded, and organized them for the purposes of trial. This all took place before extensive computer programming and digital organization became useful. In fact, this group developed programs which are being used today. Leger was also a member of what was referred to as the "Addiction Team," a small task force of attorneys who developed and located the first litigation experts on tobacco addiction and researched the peer reviewed scientific literature on the subject. Eventually, the team was the first to take and defend depositions of experts on the science of addiction, much of which would be used in later litigation and will be applicable to the opioid litigation.
The Scott Case. The day immediately following the decertification of the nationwide Castano class action, members of the Castano group, including Leger, filed the Scott class action in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. Scott was a class action filed on behalf of all Louisiana smokers seeking medical monitoring and/or medical assistance for the cessation of addictive smoking. Walter Leger was a Trial Team captain, and chaired the Expert Committee. The jury trial (believed to be the longest jury trial in Louisiana history) lasted three years from the time of jury selection to the final verdict of approximately $600 million. The tobacco companies unsuccessfully appealed the case through the state court system and sought certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, which was denied. Ultimately, the hundreds of millions of dollars of proceeds from this verdict funded the Louisiana Smoking Cessation Trust, administered in New Orleans.
BP/DEEPWATER HORIZON Oil Spill Litigation
. . . one of the largest, most complicated cases in the history of the United States judicial system. As the largest oil spill in the history of this country, the BP Oil Spill impacted the entire Gulf Coast and beyond. Hundreds of thousands of lawsuits were filed, and hundreds of thousands of settlement claims were resolved through a one-of-a-kind settlement program which, again, proved to be one of the most successful in judicial history. To date, BP has paid or issued eligibility notices of more than $13 billion to individuals and businesses.
As co-lead counsel, Mr. Herman serves as Liaison Counsel, on the Executive Committee, and the Plaintiff Steering Committee. As a member of the Trial Team, Mr. Leger litigated and tried the Phase 1 liability trial.
Leger firm attorneys assisted other Common Benefit Attorneys in preparing for depositions, accumulating exhibits, and making witness outlines and exhibit binders, for both the Phase One and Phase Two Trials; assisted in the preparation and organization of deposition summaries and two-page summaries of all depositions; read and summarized almost seventy-five expert reports; were responsible for tracking of all of the trial exhibits, data entry into database; bates numbering, cleaning and redacting; and assisting in logging all admitted information regarding when every exhibit was used and by whom.
Leger attorneys worked on multiple “Evidence Outlines” compiling, organizing, and indexing evidence against the three major defendants for use in the Phase One and Phase Two Trials as well as marshalling these exhibits from more than 70 million pages of documents. These materials were revised in contemplation of a “Trial Package,” which several attorneys had inquired about for eventual potential use in unresolved (and potentially un-tried) cases, as well as an eye toward potential relevance in the Oil Pollution Act (“OPA”) Test Cases.
Not only have Herman and co-lead counsel managed the largest, most complicated litigation in United States history to unqualified success, but Leger & Shaw has done so in record time. The BP Oil Spill litigation has been substantially completed within approximately seven and half years. While the settlement program is in its final stages, the remaining litigation is a mere fraction of the hundreds of thousands of lawsuits that were filed and pending through 2012.
Leger was Special Counsel to the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee and was a member of the Phase I and Phase II Trial Team. The trial took over 300 depositions, of which Leger attorneys participated in dozens. Leger firm lawyers were heavily involved in document review, document discovery, liability and expert depositions, and retaining and development of technical experts. Leger was involved in drafting and development the 125 page Master Complaint filed on behalf of all local governments. Leger was called upon to coordinate local government strategy and communications.
Leger chaired and headed the Louisiana Coastal Parish Local Government Coalition. The Leger Firm was involved in the representation of most of the local governments severely affected by the spill. This group was made up of dozens of local governments, including parishes, cities, municipalities, school boards, sheriffs, and numerous local recreation districts, fire districts, water districts, levee districts, flood authorities, and other Louisiana political subdivisions.
In connection with this local government leadership, after the liability trial, the Court asked Leger to negotiate a settlement plan on behalf of all of the local governments. There were hundreds from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Under his leadership early in the case, most local governments joined in the use of similar damage models and shared economic experts. As a result, a favorable settlement was negotiated on behalf of the local governments totaling nearly $400 million, payable immediately. Orleans Parish and related entities’ recovery exceeded $80 million. Additional local government settlements were entered into and negotiated for other city, parish and metropolitan New Orleans local governments exceeding $150,000 million.
In all, members of the Proposing Herman, Leger, and Fayard law firms were involved in $13 billion in settlement payments and 420,000 claims processed with eligibility notices handed out to nearly 175,000 claimants. Nearly $400 million of payments were negotiated on behalf of local governments across the coast.
Other Significant Cases Involving Complex Litigation, Commercial Litigation, or Pharmaceutical Litigation
Attorneys with the Leger firm have held leadership roles in many of the most successful national mass tort and class action cases throughout the United States, including but not limited to the BP Oil Spill and Big Tobacco litigations. In association with these and other litigations, Leger & Shaw has been at the cutting edge of e-discovery, document management, and claims preparation. Attorneys with the Leger firm were appointed by the Federal Judge to serve as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in the M/V BRIGHT FIELD Litigation, in which numerous local businesses and governmental entities suffered property damage and loss of income when a Chinese vessel slammed into the New Orleans Riverwalk and associated properties. As evidenced by this leadership, Leger & Shaw is more than capable of providing the manpower necessary, including consistent, timely responses to the needs of [POLITICAL SUBDIVISION]. One or more attorneys capable of providing legal advice and/or attending necessary functions/committee meetings will always be available to the client.
The following is a sample of just some of the significant cases in which these firms have been involved:
- In re: BRIGHTFIELD, No. 96-4099 (E.D. La.), the Leger firm served as co-lead counsel for Plaintiffs in a consolidated complex litigation including personal injury, property damage, and business losses resulting from the allision of the M/V BRIGHT FIELD with the Riverwalk Shopping Center in New Orleans. Over $150 million was recovered.
- Dumas v. Angus Chemical Company, No. 92-1707, Fourth Judicial District Court, Parish of Ouachita, State of Louisiana, Leger firm members served as class counsel attorneys in a massive explosion at a nitromethane plant in Sterlington, Louisiana that resulted in a recovery of over $85,000,000.
- In Re: Silicone Gel Breast Implant Product Liability Litigation, MDL-926 (N.D. Ala.), Leger attorneys played lead roles in this nationwide mass joinder and class-action, as leaders in the Discovery Committee, Science Committee, Expert Development Committee, as State Liaison Counsel, and in connection with settlements. Efforts resulted in a nationwide settlement of $14 billion.
- Spitzfadden v. Dow Corning, et al., No 92-2589, C.D.C, Parish of Orleans—Louisiana Breast Implant Class-Action, Leger served as class counsel. Leger was Bristol-Myers Trial Team Captain, Discovery Committee chairman, and litigation coordinator in this class action against medical product manufacturers on behalf of 5,000 Louisiana plaintiffs in settlement negotiated for $150 million.
- In Re: Panacryl Sutures, MDL-1959, (U.S.D.C., M.D.N.C.), Leger attorneys served on the plaintiffs steering committee, discovery committee, deposition committee, science committee, settlement committee, and trial team in this consolidated multidistrict litigation matter that involved defective surgical products.
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