Complex Litigation

Handling and Trying the Significant Case

> The longest civil trial in American history > Consumer class actions in challenging jurisdictions > Federal prosecution of business owners and companies > Mass torts/Medical Monitoring > Product liability class actions > Complex cutting edge environmental cases > The largest trial in American history

United States of America v. Thermal Science, Inc. (TSI)

In this 1995 trial, TSI (the manufacturer of a variety of fire barrier materials, including a product that was used to protect various systems in nuclear power plants) and its president were indicted by the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland on four counts of false statements regarding tests submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency in qualifying its product for use in nuclear power plants. Gordon Ankney of Thompson Coburn LLP acted as lead trial counsel during the four-month trial in the Maryland courthouse which resulted in acquittals of both defendants on all counts.

Fully understanding the value of technology, the Firm's attorneys relied heavily on computer technology for presenting evidence during the trial, making Thompson Coburn one of the first firms to do so in a case of this complexity. Nearly a million documents, including detailed testing reports and a wide range of scientific documents, were available for use in the trial. The trial’s judge and jurors expressed their appreciation of the Firm’s use of the technology, for the ease of presentation of evidence and ultimately for reducing the length of the trial.