Carl is Vice-Chair of Thompson Coburn's Consumer Products and Tobacco Litigation Groups. He has defended multi-billion dollar damage claims in courtrooms throughout the United States, including product liability, mass tort, tobacco cost recovery, and business tort cases. For 25 years, his practice has focused on lawsuits involving complex econometric, epidemiologic, medical, and biostatistical issues. Carl's books on jury instructions have been published by Thomson West for over 20 years and are now in their third edition.
Carl's trial experience and case-management credentials include:
- First-chairing the largest defense jury verdict in the
history of tobacco cost recovery litigation.
- Serving on the defense team in the longest jury trial in the
history of the United States.
- Defending more than 1,200 personal injury lawsuits
arising out of occupational exposures to Mississippi
shipyard workers.
- Serving as national coordinating counsel in hundreds of
tort cases for a major rail carrier.
- Prosecuting Jones Act claims and defending dozens of
Federal Employer's Liability Act lawsuits.
Notable Cases
Carl was lead trial counsel for Lorillard in City of St. Louis vs. American Tobacco Company, a case against the tobacco industry filed by dozens of hospitals and hospital systems seeking more than $4 billion in compensatory damages. During the three-month trial, 26 jurors (including 14 alternates) heard testimony from 49 witnesses. On April 29, 2011, following seven days of deliberations, the jury returned defense verdicts on all claims by all plaintiffs. The National Law Journal described the win as "the largest defense victory in a tobacco cost-recovery suit to date." Carl has served as one of Lorillard Tobacco Company's national counsel for more than a decade in a variety of lawsuits. He served as national coordinating counsel in mass tort litigation for Ingersoll-Rand Company and as national counsel for Southern Pacific Transportation Company in its hearing loss and cumulative trauma litigation.