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Mark Goodman

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Mark Goodman is a partner in the Firm's San Francisco office who serves as co-Chair of the firm’s North America Commercial Litigation group and is part of the North America Trial Team. Mark has led complex multidistrict litigation, handled class actions and tried cases in state and federal courts across the US for both domestic and international clients. Mark regularly presents on product liability, risk mitigation and cross-border disputes. Listed in Who's Who in American Law and a Fellow of the American Bar Association, Mark has been regularly recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer, a member of the Legal 500 and as a member of the International Who's Who of Professionals.

With a growing trend toward taking more ESG measures, some companies are at risk of lawsuits from consumers involving plastic packaging. Here are some best practices boards should know about to mitigate the risk of litigation. In a recent trend, citizen advocates and environmental groups have been filing lawsuits asserting novel theories against major companies that use or rely on plastic, even if the companies do not produce plastic products or are not involved in…

It appears that courts have found a way to try to keep class actions alive even where traditional damages claims do not satisfy the stringent standard for class certification. Specifically, recent California federal court decisions in class action litigation reflect a seeming willingness to certify classes for purposes of injunctive relief when damages claims do not qualify for class treatment. While it used to be that a defendant could escape financial exposure by showing that…

Once a darling of the class action plaintiffs’ bar, food labeling class actions are becoming tough nuts to crack for plaintiffs in US District Courts. Recent decisions demonstrate a progressive unwillingness on the part of federal courts to accept arguments that consumers can be misled by food products’ labels where the ingredient list on packaging expressly discloses information to the consumer about what is in the product. The courts are also more and more unwilling…

In a 5-4 decision issued on 28 May 2019, the United States Supreme Court held that the federal removal statute does not permit a third-party counterclaim defendant to remove a class action from state court to federal court. This decision prevents a defendant sued by way of a third-party counterclaim in state court from litigating in federal court notwithstanding the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA) broad language allowing “any defendant” to remove a class action…