Linda L. Lane

Partner

San Diego, (858) 720-7989

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Education

University of California, Irvine (B.A., 1994)
;
University of Colorado School of Law (J.D., 1998)

Practices

Product Liability

Consumer Products

Aviation + Aerospace

Bar Admissions

California

Clerkships

Hon. Lewis T. Babcock, U.S. District Court, District of Colorado (1999-2000)

Linda Lane is a partner in the firm's Product Liability Practice Group. Her practice focuses on product liability litigation with an emphasis on consumer products and aviation. She regularly advises clients regarding product liability issues, including warning and labeling requirements under ANSI, product warranties and recalls, risk assessments, product liability insurance, and product liability claims and defenses in various jurisdictions in anticipation of issues raised in litigation. Ms. Lane has successfully first-chaired jury trials to verdict and conducted several evidentiary arbitrations. She has argued numerous dispositive motions in state and federal court and has taken and defended over 100 depositions of parties, expert witnesses, and third parties. She also regularly provides advice to intellectual property, business and litigation clients regarding potential product liability exposure related to new or existing product lines.

Since the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) approved the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (“CPSIA”), Ms. Lane has been actively assisting many of the firm's clients in ensuring that they are in compliance with the new regulatory requirements. In addition to her client work, Ms. Lane regularly publishes legal updates to keep her clients apprised of changes that will affect their business. She also presents frequently on this topic, as well as a variety of other product liability topics, at various forums, and provides additional information tailored to specific clients. Her counseling advice has developed into an “add-on” service to those services already being provided by other practice groups. For example, Ms. Lane has frequently been retained to provide product counseling advice to our firm's corporate clients when they are undertaking the following decisions: considering a merger or acquisition; drafting or re-evaluating their product warnings, warranties, risk assessments, or disclaimers; contemplating or engaging in product recalls; entering into or refining distributorship agreements or licensing agreements; developing websites or advertising campaigns; ensuring regulatory compliance through third-party testing, labeling, or distributing of their products.

In 2009, she received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the State Bar of California, one of the most prestigious pro bono awards given in the state. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Ms. Lane was an associate with Gray Cary Ware and Freidenrich LLP. She was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Lewis T. Babcock, Chief Judge of the United States District Court of Colorado, Denver, from 1999-2000. Before her clerkship, Ms. Lane was a litigation associate with Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Denver, Colorado (1998-1999).

Ms. Lane received her B.A. degree from the University of California, Irvine (1994) and her J.D. from the University of Colorado (Order of the Coif, 1998). During law school she was the Case Note/Comment Editor for the University of Colorado Law Review and a recipient of the Wolf Scholarship.

Toy Product License Agreement Litigation

Represented a major film company which licensed its trademark names and images to a toy manufacturer. Due to positive tests for lead content, the license agreement was terminated. Litigation ensued, and we prevailed in settling a permanent injunction and our attorneys' fees. (2009)

Columbia Helicopters Shasta-Trinity National Forest Crash

Representing Columbia Helicopters, a helicopter operator and maintenance facility, which performed maintenance work on the accident helicopter's fuel control system, in claims arising from the crash of a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Nine people were fatally injured and four survived. The helicopter was transporting firefighters when the accident occurred. Cases pending in three separate federal courts were assigned to the United States District Court, District of Oregon for MDL proceedings, resulting in the resolution of eleven of the claims. A separate state action involving the remaining two claims is set for trial in Portland in 2012. (Ongoing)

Chinook Helicopter Crash off Greece (In re Greek Chinook)

Represented Honeywell International Inc. in litigation arising from the crash of a Boeing Chinook helicopter off the coast of Greece in the Aegean Sea on September 11, 2004. The accident claimed the lives of the 17 passengers and crew on board the helicopter. This litigation involved multiple international jurisdictions, Death on High Seas Act (DOHSA), and a difficult causation investigation. We defended claims involving alleged defects in the helicopter’s engines, FADEC and AFCS. The lawsuits filed in the Greek courts in Chalkidiki, where the accident occurred, were settled. The remaining cases were filed in the U.S. and consolidated in federal court in Philadelphia. Those cases were also settled on terms favorable to the client. (2010)

Little v. Piper Aircraft

(C.D. Cal.). Obtained a dismissal with prejudice for Piper with no cost to our client in a wrongful death case arising out of the crash of a Seneca V on November 6, 2005 in Tomball, Texas. The crash resulted in 2 deaths. Despite the National Transportation Safety Board's conclusion that the crash was the result of pilot error, the decedents' family members sued, alleging engine failure. The case raised issues of overlapping state law and jurisdiction and conflicting comparative fault rules. We obtained a dismissal for a waiver of costs for our client. (2009)

Southwest Airlines Flight 1455.

(C.D. Cal.) Retained in March of 2000 to represent Southwest Airlines in the most serious incident in the history of that airline. All but two of the numerous cases were settled, most after a summary judgment decision by the court denying punitive damages. Two cases went to trial, and both cases the judgments were less than the amounts offered in settlement. (2003)

Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

Represented Alaska Airlines as lead trial counsel in multi-district litigation involving wrongful death and survival claims by heirs and estates of the 88 passengers and crew who perished in the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 on January 31, 2000 near Point Mugu, California. Intensive fact and expert discovery led to a series of successful motions to remove punitive damages from the case, limit theories of recovery against the airline under the Warsaw Convention, stipulate liability to remove potentially harmful evidence from the trials, and prepare and try damages claims. Trial commenced in the MDL court in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in ten wrongful death cases leading to settlements during trial of all but one of the remaining cases. After remand to the Central District of California and transfer back to the Northern District of California for trial, the remaining case settled. (2005)