Professionals

Terry Dee

Partner

Overview
Experience
Credentials
Insights & News

Terry is a nationally recognized trial lawyer in product liability, mass torts and healthcare litigation, earning Am Law Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” on April 28, 2023. Clients rely on Terry to provide premarket exposure-mitigation strategies and his deep experience with preemption and expert-admissibility challenges. Terry has also successfully litigated disputes in healthcare antitrust, earn-outs, post-closing, breach of contract, and other civil matters in a variety of commercial sectors.

Key Matters

Some of the experience represented below may have been handled at a previous firm.

Served as lead trial counsel for a client and joint defense group of cell phone manufacturers and service carriers in more than 80 individual and coordinated actions pending in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia claiming that cell phones caused plaintiffs’ brain cancer. Tried a month-long Frye hearing on admissibility of plaintiffs’ general causation experts, and successfully argued the interlocutory appeal before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals en banc, changing the expert admissibility standard in D.C. from Frye to Federal Rule of Evidence 702. On remand, tried a three-week Rule 702/Daubert hearing resulting in an order excluding all of plaintiffs’ general causation experts.
Served as lead trial counsel for client and joint defense group in case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana claiming cell phones cause brain cancer. Successfully argued preemption motion to dismiss.
Served as lead trial counsel for client in litigation with electronic data management software vendor; negotiated favorable settlement.
Served as lead trial counsel for major law firm client and joint defense group in a qui tam action alleging violations of the False Claims Act and Illinois False Claims Act brought in the U.S. District for the Central District of Illinois. Successfully argued motion to dismiss.
Served as lead trial counsel for a client and joint defense group in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in which plaintiffs filed more than 25 consumer-fraud class actions throughout the country alleging that Bluetooth headsets cause hearing loss; successfully settled the action on a class-wide basis and argued the appeal of the settlement before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Served as lead trial counsel in a MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in which plaintiffs filed several purported consumer-fraud class actions throughout the country alleging wireless phones do not comply with Federal Communications Commission 911 call processing regulations; also selected as liaison counsel for national defense of more than 15 wireless industry companies; successfully argued summary judgment motion leading to the dismissal of all cases.
Served as lead trial counsel for a client and a joint defense group in MDL in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in which plaintiffs filed several purported consumer-fraud and breach-of-warranty class actions claiming that defendants failed to disclose that cell phones caused adverse health effects; successfully argued for dismissal of the cases based on federal preemption and, in related litigation, successfully argued for the dismissal of a purported class action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania based on federal preemption, which was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Served as lead trial counsel for the largest privately-owned coal company in the United States in a multijurisdiction dispute over a competitor’s breach of non-disclosure agreement and misappropriation of trade secrets.
Served as lead trial counsel in a several-week arbitration representing a buyer in post-closing disputes related to breaches of warranties and covenants in the sale of a consumer goods packaging business; a three-arbitrator panel issued an award granting full relief to the client.
Obtained a complete defense verdict and successfully had a claim expunged from a major investment bank's record as a result of a multiday New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) arbitration involving the investment bank and one of its top brokers involving claims of unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations, and failure to supervise.
Negotiated a post-hearing settlement while serving as lead trial counsel in a preliminary injunction hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in a non-competition, misappropriation of trade secrets case involving the outsourcing industry
Represented an industry trade group in making First Amendment and preemption challenges to the City of San Francisco and City of Berkeley ordinances requiring certain point-of-sale disclosures
Obtained a complete defense verdict and successfully defended the verdict on appeal for General Motors against claims that a defective car roof caused the death of former NFL player Derrick Thomas in a rollover accident
Served as lead trial counsel for Group Purchasing Organization in a health care antitrust suit in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois. Successfully argued motion to dismiss.
Served as lead trial counsel for hospital system in health care antitrust suit in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois. Successfully argued motion for summary judgment before the District Court and the oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the summary judgment ruling.

Recent Experience

Nabbed Two Big Wins for Motorola in Billion-Dollar Suits Over Cell Phone Safety

Capabilities

Litigation/Trials

Product Liability & Mass Torts

Commercial Litigation & Disputes

Class Actions & Group Litigation

Advertising Litigation

Antitrust/Competition

Crisis Management

Medical Devices

Health Care

Automotive & Mobility

Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Financial Services

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Key Matters

Some of the experience represented below may have been handled at a previous firm.

Served as lead trial counsel for a client and joint defense group of cell phone manufacturers and service carriers in more than 80 individual and coordinated actions pending in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia claiming that cell phones caused plaintiffs’ brain cancer. Tried a month-long Frye hearing on admissibility of plaintiffs’ general causation experts, and successfully argued the interlocutory appeal before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals en banc, changing the expert admissibility standard in D.C. from Frye to Federal Rule of Evidence 702. On remand, tried a three-week Rule 702/Daubert hearing resulting in an order excluding all of plaintiffs’ general causation experts.
Served as lead trial counsel for client and joint defense group in case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana claiming cell phones cause brain cancer. Successfully argued preemption motion to dismiss.
Served as lead trial counsel for client in litigation with electronic data management software vendor; negotiated favorable settlement.
Served as lead trial counsel for major law firm client and joint defense group in a qui tam action alleging violations of the False Claims Act and Illinois False Claims Act brought in the U.S. District for the Central District of Illinois. Successfully argued motion to dismiss.
Served as lead trial counsel for a client and joint defense group in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in which plaintiffs filed more than 25 consumer-fraud class actions throughout the country alleging that Bluetooth headsets cause hearing loss; successfully settled the action on a class-wide basis and argued the appeal of the settlement before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Served as lead trial counsel in a MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in which plaintiffs filed several purported consumer-fraud class actions throughout the country alleging wireless phones do not comply with Federal Communications Commission 911 call processing regulations; also selected as liaison counsel for national defense of more than 15 wireless industry companies; successfully argued summary judgment motion leading to the dismissal of all cases.
Served as lead trial counsel for a client and a joint defense group in MDL in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in which plaintiffs filed several purported consumer-fraud and breach-of-warranty class actions claiming that defendants failed to disclose that cell phones caused adverse health effects; successfully argued for dismissal of the cases based on federal preemption and, in related litigation, successfully argued for the dismissal of a purported class action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania based on federal preemption, which was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Served as lead trial counsel for the largest privately-owned coal company in the United States in a multijurisdiction dispute over a competitor’s breach of non-disclosure agreement and misappropriation of trade secrets.
Served as lead trial counsel in a several-week arbitration representing a buyer in post-closing disputes related to breaches of warranties and covenants in the sale of a consumer goods packaging business; a three-arbitrator panel issued an award granting full relief to the client.
Obtained a complete defense verdict and successfully had a claim expunged from a major investment bank's record as a result of a multiday New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) arbitration involving the investment bank and one of its top brokers involving claims of unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations, and failure to supervise.
Negotiated a post-hearing settlement while serving as lead trial counsel in a preliminary injunction hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in a non-competition, misappropriation of trade secrets case involving the outsourcing industry
Represented an industry trade group in making First Amendment and preemption challenges to the City of San Francisco and City of Berkeley ordinances requiring certain point-of-sale disclosures
Obtained a complete defense verdict and successfully defended the verdict on appeal for General Motors against claims that a defective car roof caused the death of former NFL player Derrick Thomas in a rollover accident
Served as lead trial counsel for Group Purchasing Organization in a health care antitrust suit in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois. Successfully argued motion to dismiss.
Served as lead trial counsel for hospital system in health care antitrust suit in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois. Successfully argued motion for summary judgment before the District Court and the oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the summary judgment ruling.