Slippery Slope Decision by California Appellate Court Allows Wrongful Death Claim from "Take Home" COVID-19 Exposure to Proceed

Sharon L. Caffrey is co-chair of Duane Morris' Trial Practice Group. Ms. Caffrey concentrates her practice in the areas of mass tort, products liability and toxic tort litigation. Ms. Caffrey's experience ranges from serving as counsel for Baxter in medical device and biologics product liability claims, to serving as national coordinating counsel for Pliva, Inc., in its PPA litigation, to serving as one of a handful of national trial counsel for Ford Motor Company in their asbestos litigation, to handling major chemical exposure cancer claims for CSX Transportation, Inc. Ms. Caffrey has significant trial experience, including extensive experience as MDL counsel in both asbestos and PPA litigation. Ms. Caffrey has handled toxic tort litigation involving a number of chemicals including diesel exhaust, PHAs, benzene, talc, pesticides and solvents, on a trial team for a medical device manufacturer involving hip implant litigation, including the development of expert witnesses. Ms. Caffrey’s automotive experience includes investigating failures of electric powered vehicles and other equipment, such as forklifts. Ms. Caffrey also represents CSX Transportation, Inc. and Conrail Corp. in their Pennsylvania area litigation, ranging from complex preemption issues and the defense of significant third party personal injury claims. She was twice presented with an "Excellence in Trial Advocacy" award by CSX Transportation, Inc. and has been twice listed in Chambers USA in the category of Product Liability and Mass Torts – Nationwide. Ms. Caffrey also heads the COVID-19 Strategy Group for Duane Morris and regularly consults clients on issues related to COVID-19 liability prevention. Ms. Caffrey's extensive trial experience also includes trying dozens of product liability, mass tort, health effects and medical negligence cases to verdict, the vast majority to defense verdicts. She was presented with an "Excellence in Trial Advocacy" award by CSX Transportation, Inc. and was listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the category of Product Liability and Mass Torts – Nationwide in 2016 and 2017. Ms. Caffrey is a frequent speaker on issues related to Daubert and Frye, and has handled numerous Daubert and Frye hearings, challenging the admissibility of the opposing parties’ expert witnesses. Ms. Caffrey is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She is the a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce COVID-19 Working Group as well as the Chamber's Liability Reform Group. She has spoken at the IACD regarding Autonomous Vehicles, the Mealey's Asbestos Litigation Seminar and the American Conference Institute Asbestos Litigation Seminar. Ms. Caffrey is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and has served as a vice chair of the Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee of the American Bar Association. She served as co-chair of the Women's Rights Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association for two years and as a member of the association's Committee on Women in the Profession and Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention, as well as the board of the Public Interest Section. Ms. Caffrey founded and chaired Duane Morris' Women's Impact Network for Success for seven years and co-chaired the first Lexis-Nexis conference on Advancing Women in the Profession. In 2021, she was the recipient of the firm's Cheryl Bryson Leadership Award, which recognizes significant contributions to women in the profession, including professional development of women lawyers and the advancement of women lawyers in the profession. In addition, Ms. Caffrey is a member of Duane Morris' Partners Board and served for several years on its Diversity and Inclusion Committee. A former judicial clerk to the Honorable Dominick J. Ferrelli, JSC and the Honorable Anthony P. Tunney, JSC of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Ms. Caffrey is a 1987 graduate of Widener University School of Law and a graduate of American University, with honors.

Eve I. Klein serves as Chair of Duane Morris’ Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group and serves as the firm’s employment counsel. Ms. Klein has over 30 years of experience representing businesses in all aspects of employment law, management labor relations and employment-related litigation. Ms. Klein has extensive experience advising clients about their rights and obligations regarding the complex and frequently changing federal, state and local laws and regulations which affect the workplace. Ms. Klein counsels clients on day-to-day workplace matters, in mergers and acquisitions and in protecting company good will and proprietary information. Clients rely on Ms. Klein for her practical advice and negotiation skills to avoid or resolve disputes without litigation whenever possible and for her vigorous defense of their position when litigation proves necessary. Ms. Klein regularly handles complex labor and employment litigation brought by current and former employees and labor unions, in state or federal court and before administrative agencies. Ms. Klein advises and defends employers in connection with issues and claims involving the employment discrimination statutes, disability accommodation obligations (both employment and public accommodation), family and medical leave laws, employee recruitment and work eligibility rules, plant closing restrictions, wage and hour rules and employee benefits. Ms. Klein frequently defends employers in wage and hour class action litigation. She also helps businesses draft employment agreements, including those with restrictive covenants, and has a wealth of experience litigating issues relating to the enforceability of restrictive covenants. Ms. Klein has significant experience in the representation of employers in labor relations under the National Labor Relations Act and the Taylor law, including in union representation and decertification elections and unfair labor practice proceedings. For clients that are unionized, Ms. Klein represents them in collective bargaining and grievance arbitration. Ms. Klein has handled collective bargaining for clients in a variety of different sectors. She has successfully represented unionized employers in hundreds of arbitration proceedings. Ms. Klein also represents employers in labor litigation, which runs the gamut from enjoining unlawful picketing activity, enforcing employer rights in connection with agreements to arbitrate and defending employers in withdrawal liability proceedings brought by multi-employer pension funds. Ms. Klein also serves as editor of the practice group’s client alerts regarding employment and labor law developments. She is a frequent speaker on employment and labor issues for clients, business groups and educational institutions. Ms. Klein has been recognized as one of the top 100 leading women lawyers in New York City in Crain’s 2018 Legal List, in Best Lawyers in America since 2005 and frequently in New York Super Lawyers for labor and employment law since 2006. Ms. Klein is a 1985 graduate of Cornell Law School and a graduate, with distinction, of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Linda B. Hollinshead is a partner at Duane Morris LLP in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group. She is also the executive director of the Duane Morris Institute. The Duane Morris Institute provides flexible training and instruction for human resource professionals, in-house counsel, benefits administrators and managers at Duane Morris, at client sites and by way of webinars on myriad employment, labor, benefits and immigration matters. Ms. Hollinshead's key area of focus for employers is on compliance and employment law. Ms. Hollinshead provides training and counseling to employers throughout the country on a variety of subjects, including monitoring employee attendance, FMLA compliance, medical and religious accommodations, leaves of absence policies, harassment and discrimination prevention, responding to harassment and discrimination claims, FLSA and wage and hour compliance, including employee misclassification, diversity and inclusion, termination of employees, hiring practices, performance appraisals and performance management. Ms. Hollinshead also advises public accommodations as well as recipients of federal financial assistance on program accessibility and other compliance obligations. Ms. Hollinshead advises clients in numerous industries, including colleges and universities, manufacturing and retail companies, hospitals and other healthcare organizations, technology companies, financial services organizations, energy companies and not-for-profit entities. She is also a member of the firm's COVID-19 Strategy Team, Education Industry Group and Cannabis Industry Group. Ms. Hollinshead conducts investigations on behalf of employers regarding claims of harassment and discrimination as well as counsels employers concerning their own investigation of and responses to such claims. She also assists employers by drafting employees policies and handbooks, confidentiality and restrictive covenant agreements, employment agreements, termination and severance agreements as well as independent contractor agreements. She represents organizations before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other state and local agencies. Ms. Hollinshead is a 1997 cum laude graduate of Rutgers University School of Law and a graduate of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University (M.S., Public Policy) and Bucknell University (B.A., cum laude).