Richard S. Lewis

Partner

Washington, DC

+1 (202) 540-7200

rlewis@hausfeld.com Email

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Richard S. Lewis

Experience

Richard is a leader in the mass tort bar and chairs the firm’s mass torts and environmental threats practice groups. Rich has been at the forefront of some of the most high-profile mass torts, public health and environmental cases in the U.S. and around the world. He is dedicated to bringing justice to those exposed to toxic chemicals, unsafe working conditions, and unsafe drugs.

Clients

Over the course of his career, Rich has represented clients facing a broad array of public health injuries caused by corporate negligence including lead poisoned children, diseased and injured miners, student athletes, NFL football players, farmers, pharmaceutical drug and medical device patients, communities and workers exposed to toxic chemicals, state attorneys general, city officials and municipalities trying to protect the public health.

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Practice Areas

Civil and Human Rights

Bongani Nkala and 69 others v. Harmony Gold Mining Co., Ltd., et al – Rich was lead counsel in this groundbreaking case, which concluded in a massive settlement in South Africa to recover compensation for tens of thousands of South African goldminers who suffered occupational lung disease. The settlement is on behalf of a class of goldminers going back 50 plus years to 1965 against the entire goldmining industry in South Africa.
Communication to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Sacchi et al. v. Argentina et al – Rich is co-counsel in this groundbreaking Petition to the UN involving climate change as a violation of children’s rights.

Environmental Threats

SCWA v. Dow and SCWA v. 3M Company – Rich presently serves as co-lead counsel in two environmental cases on behalf of the largest public water board in the country against 3M Company and Dow for contamination of the local public drinking water supply.
Rich has litigated both individual and class childhood lead poisoning cases and is also handling environmental and workplace safety cases in India, and South Africa.

Mass Torts and Public Health Threats

In the U.S., Rich has been appointed to serve as co-lead counsel in mass tort and product liability class action cases including:
- In re StarLink Corn Products – asserting claims by farmers for genetic modification contamination of the U.S. corn supply
- In re PPA – Asserting claims by users of unsafe over-the-counter medicines

He has also been appointed to the MDL Steering Committee in:
- In re Prempro Products (HRT) Liability Litigation
- In re NFL Players' Concussion Injury Litigation
- In re NCAA Student Athlete Concussion Injury Litigation
- In re Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation
- In re Bard IVC Liability Litigation
- In re Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Products Liability Litigation
- In re Chinese Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Litigation – Rich was a member of the trial team that obtained a comprehensive remediation and property damages verdict for seven Virginia homeowners. He has significant experience in working with public health experts and related Daubert issues.
Rich served or presently serves as counsel in numerous actions to obtain medical monitoring and property damage relief for communities exposed to toxic chemicals, unsafe working conditions, or unsafe drugs. These include:
- In re NFL Players' Concussion Injury Litigation
- In re NCAA Student Athlete Concussion Injury Litigation
- In re Porter Ranch (Methane Gas Leak)
- In re Diet Drug Litigation (Fen-Phen) – Resulted in a $4 billion settlement providing medical monitoring in addition to individual personal injury awards.
- Farnum v. Shell – An oil spill pollution case in Barbados against international oil companies, that resulted in a settlement providing property damage compensation for 26 farmers and landowners
- Harman v. Lipari – A superfund case that resulted in a settlement providing medical monitoring for thousands of residents who lived on or played near a landfill.

Deceptive Business Practices and Consumer Protection

Public Entity

What Others Say

Rich was named to the prestigious Lawdragon list of the 500 “Leading Lawyers in America” (2020), and to the Lawdragon list of “Top Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers” (2019 - Present)
Rich has been nominated for the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Award for Access to Justice, based on his work in the Silicosis litigation in South Africa.

Education

University of Pennsylvania, J.D., cum laude, 1986

University of Michigan, M.P.H., 1981

Tufts University, B.A., cum laude, 1976

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia

Affiliations & Memberships

Comments Editor, University of Pennsylvania Law Review

Law clerk (post law school), for the Honorable Stanley S. Brotman, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

News & Press

Mr. Lewis was interviewed regarding Children’s Rights and climate change by Columbia newspaper, El Tiempo in 2019.

Mr. Lewis was interviewed by BBC Radio regarding the class certification of the Silicosis case in South Africa in 2016.

Mr. Lewis commented in USA Today, "Hearing on consolidation of NCAA concussion lawsuits." December 2013.

“Manassas Park Woman Sues Drug Company Over Breast Cancer.” The Washington Post quotes Richard Lewis regarding a suit against Pfizer. January 3, 2010.

Mr. Lewis interviewed in Fox News story on Prempro cancer case. November 26, 2009.

First Chinese drywall class actions filed in Virginia and North Carolina. May 21, 2009.

Comment, “O.C.A.W. v. American Cyanamid: The Shrinking of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review (July 1985)

Presentations & Speeches

"Public Nuisance Litigation," Congressional Staff Briefing at the GMU Law & Economics Center, November 2019, Arlington, VA

"Effectiveness of Settlements," The Perrin Conferences’ Mass Tort Global Settlement Architecture Conference, May 2019, Washington, D.C.