For over twenty years, Mr. Hollingsworth has served as lead national counsel for major pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers in the defense of serial toxic product claims involving thousands of claimants and various pharmaceutical and chemical products. Mr. Hollingsworth handles both high-stakes individual cases and massive serial litigation. He recently served as lead trial counsel for Norfolk Southern in the largest single tort case in South Carolina history and one of the largest tort cases recently tried anywhere, in which textile manufacturer Avondale Mills sought hundreds of millions of dollars in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages for property damage to its plants following a January 2005 train derailment and chlorine release. Avondale Mills v. Norfolk Southern, Civ. No. 1:05-2817-MBS (D.S.C. 2005). After one month of an anticipated three-month trial, the parties agreed to a confidential settlement in April 2008. In June 2004, Mr. Hollingsworth conducted the first jury trial in the country involving allegations that hernia repair mesh—used in approximately 700,000 hernia surgeries per year in the U.S. alone—can cause infertility. The Austin, Texas federal jury deliberated for fifty-eight minutes, returning a unanimous verdict for the nation’s largest medical device manufacturer. In 1997, Mr. Hollingsworth tried the first case alleging that the drug Parlodel could cause serious cerebrovascular events in new mothers, in a case that had substantial pretrial publicity including being featured on the NBC show “NOW.” The case was tried in state court in Rankin County, Mississippi. Mr. Hollingsworth secured a defense verdict that was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court. In another jury trial involving pretrial publicity - a “60 Minutes” documentary about his chemical manufacturer client – Mr. Hollingsworth won a defense verdict after an eleven-week trial. See Jones v. Velsicol Chem. Corp., 625 N.Y.S.2d 934 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995) (affirming denial of motion for new trial).

Mr. Hollingsworth has been lead counsel in numerous MDLs, serial litigations, and mass torts, and currently is lead counsel for defendants the Aredia/Zometa MDL (leading cancer therapy drugs). Mr. Hollingsworth is also currently defending claims brought by 3,200 Ecuadorans claiming personal injury and property damage from drug interdiction spraying with glyphosate (Roundup) that is being conducted in Colombia by a firm client at the behest of the Republic of Columbia and the U.S. State Department.

In his appellate practice, Mr. Hollingsworth recently secured on behalf of his client General Electric a decision eliminating collateral tort liability for property damage due to the release of a persistent contaminant. Based on 100-year-old national precedents, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion on questions certified from the Eleventh Circuit, leading to the vacatur of a $20 million verdict in a case tried by another firm. General Elec. Co. v. Lowe's Home Centers, Inc., 608 S.E.2d 636 (Ga. 2005).

In the course of their representation of manufacturers and other corporations in the defense of thousands of cases nationwide involving pharmaceuticals and medical devices, Mr. Hollingsworth and his group have pioneered important developments in the law critical to corporate tort defendants. Notable examples include four important and widely cited Circuit Court Daubert decisions, see, e.g., Rider/Siharath v. Sandoz Pharm. Corp., 131 F. Supp. 2d 1347 (N.D. Ga. 2001), aff'd, 295 F.3d 1194 (11th Cir. 2002)(affirming summary judgment in pharmaceutical case); Hollander v. Sandoz Pharm. Corp., 95 F. Supp. 2d 1230 (W.D. Okla. 2000) (same); Glastetter v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., 252 F.3d 986 (8th Cir. 2001) (same); and Schudel v. Gen. Elec. Co., 120 F.3d 991 (9th Cir. 1997) (overturning $14 million jury verdict on Daubert grounds in PCB/solvents case). Mr. Hollingsworth and his group have also secured important precedent-setting victories ranging from winning summary judgment on various grounds, see, e.g., Davidson v. Velsicol Chem. Corp., 834 P.2d 931 (Nev. 1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1051 (1993) (first state supreme court post-Cippolone FIFRA preemption decision); Conde v. Velsicol Chem. Corp., 804 F. Supp. 972 (S.D. Ohio 1992), aff'd 24 F.3d 809 (6th Cir. 1994)(first post-Daubert summary judgment opinion in 6th Cir., Bly v. Tri-Continental Indus., 663 A.3d 1232 (D.C. 1995) (affirming summary judgment in leukemia cases), to establishing important procedural principles that upset plaintiffs’ case planning, see, e.g., In Re Consolidated Parlodel Litig., 22 F. Supp. 2d 320 (D.N.J. 1998) (deconsolidating claims on forum non conveniens grounds); Yocham v. Novartis Pharms. Corp., No. 07-1810, slip. op., 2007 WL 2318493 (D.N.J. Aug. 13, 2007) (denying motion to remand case brought against in-state defendant where defendant removed case prior to being served). Mr. Hollingsworth and his group also counsel clients with respect to due diligence and insurance coverage issues relating to toxics liabilities.

Mr. Hollingsworth's practice also emphasizes the pursuit of claims against the government on behalf of contractors and others. He represented Glendale Federal Bank, and successfully argued its breach-of-contract case before the United States Supreme Court, in the landmark “Winstar” litigation, see 518 U.S. 839 (1996), an oral argument featured in The American Lawyer, and a case that recently concluded with the award of $387 million to his client Glendale. On a national basis, he has pursued indemnity claims against the government on behalf of two former asbestos-containing product manufacturers. In such federal claims litigation, Mr. Hollingsworth has appeared in numerous specialized forums, including the full en banc Federal Circuit.