As chair of yesterday’s national Toyota Recall Litigation Conference and filing papers in connection with today’s Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation hearing, Richard J. Arsenault has kept busy.
The city hosting both events, San Diego, is attracting more than just attorneys. Members of the international media including the Associated Press, Reuters, Nippon TV, Tokyo TV and NPR have congregated in the city to stay on top of this developing story.
As a chair of the national Toyota litigation symposium, Richard moderated a tight schedule of over a dozen diverse panel discussions and presentations on the Toyota litigation. The event was packed with hundreds of attorneys and members of the media. As attorneys discussed the litigation and jostled to build and maintain alliances, the intense atmosphere of the conference was underscored by the bright lights of television news crews and the sound of journalists’ busily typing the constantly developing story.
As a veteran of class action and complex litigation, Richard Arsenault was able to lend his expertise to many journalists to explain the unique circumstances of these cases and what key decisions will shape the litigation.
Arsenault was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition and in an AP story that was picked up by newspapers across the country. He also appears in the San Diego Union Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio, San Diego Daily Transcript, Alexandria Daily Town Talk, Nippon TV, TV Tokyo America and the National Law Journal.
“It is obvious that the media plays an important role in all of this. At the end of the day, they have the obligation to keep the American public informed of the events – from the circumstances that lead up to the recalls, all the way through how this litigation gets resolved. And they have been all over this story with both fair and comprehensive reporting” said Arsenault.
This morning in San Diego the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation conducted a hearing and entertained arguments from 25 different lawyers advocating 19 different jurisdictions regarding the Toyota litigation.
“Now the litigants wait anxiously to see where the case will land” Arsenault added. He explained, “No doubt, there will be many challenging issues that face whatever jurist inherits the case. The good news is that complex litigation always provides an opportunity for creative thinking and strategic coordination. The Toyota litigation will be no different.”
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
