Perry principally serves as national trial and class action counsel in high exposure product liability matters. He has handled all aspects of defense litigation in single, class action and multidistrict litigation, including advanced motions practice; corporate witness preparation; developing technical defenses and expert witness testimony; excluding and limiting adverse expert testimony; internal investigations; litigation testing; trial work; and appellate practice.
As defense counsel for a Big Three automaker, Perry has tried multiple-week high exposure cases, often in challenging jurisdictions. He has first-chaired jury trials to verdict in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Alabama and participated in jury trials in Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.
Perry has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law, teaching appellate advocacy. Prior to joining the firm, Perry served as law clerk for Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
While earning his law degree, Perry was honored as a member of the McNeil Law Society (now Order of the Coif).
Experience
- Trial counsel for automaker nationally in product liability lawsuits alleging defects leading to post-collision fires.
- Lead defense counsel for automobile manufacturer in three putative class actions in California, Illinois, and Massachusetts alleging defects in rear deck-lid wiring in certain vehicles.
- Lead defense counsel for an automobile manufacturer in numerous class actions in Texas and Michigan involving allegations of defective high pressure fuel pumps.
- Lead defense counsel for automaker in multidistrict class action litigation alleging defects associated with Takata airbag inflators. Representation included defending the manufacturer in suits filed by state attorneys general alleging violations of various consumer protection laws.
- National coordinating and trial counsel for a manufacturer of smoke alarms and fire extinguishers in personal injury litigation.
- National coordinating and trial counsel for automaker in cases alleging defects relating to fuel tank design.
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University of Richmond School of LawJD
magna cum laude
1998 - University of VirginiaBA1993
Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, Woodward/White, Inc., 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Selected for inclusion in “Legal 500 United States,” Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions – Automotive/Transport – Defense, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024; Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions – Consumer Products – Defense, 2022, 2023; Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions – Toxic Tort – Defense, 2022, 2023
Selected for inclusion as a “Leading Lawyer,” Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action: Automotive/Transport; Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action: Consumer Products, Virginia, Legal 500 US, 2018
- Virginia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- Hon. Elizabeth B. Lacy, Supreme Court of Virginia, 1998-1999