Jessica Grant

Jessica’s representative trial experience includes:

• Lead trial counsel in a product liability action where the plaintiff alleged that her peritoneal mesothelioma was caused by exposure to cosmetic talc products over a 50-year period. By the end of jury selection, one of nine manufacturer defendants remained. Jessica won 40 juror cause challenges, and the day after she delivered her opening statement, the case settled for nuisance value


• Lead trial counsel in a California state court action on behalf of a client whose product the plaintiff claimed caused his Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The plaintiff asked the jury to award $100 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages. After deliberating for three hours, the jury returned a complete defense verdict


• Lead trial counsel on behalf of a company in its first case to proceed to trial in Oregon state court in Portland. The company’s product was alleged to have caused the plaintiff’s terminal cancer. After a two-week trial, plaintiffs' counsel asked the jury to award the plaintiff $20 million in compensatory damages, his wife $2 million in loss of consortium damages and $140 million in punitive damages. The jury awarded the plaintiff $750,000, nothing to his wife and no punitive damages


• Lead trial counsel in false advertising class action where plaintiff and the class sought more than $140 million. After two-week trial, the jury awarded $1.4 million and court entered a $12 million judgment


• Lead trial counsel in a nine-week jury trial where the plaintiff sought $25 million plus punitive damages against CEO individually and several companies for alleged breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. After deliberating for four days, the jury returned a complete defense verdict


• Represented the State of New Hampshire in a precedent-setting, statewide product liability and toxic tort case against several oil companies. After securing $130 million in settlements, Jessica served as lead trial counsel in a three-month trial that resulted in a unanimous jury verdict, awarding $816 million to the state, after just 90 minutes of deliberation.


• Lead trial counsel in a precedent-setting wage-and-hour class action tried in California, obtaining a $172 million jury verdict on behalf of more than 116,000 class members after a four-month trial. The National Law Journal ranked the verdict as one of the largest in 2005 and the largest in an employment law case. After a two-week bench trial, Jessica also obtained a permanent injunction that required the defendant to implement various policies to comply with California employment law


• Lead trial counsel for a semiconductor chipmaker and several other defendants in a four-week jury trial in federal court. The plaintiff alleged fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and related patent claims, and sought more than $450 million, exclusive of punitive damages. After the jury deadlocked on liability, the court dismissed all state-law claims against the defendants


• Lead trial counsel for a prominent media company in a defamation case in Los Angeles Superior Court. After a two-week trial, the plaintiff asked for $7 million in compensatory damages, and up to $70 million in punitive damages. Following four hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of $72,025 in compensatory damages and no liability for punitive damages


• Lead trial counsel in first major copyright infringement trial involving claimed fair use of viral YouTube videos. After closing arguments, Jessica obtained a favorable settlement for the client


• Represented a food and beverage corporation in a false advertising class action brought by a class of California consumers who alleged the client’s product falsely and misleadingly claimed a number of health benefits. After obtaining a dismissal with prejudice in the District court, Jessica argued before the Ninth Circuit, which upheld the dismissal in a unanimous published decision that has implications for class actions and consumer protection claims in California


• Lead trial counsel in a one-week jury trial where the plaintiff alleged his laryngeal cancer was caused by the client’s product and that its associated health risks were concealed from him. He sought $12.5 million in compensatory damages and between $21 million and $147 million in punitive damages. The jury found no liability on the fraud claims, and awarded $360,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages


• Lead trial counsel for a company in a personal injury case where the plaintiff suffered a severe spinal cord injury in an accident caused by one of the company’s employees within the course and scope of employment. Liability was not contested at trial. After deliberating for two hours, the jury returned a favorable verdict


• Lead trial counsel on behalf of a company whose product was alleged to have caused the decedent’s lung cancer. The unanimous jury verdict attributed 90 percent of the fault to the decedent


• Trial counsel in a case where plaintiffs claimed the defendant concealed the dangers of smoking, which led to nicotine addiction and smoking-related bladder cancer. A unanimous jury returned a complete defense verdict


• Member of a trial team that obtained a unanimous defense verdict in a multimillion-dollar product liability case in California state court, involving an anti-epileptic drug alleged to have caused the plaintiff’s birth defects


• Member of a trial team that obtained a unanimous defense verdict after a six-week jury trial in the first bellwether case to proceed to trial in California, involving a prescription drug alleged to have caused atypical femur fractures

Jessica also has extensive experience securing dispositions before trial, including:

• Obtained dismissal with prejudice for a multi-cloud security and application management company in a copyright and tortious interference lawsuit in which the plaintiff sought damages from the client and rights to its web server software


• Obtained dismissal with prejudice of a nationwide putative data privacy class action and enforcement of a class action waiver and arbitration provision in the Northern District of California


• Obtained dismissal with prejudice, on behalf of a television network, of a copyright infringement case alleging that the network broadcast a movie that infringed the plaintiff’s film


• Obtained summary judgment for a broadcast television network that was alleged to have fired an employee because of her claimed terminal illness


• Obtained a favorable pre-litigation settlement for a company whose former employee claimed she was retaliated against and wrongfully terminated for making a whistleblower complaint to a federal regulatory agency


• Reached a favorable early settlement for an employer in an age-discrimination and inaccurate pay stub action following the depositions of the plaintiff and co-workers


• Obtained a favorable pre-litigation settlement for a CEO and private bank in an employment action alleging wrongful termination/retaliation and fraud


• Obtained a favorable settlement of a multinational technology company in a nationwide class action alleging that one of its laptops was defectively designed


• Obtained a favorable settlement on the eve of trial for a multinational media and entertainment company in a case where the plaintiff asserted breach of contract and intentional tort claims

The Legal 500 United States

• Recommended, Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action – Defense: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, (2021 – 2022)
• Recommended, Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action – Defense: Consumer Products, (2021 – 2022)

Benchmark Litigation

• Finalist, Product Liability Litigator of the Year, (2026)
• Top 250 US Litigators, (2019 – 2026)
• Litigation Star, California, (2022, 2024)
• Local Litigation Star, (2020, 2022 – 2025)

Best Lawyers in America

• Recommended, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, San Francisco, (2017 – 2027)
• Recommended, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, (2017 – 2019)

Recommended, Product Liability Defense, Lexology Index (Who’s Who Legal), (2024 – 2026)

Named, Top Lawyers in Northern California, San Francisco Chronicle, (2023 – 2024)

Named, California Trailblazer, The Recorder, (2019)

Named, Super Lawyer, Northern California Super Lawyers, (2011 – 2012, 2014 – 2019, 2024 – 2026)

Named, Litigation Trailblazer, National Law Journal, (2018)

Named, California Lawyer Attorney of the Year, California Lawyer, (2007, 2014)

The Daily Journal

• California’s Top 100 Lawyers, (2013)
• Top Litigator in California

Named, Best Lawyers in the Bay Area, Bay Area Lawyer Magazine, (2014)