Jessica D. Gilbert is an associate in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office, where she is a member of the firm’s Mass Torts, Product, and Consumer Litigation Group. Jessica has experience litigating commercial disputes on behalf of clients in industries including retail, consumer products, and energy.
Her practice focuses on product liability and safety issues within the domain of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). In her CPSC-related work, Jessica provides litigation defense and counseling for product liability and safety issues. Her clients include manufacturers, distributors, and online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Jessica’s litigation-related work includes coordinating all aspects of litigation defense for product liability lawsuits, including drafting motions and briefs, deposition witness preparation and defense, and composing discovery responses.
By approaching each product safety issue with the understanding that every situation is different, despite how similar two matters look on paper, Jessica has become adept at determining the most appropriate response to each client’s individual situation. For clients who are contending with consumer product safety statutes, regulations, and standards, Jessica provides advice on reporting obligations, recalls, product safety investigations, and consumer reports filed on the CPSC’s safer products database. She also provides clients with guidance on handling civil penalties and FOIA requests. As more food industry companies have encountered legal needs related to Prop 65, Jessica has expanded her practice to address this area of compliance. A natural teacher, Jessica also leads internal compliance programs and trainings.
In addition to her CPSC work, Jessica supports a major oil company in MTBE product liability litigation. In this role, she conducted extensive physical and electronic document reviews across states, drafted discovery responses, coordinated responses and requests with other defendants, and deposed several witnesses.
Jessica is an active participant in Crowell & Moring’s tutoring partnership with the Thurgood Marshall Academy, a D.C. public charter school and the first law-themed school in D.C.
Representative Matters
- Counseled online retailers regarding regulations applicable to private label products and ensuring compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.
- Counseled and defended a bakery foods producer client regarding the Proposition 65 Notice of Violation alleging the toxic chemical Acrylamide in their bread.
- Assisted a micromobility services company with crisis management and product liability safety concerns related to an investigation into battery fires in its products.
- Representing an oil company as national litigation counsel, in federal court in the Southern District of New York, in numerous MTBE cases in which private water companies, public water utilities, and state agencies allege that MTBE is a defective and unreasonably dangerous product that has contaminated public drinking water supplies in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and several other states.
- Defending a Fortune 500 health care services company in mass tort product liability claims throughout the U.S.
Publications
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"Litigation Recall Report: Nationwide Lawsuit Follows 4moms Recall of MamaRoo Baby Swing and RockaRoo Baby Rockers," Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(September 9, 2022).
Authors: Rachel Raphael and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"Are Opioids a Public Nuisance? It Depends on Whom You Ask," ABA The Brief
(August 18, 2022).
Authors: Peter C. Condron, Monty Cooper, and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"“Wiping the Slate Clean”— CPSC Commissioners Signal Higher Penalties to Come in Wake of Vornado Penalty Resolution," Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(July 12, 2022).
Authors: Cheryl A. Falvey, Matthew Cohen and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"Recall Litigation Report: Consumers Bring Class Action Lawsuit Against Ellume Refusing to Refund Recalled COVID-19 Home Tests," Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(April 11, 2022).
Authors: Rachel Raphael and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"Recall Litigation Report: Year in Review (2021)" Lexology
(January 3, 2022).
Authors: Rachel Raphael, Jessica D. Gilbert and Lily Ting Hsu.
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"Product Recall Notification Legislation Reintroduced in Congress," Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(July 16, 2021).
Authors: Cheryl A. Falvey, Matthew Cohen and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"CPSC Publishes Report on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning," Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(June 3, 2021).
Authors: Cheryl A. Falvey, Monty Cooper and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"New Proposed Legislation to Prevent Furniture Tip-Over," Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(March 4, 2021).
Authors: Cheryl A. Falvey, Carolyn W. Wagner and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"Voluntary Standards: Treat as “Voluntary” at Your Own Risk," Crowell & Moring's Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(February 25, 2020).
Authors: Carolyn W. Wagner and Jessica D. Gilbert.
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"CPSC Reporting: Best Practices for Investigating Safety Complaints," Crowell & Moring's Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(December 23, 2019).
Authors: Jessica D. Gilbert and Carolyn W. Wagner.
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"Navigating the Definition of Consumer Product: How Broad is the CPSC’s Regulatory Reach?" Crowell & Moring's Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(July 1, 2019).
Authors: Cheryl A. Falvey, Jessica D. Gilbert and Rachael Padgett.
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"New Technology is the New Wave in Consumer Protection: Is Your Company Ready?" Crowell & Moring's Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(June 11, 2019).
Authors: Cheryl A. Falvey, Carolyn W. Wagner and Jessica D.Gilbert.
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"Pharmavite, Maker of NatureMade Omega-3 Xtra Blend Dietary Supplement, Referred to FTC After Declining to Comply with NAD Recommendation to Discontinue Absorption Claim," Crowell & Moring's Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer
(February 7, 2018).
Author: Jessica Gilbert.
Client Alerts & Newsletters
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"California and Oklahoma Courts Say Drug Companies Aren't Liable Under a Public Nuisance Theory for the Opioid Epidemic,"
Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation Alert
(November 30, 2021).
Contacts: Peter C. Condron, Monty Cooper, Jessica D. Gilbert
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"New Bills Seek to Repeal Controversial Provision of Product Safety Act,"
Administrative Law Alert
(April 28, 2021).
Contacts: Cheryl A. Falvey, Matthew Cohen, Jessica D. Gilbert
Firm News & Announcements