Rudy Perrino is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P and serves as co-chair to the Firm's Mass Tort, Toxic Tort and Environmental Litigation Practice Group. His work focuses on the defense of mass tort, toxic tort, product liability and environmental claims, with an emphasis on the defense of cross-border and transnational matters, including defense of judgment enforcement actions in the U.S. and on foreign soil. He has extensive experience managing, litigating and trying large-scale, high exposure cases in courts across the country and around the world. He also has substantial experience counseling large public and private companies on issues relating to best practices, environmental compliance and chemical safety issues.

Prior to joining Fulbright, Rudy served for several years as the Director of Litigation at Dole Food Company, reporting directly to the Executive Vice President and General Counsel, where he managed worldwide litigation for the Fortune 500 company. While there, Rudy worked primarily to develop and execute "bet the company" litigation strategies to manage, litigate, bring to trial and, where appropriate, resolve thousands of claims of injury from pesticide exposure. Those cases, brought almost exclusively by foreign plaintiffs, had been pending in the U.S. and in several foreign countries for nearly twenty years when Rudy joined Dole. While at Dole, Rudy drove the final resolution through trial and settlement of more than 20,000 claims and over 250 lawsuits. Under his direction, the Company successfully fended off two separate efforts to enforce massive Nicaraguan judgments ($500 million and $97.5 million respectively) and, in one case, established that further judgments emanating out of Nicaragua against the Company could not be recognized. In addition, he was key architect and driver of the strategy that ultimately proved the existence of a massive fraudulent scheme based in Nicaragua aimed at using U.S. and foreign courts to extort millions of dollars from Dole and other defendants.  While at Dole, Rudy was also responsible for maintaining and executing Dole's training and compliance programs for FCPA and anti-terrorism statutory requirements.

Prior to working for Dole Food Company, Rudy worked for several years as a litigator representing chemical companies, petroleum companies, manufacturers, distributors and other various business interests primarily in claims of toxic exposure and environmental contamination. His experience with toxic exposure claims runs the gamut, including benzene and other petroleum byproducts, dioxins, chlorinated solvents, MTBE, sulfur dioxide, chlorinated pesticides, organophosphate pesticides, asbestos, heavy metals including lead, manganese, mercury and hexavalent chromium, mold and numerous other alleged toxic agents through multiple pathways. He also has experience in cases involving claimed injury by pharmaceutical products.

Rudy's environmental experience is similarly broad, having represented large and small companies and land owners in disputes and before regulatory agencies on matters emanating out of alleged contamination of soil, water and air.  Rudy has substantive experience counseling and defending clients on liabilities arising under most state and federal environmental statues, including CERCLA, RCRA, CWA, CAA, NEPA and their state counterparts.

Prior to attending law school, Rudy worked for several years in the environmental consulting industry, serving for five years as a Manager for a premier San Diego-based environmental consulting firm.

Rudy is active in the American Bar Association, currently serving as co-chair of the Mass Tort Committee to the Section of Litigation (2009-present) and as Vice-Chair of the Transnational Legal Practice Committee of the Section of International Law (present).

• Counsel for a Fortune 500 company in bet-the-company complex, mass tort litigation in jurisdictions across the U.S. and in several foreign countries, culminating in the rejection of efforts to enforce a $500 million fraudulent judgment, rejection of another $97.5 million judgment from Nicaragua, and dismissal of three test cases by Nicaraguan plaintiffs, including $1.6M judgment, all based on proof of the existence of a massive fraudulent conspiracy
• Lead counsel for building materials manufacturer in mass claims of toxic air exposure (SOx, heavy metals, diesel exhaust); obtained very favorable settlements before trial after successfully removing case to more favorable jurisdiction and developing evidence that many of the plaintiffs were not injured
• Counsel for petroleum products manufacturer in complex, mass tort groundwater and air exposure (solvents and petroleum products) claims relating to the Baldwin Park Operable Unit Superfund site; achieved very favorable settlement after significant discovery revealed serious flaws in plaintiffs' exposure modeling and problems with statutes of limitations
• Counsel for petroleum refiner and distributor in more than 30 consolidated claims of benzene exposure; consolidated cases settled favorably after one trial resulted in a defense verdict
• Lead counsel for lead battery recycler in lead poisoning claims; obtained very favorable settlement after plaintiffs' causation case was seriously undermined by proof of extrinsic exposures
• Represented Fortune 500 agricultural product company in clean water act claims related to fertilizer operation in Sacramento Delta port facility; achieved favorable settlement while minimizing discovery
• Lead counsel for oil & gas industry contractor in criminal investigation by Southern California Air Quality Management District; successfully avoided prosecution
• Lead counsel for construction materials manufacturer in regulatory action by California Air Resources Board and related criminal investigation; successfully avoided prosecution
• Lead counsel for commercial land developer in property contamination (solvents and heavy metals) claims; achieved favorable settlement while minimizing discovery costs in complex environmental claim
• Lead counsel for national REIT in class action mold case; achieved very favorable settlement after class allegations were dismissed at the pleading stage, which ruling was upheld on appeal
• Lead counsel for Northern California public works contractor in claims for property damage stemming from delivery of soil contaminated with explosives; case was settled for a nominal amount after expert evidence showed explosive debris was to be expected and did not represent any imminent threat
• Lead counsel for petroleum refiner and distributor in MTBE exposure claims; case settled very favorably after claims for emotional distress and punitive damages were dismissed on demurrer and months of depositions of plaintiffs showing no appreciable harm
• Lead counsel for petroleum refiner and distributor in MTBE groundwater contamination claim by California municipality; obtained early resolution prior to expensive discovery
• Lead counsel for medical waste disposal company in claims by property owners living around the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Los Angeles, California; case settled for a waiver of costs after motion for summary judgment based on statute of limitations was tentatively granted
• Lead counsel for hazardous waste disposal company in claims by witnesses to spill of hazardous waste in Nevada; case favorably settled after skillful depositions of plaintiffs

• American Bar Association
  • Vice-Chair, Section of International Law, Transnational Legal Practice Committee (2011-present)
  • Co-Chair, Section of Litigation, Mass Torts Committee (2009 - present)
  • Section of Litigation, Commission on Gulf Oil Spill (2010 - present)
  • Co-Chair, International Mass Torts subcommittee (2006 - 2009)
• California State Bar
• Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Association of Corporate Counsel

• R. Perrino, "Does Daubert Apply to Expert Evidence Submitted at the Class Certification Stage?", American Bar Association Section of Litigation, Mass Tort Committee Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 3, Summer 2011
• C. Christianson, J. Green, R. Perrino, D. Weiner and F. Wisner, "The Latest Trends & Tactics in Prosecuting & Defending Foreign Mass Accident Litigation," 2011 Aviation Litigation CLE Seminar written materials, New York Bar Association/American Bar Association, New York, NY, June 2, 2011
• R. Perrino, "Medical Monitoring Claims: A Primer," American Bar Association Section of Litigation, Mass Tort Committee Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 1, Fall 2010

• "The Latest Trends & Tactics in Prosecuting & Defending Foreign Mass Accident Litigation," 2011 Aviation Litigation CLE Seminar, New York Bar Association/American Bar Association, New York, NY, June 2, 2011
• "Roundtable: Does International arbitration meet General Counsels' needs?"  International Arbitration in the 21st Century: Trends, Developments, Changes, Los Angeles County Bar Association/American Bar Association, Los Angeles, CA, May 20, 2011
• "Agunda v. Chevron: The Case of Chevron in Ecuador," 9th Annual International Litigation and Arbitration Conference, The Florida Bar, International Law Section, Hollywood, FL, February 4, 2011
• "Understanding Medical Monitoring Damages," Environmental, Mass Torts, and Products Liability Committees Annual Joint CLE Seminar, Snowmass, CO, January 27-29, 2011
• "Litigating International and Cross-Border Claims," Chemical Products and Toxic Torts: From Crisis to Mass Litigation: Starting Smart and Finishing Strong, ABA Section of Litigation, Product Liability and Mass Tort Committees' Regional CLE Program, Houston, TX, October 8, 2010
• "Cross Border Discovery: Considerations, Challenges, and Consequences," Intermountain e-Discovery Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, September 24, 2010
• "Mediation with the Masters," ABA Section of Litigation National Institute on Mediation, Chicago, IL, June 10, 2010
• "Effectively Defending International Litigation," Chief Litigation Officer Summit 2010, Marcus Evans, Miami, FL, March 28-30, 2010
• "Legal Tactics to Use with Suspected Baseless or Fraudulent Claims: Threshold Challenges Based on Lone Pine, Daubert-Lite, and Science-Day," ABA Environmental, Mass Torts, and Products Liability Committees Annual Joint CLE Seminar, Beaver Creek, CO, January 28-30, 2010
• "Avoiding Discovery Pitfalls – How to Manage Your Document Productions and Reviews in a way that will Satisfy Your Client and Win Your Case," ABA Environmental, Mass Torts, and Products Liability Committees Annual Joint CLE Seminar, Beaver Creek, CO, January 28-30, 2010
• "Anatomy Of A Bellwether Case: Nicaraguan Workers v. Dole," ABA Committee on Corporate Counsel Continuing Legal Education Seminar, February 12-15, 2009; ABA Section of Litigation Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, April 29 – May 1, 2009
• "Punitive Damages: Gone But Not Forgotten?" ABA Environmental, Mass Torts, and Products Liability Committees Annual Joint CLE Seminar, Vail, CO, January, 22 – 24, 2009
• Panel on Fraudulent Claims, California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse Luncheon, Newport Beach, CA, February 2007
• "Issues in Mass Tort Litigation," Sedona Conference on Mass Torts, Sedona, AZ, May 2006

1997 – J.D., University of San Diego School of Law
1990 – B.S., University of California, Riverside

Rudy received several honors and distinctions in law school, and also studied at the Institute of International and Comparative Law though a program with the University of San Diego in London, England. He also has a Hazardous Materials Management Certificate from the University of California, San Diego.

He is admitted to practice in the state of California and the Southern, Central, Northern and Eastern Districts of California, 9th Circuit.

Rudy enjoys skiing and playing golf, soccer, tennis and hockey. He also enjoys music, cooking and spending time with his family.