Payne, Amy

Amy Payne's practice encompasses a broad range of general litigation matters, with particular emphasis in the areas of complex commercial litigation and class actions. She has significant class action experience, having participated in the defense of more than a dozen proposed class actions in state and federal courts across the country. Amy's experience includes the successful defense of proposed class actions brought under federal statutes such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, and the Credit Repair Organizations Act; state consumer protection statutes; and common law theories of negligence, fraud, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, conspiracy, products liability, medical monitoring, and toxic exposure.

Recently, Amy was involved in the class action litigation in federal court in Louisiana relating to flooding in areas of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She also was part of the team representing R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in its defense of a medical monitoring class action, Lowe v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al., filed in Oregon state court. The plaintiff in Lowe claimed that her exposure to cigarettes through smoking resulted in an increased risk of lung cancer, and she sought medical monitoring and smoking cessation therapy on behalf of her proposed statewide class. In the trial court, Jones Day prevailed on a motion to dismiss, with the trial court finding that Oregon negligence law requires a present injury for recovery of medical monitoring costs. The dismissal was affirmed by the Oregon Court of Appeals in September 2006 and by the Oregon Supreme Court in May 2008.

Amy was a member of the trial team representing Dole Food Company in Akee, et al. v. The Dow Chemical Company, et al. in federal court in Hawaii. Dole is one of several pineapple growers on Oahu, which used FIFRA-registered pesticides in their operations. Plaintiffs were 350 residents of Oahu who claimed to suffer various personal injuries (including, among others, asthma, lupus, cancer, and death) as a result of their alleged exposure to trace amounts of pesticides in drinking water and air. The case turned on expert testimony regarding medical causation, modeling the fate and transport of chemicals in ambient air and groundwater and risk assessment. Jones Day persuaded a federal district court to exclude plaintiffs' expert testimony regarding causation for most injuries because it was inadmissible under Daubert. The case proceeded to trial on the remaining claims. All plaintiffs settled with Dole after one week of trial.

Amy's practice also includes advising and counseling clients regarding statutory compliance matters.

She is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers 2005 Leadership Class, and the Oklahoma Bar Association.