Lisa M. Gilford

Gilford recently joined the board of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc.

"That was a full circle moment for me," she said of the board seat. "This is Thurgood Marshall's civil rights law firm, and I have been working with them informally since 2015, when there were several high profile police murders.

"Now, with the killing of George Floyd and others, it's a watershed moment, and they needed an additional board member. And now there's a new need to fight voter suppression."

Gilford represents American Honda Motor Co. and several of its affiliated entities as lead counsel in 14 class actions filed after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced an expanded investigation into airbags made by a German firm. The suits, targeting the airbag manufacturer and several automakers, allege a defective airbag control unit causes the airbags not to deploy in event of a crash, risking serious injury or death. The complaint claims consumers have lost money because the alleged defect diminished the value of their vehicles. In re: ZF-TRW Airbag Control Units Products Liability Litigation, 2:19-ml-02905 (C.D. Cal., filed Aug. 8, 2019).

"The airbag maker is the cause, but the plaintiffs allege the automakers are liable because they put the airbags into the stream of commerce," Gilford said. "We have a motion to stay pending while the federal investigation is ongoing. Due to the Covid outbreak, we say the court should concentrate on legal issues now before expensive discovery begins."

The National Basketball Association retained Gilford in connection with the sudden cardiac death of Zena "Zeke" Upshaw, who collapsed during the final minutes of a game while playing for the NBA G-League Grand Rapids Drive, affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. He died two days later. Upshaw's mother sued. Upshaw v. National Basketball Association, 2:18-cv-13301 (E.D. Mich., filed Oct. 22, 2018).

Gilford called Upshaw's death "a terrible tragedy" and worked to resolve the case. "The NBA did not want to be adverse here. They wanted to make sure the family was taken care of." The case settled in July 2019 for an undisclosed sum.

"Cases like this take more than legal skills," Gilford said. "You need sound judgment regarding which cases to fight hard and which times defenses are beside the point."

--John Roemer