Tom Pack

 Tom treats every dispute as a business problem, building right-sized strategies around each client's commercial goals and values, whether the matter is a single claim or litigation in several venues. He pairs this business approach with an understanding of the complex science, engineering, and technology behind his clients' products and businesses — and the ability to explain those details clearly and persuasively to judges, juries, and arbitrators.

Tom is also a leader in the legal and business communities. He serves on the board of directors of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association and is a past president of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Product Liability & Mass Torts

Product liability defense remains a core part of Tom's practice. He has particular depth with medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers and also represents retail and other consumer-facing companies. He is especially skilled at applying federal preemption to product liability claims and has won pretrial dismissals in several high-exposure matters. He has broad experience in consolidated proceedings, including federal multidistrict litigation and coordinated proceedings in California and Minnesota state courts. Companies also rely on his experience in Wisconsin state court, where insurance coverage for product liability disputes raises unusual procedural and substantive issues.

Representative Experience

• Rieger v. Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., No. 20STCV33401 (Los Angeles Cnty. Sup. Ct.). Argued the summary judgment motion that won dismissal of all claims on federal preemption grounds.
• Wiggins v. Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., No. 3:22-cv-02781 (N.D. Fla.). Won dismissal at summary judgment after excluding the plaintiff's causation experts.
• Represents a leading global medical device manufacturer in a portfolio of product liability cases involving robot-assisted surgery and spinal devices.
• Represents a leading global medical device manufacturer in a portfolio of product liability cases involving spinal cord stimulators, with multiple consolidated proceedings around the country, in state and federal courts.
• Represented a leading global medical device manufacturer in a large product liability portfolio, which included dozens of filed cases, some in consolidated actions in California and nationwide, and thousands of unfiled claims.
• Represented a global medical device manufacturer in several tort matters involving minimally invasive surgical devices in Minnesota state courts.
• Represented a major grocery retailer in multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio and in bellwether cases nationwide.

Technology, Intellectual Property, & Data Security

Tom has represented one of the world's largest technology companies in software and hardware patent litigation. He has also represented a large manufacturer in a multipatent dispute against a competitor. He has advised a major automobile manufacturer in investigations involving a security breach and theft of intellectual property. Building on this work, Tom advises companies on data security and privacy-related disputes, including the fast-changing California privacy litigation landscape.

Representative Experience

• Represented a major automobile manufacturer in investigations involving a security breach and theft of intellectual property.
• Represented one of the world's largest technology companies in software and hardware patent litigation, resulting in settlements.
• Represented a large manufacturer in patent litigation against a competitor involving multiple patents and hundreds of claims.
• SRI, Inc. v. Seapine Software, Inc., 3:16-cv-07353 (N.D. Cal.). Defended a patent infringement claim, including extensive invalidity discovery, and secured a settlement.

California Litigation

Tom is based in San Francisco and regularly appears in California state and federal courts.  His California work includes winning summary judgment in Los Angeles County Superior Court and handling coordinated proceedings in California state court.

Representative Experience: Commercial & Contract Disputes

• East View Information Systems, Inc. v. Xigent Solutions, LLC, A17-2066 (Minn. Ct. App.). Won full dismissal of breach of contract claims, affirmed on appeal.
• Kienholz v. Woodside Homes of Minnesota, Inc., 86-cv-16-149 (Minn. D. Ct.). Won full dismissal of a construction defect case and dismissal of the appeal.
• Represented a homebuyer in confidential arbitration and related Minnesota district court litigation over fraudulent nondisclosure of home defects. Won an arbitration award on the merits as first chair, followed by a settlement.

Representative Experience: Constitutional Litigation

• Bostic v. Schaefer, 2:13-cv-00395 (E.D. Va.), 14-1167 (4th Cir.). Represented the plaintiffs in the successful challenge to Virginia's same-sex marriage bans, a predicate case for invalidating similar bans throughout the Fourth Circuit.

Service & Recognition

Tom is active in the legal and business communities in San Francisco and the Twin Cities. He serves on the board of directors of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association. He also chairs the Audit Committee and sits on the Executive Committee of the Minneapolis Foundation. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Tom previously served on the board of the National Native American Bar Association and chaired its Standing Policy Committee. He is also a past president of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Tom maintains an active pro bono practice in civil rights and immigration law. He focuses on asylum seekers fleeing persecution because of their LGBTQ+ sexual orientation or gender identity. He and his teams have secured asylum or other immigration relief for more than a dozen people.

Personal Interests

Tom and his husband live in San Francisco, where they are renovating a 1920s Edwardian in the Castro District. In his free time, Tom balances his love of cooking, wine and San Francisco’s fantastic restaurant scene with exercise and hiking the many beautiful trails that Northern California has to offer.