raymond.perez@wilsonelser.com

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Raymond Perez defends and represents manufacturers of various products, both domestically and internationally, and as national counsel and counsel of record in state and federal courts across the United States. His practice also involves handling regulatory compliance, class actions, appeals and insurance-related matters as well as defending marine product liability cases. In addition, Raymond counsels clients on potential product liability and recall-related issues. As a member of the firm’s Latin America and Europe practices, Raymond is often called on to assist with cases involving significant commercial losses and product liability matters throughout Latin America as well Europe, including Spain, France, Sweden and Finland.

Raymond brings to his cases a rare combination of international awareness and legal acuity that allows him to cut through tangled priorities and find the most direct route to success for his clients. His fluency in Spanish and his cosmopolitan background give him authority and credibility in most venues.

Areas of Focus

Product Liability
Raymond has represented clients on product liability claims in the United States and internationally in venues such as Canada, Chile, Finland, Germany, Japan, Spain and Sweden. Included among the manufactured products he has defended are industrial machines, machine tools, automobiles, automobile tires, bicycles, water ski boats, scuba diving equipment, forklifts, cranes, steering systems, helmets, ski boots and ski bindings.

Litigation & Class Action Defense
Raymond handles litigation matters from inception through trial, and specifically manages all phases of discovery, including product inspections, expert retention, drafting pleadings, motion practice, taking and defending depositions and conducting client preparation sessions, as well as budget and litigation strategy planning. In the area of class action defense, cases are more complex, duplicative and overlapping, with motions filed in multiple jurisdictions during the same time period. Leveraging Wilson Elser’s network of offices, Raymond is able to launch a coordinated multi-front defense in these situations. He looks to simplify the most complicated cases by bringing motions either for federal multidistrict consolidation or for state and federal coordination.

Latin America
Prior to joining Wilson Elser, Raymond worked as a summer associate in Buenos Aires with the firm of Alberto Zuppi, Argentina's former Minister of Justice, as well as in Madrid with one of Spain's largest law firms. Maintaining these international relationships, Raymond continues to work with these firms on international legal issues related to product liability law.

Admiralty & Marine
Raymond’s deep experience in insurance matters on both the domestic and international scenes enables him to quickly investigate the circumstances of a maritime incident and chart a proper course. He handles the legal aspects of all types of maritime claims, ship and cargo damage, bodily injury and death at sea, loss and damage to goods during transportation and marine product liability. Raymond has handled maritime cases in state and federal courts as well as U.S. Coast Guard matters. He is skilled in interpreting general maritime law as well as the provisions of various maritime statutes.

    Education

    • Pace University School of Law (J.D., 2000)
      • Editor, Pace International Law Review
    • Iona College (B.A., 1995)
      • cum laude

    Bar Admissions

    • New York

    Professional Affiliations

    • American Bar Association
    • New York State Bar Association 
    • Pace Law School Alumni Board, chairman of the Public Relations Sub-committee

    Awards & Honors

    • Selected for inclusion in The Legal 50 – Shipping Litigation & Regulation Tier 3, 2023

    Languages

    • Spanish

Raymond Perez

Raymond Perez defends and represents manufacturers of various products, both domestically and internationally, and as national counsel and counsel of record in state and federal courts across the United States. His practice also involves handling regulatory compliance, class actions, appeals and insurance-related matters as well as defending marine product liability cases. In addition, Raymond counsels clients on potential product liability and recall-related issues. As a member of the firm’s Latin America and Europe practices, Raymond is often called on to assist with cases involving significant commercial losses and product liability matters throughout Latin America as well Europe, including Spain, France, Sweden and Finland.

Raymond brings to his cases a rare combination of international awareness and legal acuity that allows him to cut through tangled priorities and find the most direct route to success for his clients. His fluency in Spanish and his cosmopolitan background give him authority and credibility in most venues.

Raymond Perez

Perez, Mulvaney and Parker Prevail in High-Exposure Product Liability Matter

Raymond Perez (Partner-White Plains, NY) collaborated with Michigan colleagues Kevin Mulvaney (Partner-Detroit, MI) and Kurt J. Parker, Jr. (Of Counsel-Detroit, MI) to secure a disposition for their client, a national pontoon boat manufacturer. The plaintiff had demanded tens of millions of dollars and attempted to avoid the caps on noneconomic damages. The case arose from a July 2023 incident involving a rented 2006 pontoon boat. The plaintiff alleged that her hand was caught in a pinch point in the boat railing, resulting in a partial finger amputation, and asserted claims for negligence, strict liability based on alleged design and manufacturing defects, gross negligence, failure to warn, breach of express warranty, and violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. The matter required the team to untangle a complex corporate and transactional history involving multiple entities, asset transfers, predecessor entities, and competing theories of successor status. The subject boat was manufactured several years before the client acquired certain assets in a later transaction, and the plaintiff sought to impose liability through successor liability and related product liability theories.
 
In granting summary disposition on successor liability, the court rejected the plaintiff’s effort to hold the client liable for a boat it did not manufacture and found that the record did not support proceeding against the client on that theory. The court also granted summary disposition on negligence and gross negligence under both legal sufficiency and factual sufficiency grounds, granted summary disposition on failure to warn based on the absence of the necessary relationship between the client and the pontoon boat, and dismissed the consumer protection claim for failure to state a claim. In a separate dispositive motion, the team also secured an order precluding the plaintiff’s vocational rehabilitation expert from testifying regarding economic damages after challenging the factual foundation and discovery record underlying the expert’s opinions. Since the case was filed, the team developed and executed a defense strategy that included multiple depositions, extensive discovery, and targeted expert and damages challenges. That coordinated approach allowed the team to frame the key legal and evidentiary issues for the court and ultimately positioned the matter for rulings that eliminated the claims against the client.

Raymond Perez, Kevin M. Mulvaney and Kurt J. Parker, Jr.

Perez and Thomas Win Summary Judgment as Contractual Obligation Did Not Give Rise to Tort Liability

Raymond Perez (Partner-White Plains, NY) and Suma Thomas (Of Counsel-White Plains, NY) obtained summary judgment in a case in which a welder sought recovery for personal injuries sustained when a piece of hot metal fell and burned through work pants provided by our client, a uniform supplier. Ray and Suma moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the client had no duty to the welder, whose non-party employer ordered uniforms that were not fire retardant. The court agreed that the employer, not the uniform supplier, was in the best position to know the type of uniform required. The supplier’s duty was based solely on its contractual relationship with the employer. The supplier did not owe the welder a duty to recommend a fire retardant uniform absent a request.        

Raymond Perez and Suma S. Thomas

Events

Raymond Perez defends and represents manufacturers of various products, both domestically and internationally, and as national counsel and counsel of record in state and federal courts across the United States. His practice also involves handling regulatory compliance, class actions, appeals and insurance-related matters as well as defending marine product liability cases. In addition, Raymond counsels clients on potential product liability and recall-related issues. As a member of the firm’s Latin America and Europe practices, Raymond is often called on to assist with cases involving significant commercial losses and product liability matters throughout Latin America as well Europe, including Spain, France, Sweden and Finland.

Raymond brings to his cases a rare combination of international awareness and legal acuity that allows him to cut through tangled priorities and find the most direct route to success for his clients. His fluency in Spanish and his cosmopolitan background give him authority and credibility in most venues.

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