Profile
Richard Tabura focuses his practice on products liability with an emphasis on the defense of complex medical devices, pharmaceutical products and consumer products. He litigates single-plaintiff, mass tort, and class action matters at both the state and federal level, and regularly appears before courts throughout Southern California.
Richard routinely handles matters from the pre-litigation stage through final disposition or resolution. A member of the ABA’s Mass Tort Discovery Strategies committee, Richard is well-versed in conducting discovery in multiparty, complex cases. While always keeping an eye towards the big picture and avoiding unnecessary disputes, Richard leaves no stone unturned and ensures his client’s rights are vigorously protected. His experience includes preparing and responding to written discovery based on novel theories of personal jurisdiction and evolving Supreme Court jurisprudence. He has taken and defended numerous depositions of anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, emergency room physicians and nurses. Richard has broad experience preparing pleadings-based motions and dispositive motions based on preemption, products liability defenses, and medical causation, some of which have led to outright dismissals or have placed significant settlement pressure on opposing parties. Richard has significant trial experience, including second-chairing a jury trial, cross-examining a witness and delivering closing argument.
Richard also assists in advising manufacturers and distributors in connection with product recalls and reporting activities governed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and international governing bodies. He is also experienced in defending manufacturers of consumer and industrial products against toxic tort allegations.
Capabilities
Experience
- Member of trial team that obtained dismissal of a pharmaceutical and personal care products company on the eve of trial in a case involving alleged asbestos-contamination in a talcum powder product.
- Defends medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers in single plaintiff and mass tort product liability actions.
- Ayala v. Paint Sundries Solutions, Inc. (Los Angeles Superior Court): second-chaired at trial in a successfully defended automobile collision case. Plaintiff sought more than $600,000 in general and special damages and the client paid $0.°
- Defended manufacturers of various solvent-based products, including paint removers, paint thinners, and engine degreasers.°
°The above representations were handled by Mr. Tabura prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, "Ones to Watch," Product Liability Litigation - Defendants, 2023-2025
- Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Southern California Super Lawyers, "Rising Stars," 2020-2024
- Team Member, a Law360 “Product Liability Practice Group of the Year,” 2021-2022
- Recipient, American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP), ABA Military Pro Bono Project Outstanding Services Award, 2020
- Team Member, The American Lawyer’s “Products Liability Litigation Department of the Year,” 2018
- Board Member of Mending Kids, a nonprofit which provides corrective, rehabilitative, transformational, and life-changing surgeries to children in developing countries worldwide, 2018-Present
- American Bar Association, Section of Litigation
- Member, Mass Torts Committee, 2017-Present
- Member, Discovery Strategies Subcommittee, 2017-Present
Credentials
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J.D., Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
- Dean’s Honor List
- Recipient, Loyola Scholarship
- Recipient, First Honors Award, Antitrust Law
- Member, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association
- B.S., Environmental Economics & Policy, University of California at Berkeley
- California
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California