Andrew Hutton is a Partner in the Austin office of GRSM and a member of the Pharmaceutical & Medical Device, Product Liability, Appellate, Professional Liability Defense, Casualty, Commercial Litigation, and Construction practice groups.
- Defended clients in hundreds of tort and casualty cases involving wrongful death, personal injury, or property damage, including allegations of purported negligent medical care or engineering services, claims of deficient construction, workplace and motor vehicle accidents, alleged defects in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products, and injuries at commercial businesses, assisted living, and preschool facilities.
- Served as lead counsel for multiple clients at the state and federal appellate level, including in mandamus proceedings, interlocutory appeals, and appeals of final judgments;
- Core member of national teams defending pharmaceutical companies in multiple mass tort litigations, including litigations involving diet drugs, cox-2 inhibitors, medication to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, hormone replacement therapy drugs, and acne medication;
- Coordinated national team in removal to federal court of pharmaceutical cases where plaintiffs had fraudulently joined forum defendants in effort to defeat diversity jurisdiction;
- Led national briefing teams in complex product liability and mass tort litigations responsible for drafting dispositive and expert-related motions across multiple states;
- Successfully defended national hotel franchisor against multiple personal-injury and property-damage cases arising from franchised hotels;
- Successfully litigated issues related to personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, and venue at both the trial and appellate levels for several clients;
- Obtained summary judgment or threshold dismissals for clients in dozens of cases, including on behalf of a cosmetics manufacturer in a lawsuit alleging personal injuries arising from the use of the manufacturer’s hair dye. See Johnson v. L’Oreal USA S/D, Inc., No. MO-19-CV-00155-DC, 2021 WL 2419455 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 16, 2021);
- Successfully prosecuted and defended indemnity claims in tort and commercial litigations;
- Obtained dismissals of a construction subcontractors in construction defect cases involving multi-family and residential homes;
- Obtained dismissals of corporate defendant in a breach-of-contract and fraud lawsuit alleging improper appropriation of an energy technology;
- Obtained successful settlement on behalf of electrical transmission company of claims involving defects in a vendor’s transmission line structures;
- Successfully represented an electric utility against allegations that its high-voltage alternating current had caused interference with a gas pipeline company’s cathodic protection systems; and
- Successfully defended a Fortune 500 cosmetics manufacturer against product defect allegations involving a perfume.
Admissions
- Texas
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas
Community Involvement
- Chair and Member, Bond Advisory Committee, Dripping Springs Independent School District
- Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
- Community Ambassador, Dripping Springs Independent School District
- Ruling Elder, Dripping Springs Presbyterian Church
- Long Range Facilities Planning Committee, Dripping Springs Independent School District
- Bond Steering Committee, Dripping Springs Independent School District
- Gifted & Talented Advisory Committee, Dripping Springs Independent School District
- Co-Chair, Friends of Dripping Springs Education
Education
- J.D., magna cum laude, Duke University School of Law, 1999
- Criminal Litigation Clinic
- Death Penalty Clinic
- Rape Crisis Center of Durham, Volunteer Community Educator
- Duke Law Drama Society
- B.A., cum laude, English and Theater, Tulane University, 1995
- Tulane Theater
- Randall Lee Gibson Honor Society
- Dean’s List
Honors
- Texas Rising Stars® distinction in the field of Personal Injury Defense: Products (2011, 2012, & 2013)
- “Courage Award”, Austin LGBT Bar Association (2017)