Photo of Chelsea Gaudin Favret

Chelsea Gaudin Favret

Chelsea began her legal career at a toxic tort-focused firm in New Orleans, a city with a high volume of asbestos exposure cases. In addition to traditional asbestos litigation dealing with historic exposures, she also represented clients in class action lawsuits stemming from recent, alleged toxic emissions from Louisiana facilities. These matters involved thousands of plaintiffs and spanned multiple years. Moreover, she has been involved in litigation related to exposures to benzene and other chemicals. This work has led to her extensive involvement in case progression and defense strategy development, including preparation for major hearings and trials.

Today, Chelsea focuses her practice on Louisiana asbestos litigation, defending manufacturers and other clients in historic exposure cases. As a former journalist, she excels at investigative work, thereby contributing to the formation of case-specific discovery objectives. Further, the communication skills she honed in her prior career make her well suited to engaging in productive conversations with opposing counsel and extracting relevant and valuable information during depositions.

In 2024, Chelsea joined Husch Blackwell to help grow the firm’s Louisiana toxic tort practice. With a reputation for her thoroughness in both client communication and case organization, Chelsea aims to develop a framework for each case that fits the client’s needs. She always operates with the client’s business as her top priority, and she remains conscious of the impact of current choices on the client’s future prosperity.

As a sovereign entity, the United States government is immune from suit unless it consents to be sued.1 However, its sovereign immunity may be waived under certain circumstances under the Federal Torts Claim Act (“FTCA”), which is the exclusive remedy for state law torts committed by federal employees within the scope of their employment.2

In October 2023, a New York medical doctor sat down for a fateful meal with her husband and her mother-in-law at a Florida restaurant owned by the adjacent theme park.[1] The doctor, who suffered from severe nut and dairy allergies, received numerous confirmations from restaurant staff that the food she ordered complied with her dietary restrictions.[2] Before selecting the restaurant, she relied on statements made on the theme park company’s website that the restaurant offered allergen-free foods.[3] After dinner, while perusing nearby shops by herself and away from her family, the doctor suffered a severe allergic reaction.[4] She self-administered an epi-pen and was rushed to the hospital but died as a result of anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system.[5]