Medical Devices & Pharmaceuticals

Cases

• Authored amicus brief for the Product Liability Advisory Council urging affirmance of holding that state law consumer fraud claims against drug manufacturer were preempted under the Supreme Court's impossibility preemption principles.
• Represented medical device manufacturer in wrongful death and personal injury claims brought by the survivors and estates of a triple-fatality apartment fire, and negotiated nuisance-value settlement following deposition of Plaintiffs' fire cause and origin expert.
• As lead national trial counsel to GE Healthcare, successfully argued before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to defeat plaintiffs' attempt to create an MDL involving gadolinium-based contrast agents.
• Won exclusion of a key plaintiff causation witness and summary judgment in a West Virginia case alleging that Pfizer's medication, Zoloft, causes birth defects. As a result, the court granted summary judgment in Pfizer's favor less than three weeks before trial.
• Successfully excluded all of plaintiffs' general causation experts to help Pfizer secure summary judgment in federal Zoloft birth defect MDL.
• Represented a device manufacturer in multiple cases in pelvic mesh MDL, including two that settled favorably.
• Represented the patent holder of an antidepressant in a multistate class action raising antitrust and consumer protection claims.
• Won exclusion of plaintiffs' general causation experts in multidistrict litigation involving more than 600 claimants alleging the antidepressant Zoloft caused birth defects.
• Served as national counsel to a global healthcare company in multidistrict litigation involving over 12,000 claims relating to dialysis products. WTO helped develop national resolution strategy, identified bellwether cases, and negotiated settlement of all claims.
• Served as national coordinating and trial counsel to a cochlear implant manufacturer for the defense of product liability lawsuits involving a Class III medical device used to treat hearing loss.
• Represented a Fortune 500 company as national trial counsel for hundreds of product liability claims and lawsuits involving a Class III medical device used to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms.
• Successfully defended a pharmaceutical company against claims that a convicted murderer's actions were induced by prescription medication. The plaintiff dismissed the case after 18 months of intense litigation.
• Won a jury defense verdict for an orthopedic spine surgeon in a medical malpractice case with millions of dollars in damage claims at stake, including eight years of accruing pretrial interest.
• Obtained a favorable settlement for a pharmaceutical company against claims that the plaintiff developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) from use of medication.
• Won an appeal for Pfizer in a groundbreaking preemption case before the Third Circuit.
• Obtained summary judgment for Pfizer on preemption grounds in a case alleging that a popular antidepressant caused suicide.
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of claims against Solvay Pharmaceuticals in litigation stemming from the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
• Won exclusion of a star expert for the plaintiffs in antidepressant suicide litigation and won summary judgment for Pfizer in federal court in Kansas in a case alleging that the company's antidepressant led to the suicide of a minor.
• Won exclusion of a plaintiff's causation experts and summary judgment for Pfizer in federal court in Kansas in a case alleging that the company's antidepressant led to the suicide of an adult male patient.