The Litigation Counsellor®

The pharmaceutical drug Risperdal, prescribed by physicians as an antipsychotic, has caused a particularly embarrassing and emotionally scarring side effect in thousands of its male users. The drug is alleged to have caused thousands of boys and grown men alike to develop breasts, a medical condition known as gynecomastia.

On Thursday, January 8, 2015, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, who is presiding over the multi-district litigation involving prescription antidepressant Zoloft (sertraline hydrochloride), granted the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee’s motion for leave to identify and present a new general causation expert. Previously, the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (“PSC”) offered four witnesses to testify as to whether Zoloft caused birth defects in babies born to mothers who took the drug while pregnant, but the Court excluded the testimony.

Counsel Financial was pleased to host a gathering of many prominent female mass tort attorneys during the 2014 Women En Mass retreat in Aspen, Colorado. It was a great opportunity for all to meet other powerhouse women in the mass tort arena and share

October was a fast-paced month for Counsel Financial, culminating in our attendance at the Mass Torts Made Perfect (MTMP) Fall Seminar in Las Vegas. The team and several other attorneys and friends took on the 1.5 mile track at the famous Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Richard Petty Driving Experience, home to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Manning the wheel of a 600HP NASCAR race car at speeds of up to

Since 2008, thousands of plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against manufacturers and sellers of defective pelvic mesh products, commonly referred to as transvaginal mesh (“TVM”). Plaintiffs include women who received TVM implants to treat Pelvic Organ Prolapse (“POP”) or Stress Urinary Incontinence (“SUI”), common conditions involving the weakening of the vaginal walls after childbirth. TVM is a surgical mesh typically made from polypropylene, a plastic material surgically implanted into or attached to the vaginal wall. TVM related complications include mesh contraction and mesh erosion causing severe pain, vaginal scarring, infection, urinary problems, inability to have sex, and perforations of the bowel, all of which will likely require one or more revision surgeries. Plaintiffs also include men asserting injury claims sustained during sexual relations, as well as derivative claims for loss of consortium.

On Friday, January 25, 2013, a jury heard arguments in the first of approximately 10,000 lawsuits filed against Johnson and Johnson’s subsidiary, DePuy Orthopedics Inc. This first trial, involving only one plaintiff, commenced after a global settlement offer of $200,000 per plaintiff was rejected, a deal which could have cost the Defendant in excess of $2 billion.