Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation

For years clients have counted on the experienced trial lawyers at Barrasso Usdin to serve as national or lead trial counsel in complex litigation matters.  We have represented the pharmaceutical and medical device industries in Federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) and state-wide coordinated proceedings across the country.

Our notable representations include:

• The Firm served as national trial counsel for an orthopedic device company in two separate national litigations brought by plaintiffs who allege they received defective hip implants manufactured by the firm’s client.  The firm tried to a defense verdict the first bellwether case in a Dallas, Texas federal multidistrict litigation related to one hip implant, and tried the first case in an Illinois consolidated proceeding related to a different hip implant, also to a defense verdict.  The firm continues to represent the company in handling various individual cases related to these two medical devices.
• The Firm represented a pharmaceutical drug company in a national litigation brought by plaintiffs who allege they were injured by defective warnings accompanying prescriptions for an anticoagulant medication manufactured by the firm’s client.  This litigation was the subject of a federal multidistrict litigation in New Orleans, LA, with over 8,000 individual cases pending.  The Firm tried the first and third bellwether trials to a defense verdict in New Orleans, LA and Jackson, MS.  The firm was retained to try a state court case in the coordinated state court proceeding in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  A nationwide settlement was announced in March 2019, prior to that case going to trial.
• The Firm represents a pharmaceutical drug company in a national litigation brought by plaintiffs who allege they were injured by use of talcum powder allegedly contaminated with asbestos.  It prepared multiple of these cases for trial before settlements ultimately were reached.
• The firm represents an orthopedic device manufacturer in a case brought by a plaintiff who alleges she was injured by defective warnings accompanying the materials provided to surgeons for a lumbar spine stabilization device.  That case is set for trial in July 2023.
• The Firm has represented national and local retailers in both talcum powder litigation and other matters associated with the retailers’ sale of certain allegedly defective medications used to treat high blood pressure and diabetes.
• The Firm has represented a medical device manufacturer both state-wide and nationally in litigation related to multiple knee devices and bone cement. The Firm recently obtained the complete dismissal on summary judgment of one such case in federal court in Louisiana, and subsequently defended this victory before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which affirmed the client’s victory in all respects.  
• The Firm has represented a national medical device manufacturer in a lawsuit alleging injury caused by an allegedly defective pacemaker.