Mass Tort - Selected Results*

Minnesota Tobacco Litigation: In May 1998, we reached an historic settlement in the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's lawsuit against the major cigarette manufacturers after 15 weeks of trial. The case was settled for $6.13 billion on behalf of the State of Minnesota and $469 million on behalf of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. The discovery obtained by the firm is being used by other states, private litigants and foreign countries.
Eveleth Plane Crash: We were counsel for families of Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and three staff members who died in a crash of a chartered airplane. The case was settled for policy limits of $25 million with the aviation charter company and its corporate affiliates.
St. Croix Strip Search Litigation: We were counsel for plaintiffs in class action involving illegal strip searches conducted at the St. Croix County, Wisconsin jail. The litigation was settlement for $7 million.
Fen-Phen Litigation: We represented individuals who suffered heart valve damage and/or a life-threatening condition known as primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) from ingestion of fenfluramine manufactured by American Home Products Corporation (AHP). In total, we represented eight individuals with PPH and 31 individuals who had heart valve damage or who were required to have their heart valve surgically replaced with a mechanical valve. We conducted discovery applicable to all of our cases in one lead PPH case and one lead heart valve case, both filed in State Court in Minnesota. The lead cases were both settled prior to trial, and shortly thereafter a global settlement was reached with AHP for the balance of our cases.
Gammagard Litigation: We represented approximately 29 individuals, most of them children, who contracted Hepatitis C from contaminated intravenous immune globulin, called Gammagard, manufactured by Baxter Healthcare, Inc. The firm was designated lead counsel in the Gammagard MDL Litigation venued in Federal Court in Los Angeles. The firm also took the lead in conducting discovery in the MDL. The firm also negotiated an unique settlement agreement for its clients that provided immediate payment for damages resulting from living with Hepatitis C, an incurable chronic disease, and at the same time provided for future payments for complications that may arise from Hepatitis C, which has resulted in our clients obtaining additional settlement payments years later. That settlement agreement became the model used to settle all individual Gammagard cases around the country as well as to settle a class action filed in Los Angeles.
American Honda Dealership Litigation: In 1999, we, as part of the plaintiffs' executive committee, concluded a settlement of the cases of members of the national automobile dealer network of Honda Motor Company. The cases settled for $329 million plus additional sums for certain cases and clients who opted out of the class settlement. The cases involved claims that the dealers were denied the fair allocation of and access to their product - new vehicles - as a result of a bribery scheme in which certain dealers were favored by Honda management over others in the allocation of new vehicles.
Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster - Bhopal, India: We represented the Government of India, on behalf of the victims, in the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster which claimed thousands of lives and injured hundreds of thousands of others in December 1984. The case against Union Carbide closed with a $470 million settlement.
Shiley Heart Valve Litigation: We represented individuals who had received defective artificial heart valves manufactured by Shiley Incorporated, a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. We established a cause of action for emotional distress damages under California law for clients implanted with the defective valve who had not yet experienced valve failure. We negotiated a settlement for more than 300 prefracture claimants, domestic and foreign, preserving the right of these clients to bring a subsequent claim if the valve failed in the future. The firm has also represented more than 35 individual claimants in personal injury and wrongful death claims arising out of the failure of the heart valves.
L-Tryptophan Litigation: We represented approximately 35 individuals injured by a contaminated over-the-counter diet supplement. We took the lead in both state consolidated and national MDL discovery which established liability against the product manufacturer, Showa Denko K.K. All cases were resolved by settlement.
Cu-7 IUD Litigation: We resolved approximately 135 cases for women implanted with the Cu-7 IUD manufactured by G.D. Searle & Co. The first case tried in Minnesota resulted in an $8.5 million verdict on behalf of the plaintiff, including an award of $6 million in punitive damages. A second case tried in Los Angeles settled on the eve of closing arguments. Shortly thereafter, all remaining cases were settled.
Dalkon Shield Litigation: We represented over 500 women suing the manufacturer of an intrauterine birth control device. The firm was involved in four trials, two of which were settled during trial and two resulted in verdicts of both compensatory and punitive damages. The firm settled all of the cases.

* Past results are reported to provide the reader with an indication of the types of matters we handle and do not and should not be construed to create an expectation of result in any other situation as all legal matters are dependent upon their own unique fact situation and applicable law.

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Mass Tort - Selected Results*

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