backKing & Spalding secured a victory for client Boehringer Ingelheim in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois in the first trial regarding claims that its widely used heartburn medication Zantac increases the risk of cancer. After a three-week trial that included a request by the plaintiff’s lawyers for $640 million in damages, the jury delivered a complete defense verdict after four hours of deliberation. Cook County was recently ranked Number 3 in the American Tort Reform Association’s list of most difficult jurisdictions for corporate defendants for its status as “Ground Zero for Nuclear Verdicts in the State.” King & Spalding serves as national coordinating and trial counsel for all federal and state claims in this litigation, including approximately 500 cases that were coordinated for pre-trial proceedings in Cook County before Judge Daniel Trevino. King & Spalding has won early dismissals of more than 100 cases for Boehringer Ingelheim during initial docket-wide discovery. This trial verdict follows the victory in the federal multidistrict litigation consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida where over 50,000 claims against Boehringer Ingelheim were dismissed after the team successfully secured a ruling that plaintiffs’ general causation experts should be excluded under Daubert and defeated the plaintiffs’ efforts to certify nationwide and state class actions.
Andy Bayman and TaCara Harris presented the case to the jury, while Rob Friedman and Julia Zousmer assisted with legal arguments to the Court before and during trial. The team on the ground in Chicago also included Mandi Klingler, Eva Canaan, Chris Eby, Micha Nandaraj Gallo, Rachel Rubens, Luke Bosso, Diondra Hicks, Christina Justus, Ercy Castro, Brenda Angel, and Stacey Simmons, who provided invaluable assistance in and out of the courtroom. A large group of professionals across several offices provided incredible support along the way, including Carmen Toledo, Greg Ruehlmann, Franklin Sacha, Leila Morgan, Benjamin Brown-Harkins, Elizabeth Clerke, Spencer Sandy, Tyler Easley, Nicole Costello, Anne Marie Mindel, Ercy Castro, Mia Pennington, and Carter Fenton.