This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Adam Slater of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman (https://www.mazieslater.com/).

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Episode Details:

New Jersey trial lawyer Adam Slater of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman shares how he successfully represented Mary McGinnis, a 70-year-old woman who underwent numerous surgeries after C.R. Bard's defective transvaginal mesh products eroded within her body, causing chronic inflammation, severe pain, and debilitating physical injuries. In March 2009, Mary's doctor implanted the Avaulta Solo and Align TO mesh products to treat her pelvic prolapse. Due to recurrent mesh erosion, Mary later endured multiple mesh removal surgeries and a complex vaginal wall reconstruction. Today, she still suffers from severe pain and is unable to sit comfortably or be intimate with her husband. Despite the defense's attempts to blame Mary's pain on pre-existing medical issues or her surgeon's techniques, a Bergen County, New Jersey jury found that the Avaulta Solo and Align TO were defective in its design, and that Bard failed to warn of the defects, and awarded $33 million in compensatory damages to Mary and her husband, Thomas.  In a separate punitive damages phase, Attorney Adam Slater obtained a punitive damages award of an additional $35 million against Bard..

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Guest Bio:

Adam Slater

Adam Slater is certified as a civil trial attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and a partner in the law firm of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, LLC in Roseland, New Jersey.  Mr. Slater specializes in the handling of complex civil litigation including product liability, malpractice, catastrophic injury cases, class actions, and mass litigations. He has obtained many jury verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million, with a number in the nine figures.  He also has argued appeals in the New Jersey Supreme Court, New Jersey Appellate Division, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in his own cases and as Amicus, with numerous published decisions.

Mr. Slater also has been appointed as lead counsel in numerous mass torts and class actions, including for example the coordinated litigation of more than 10,000 pelvic mesh cases against Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon, and C.R. Bard in New Jersey State Court, the In Re Benicar Federal MDL in the District of New Jersey which resulted in a global settlement for $358 million, the In Re Valsartan, Losartan, and Irbesartan Federal MDL in the District of New Jersey, the New Jersey State Court consolidation of the Allergan breast implant litigation, and a member of the Executive Committee for the Federal MDL of the Allergan breast implant litigation, Federal class actions against Volkswagen and Audi for breach of warranty (settlement with $84 million value), and a Federal class action against Sanofi-Aventis, on behalf of a class of pharmaceutical sales representatives.

Mr. Slater filed the first pelvic mesh case in the country against Ethicon, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson in early 2008, and he was lead trial counsel for the first trial in the United States against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson, held in the New Jersey Superior Court.  The trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs, with compensatory damages of $3.35 million, and punitive damages of $7.76 million, and the Judgment was affirmed by the New Jersey Appellate Division, with certification denied by the New Jersey Supreme Court.  Mr. Slater has been trial counsel in numerous other pelvic mesh cases against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson around the country, including in Philadelphia in December, 2015 ($12.5 million verdict including punitive damages of $7 million), New Jersey in December, 2017 ($15 million verdict including punitive damages of $10 million) the MDL Court in West Virginia (settled during trial), and Missouri State Court (settled during trial).  He also obtained the largest pelvic mesh verdict ever obtained against C.R. Bard, in March 2018, in the amount of $68 million, including punitive damages of $35 million.  Of note, Mr. Slater testified in 2015 to the Scottish Parliament, at the invitation of a Parliamentary subcommittee, with regard to the dangers of pelvic mesh, aiding the successful effort to have pelvic mesh banned in Scotland.

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Free Resources:

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2