Law360 names Motley Rice a 2021 Product Liability Practice Group of the Year
Legal publication Law360 recognized Motley Rice as a 2021 Practice Group of the Year in the Product Liability. Only five firms nationwide received the award. The publication previously named Motley Rice as a 2020 and 2019 Product Liability Group of the Year, a 2018 Consumer Protection Group of the Year and a “Most Feared Plaintiffs Firm” in 2013 and 2015.
View Law360’s full feature on the Motley Rice product liability practice here.
In its profile on Motley Rice’s product liability practice, Law360 highlighted the firm’s leadership as one of three co-lead counsel and a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the National Prescription Opiate MDL, which is comprised of more than 3,000 cases that are coordinated in the Northern District of Ohio. In 2021, Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice led negotiations for a preliminary $26 billion settlement with Johnson & Johnson and the nation’s “Big Three” opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. If approved, the settlement will secure critical funding and resources that are desperately needed in communities across the country to help curb the effects of the opioid crisis.
Law360 also recognized the firm’s role in negotiating settlements in Rhode Island state court and the Northern District of Georgia for thousands of patients who suffered complications that were allegedly caused by defective Atrium, C.R. Bard and Ethicon Physiomesh hernia mesh products. Motley Rice medical attorney Don Migliori is co-lead counsel for In re Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation, and attorney Jonathan Orent is lead counsel for In re Atrium Medical Corp. C-QUR Mesh Products Liability Litigation. Both Don and Jonathan also serve as co-lead counsel, liaison counsel and members of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for In re Davol/ C.R. Bard Hernia Mesh.
“I've got a great team of trial lawyers," Joe Rice told Law360 in an interview. "Whether we are getting involved in the opioid cases or serious injury suits like the hernia mesh cases, they go in with their heart and soul."
Jonathan Orent told Law360 his personal experience filing a medical malpractice suit following the birth of his son fuels his compassion and how he interacts with his clients while litigating their cases.
“I remember that this is their worst day and that it is the highest honor to represent them. It's humbling when you think about it."
Jonathan added, "The world of mass tort is very different than medical malpractice, but we still strive for that individual touch. … I encourage everyone on my team to remind the clients that we work for them. We need to earn [the clients'] respect. I think we've done that in the hernia mesh cases."
In addition to product liability, Law360 also recognized Motley Rice as a 2021 Securities Practice Group of the Year after the firm, as Lead Counsel, reached a $809.5 million settlement days before trial in the Northern District of California against Twitter, Inc. and two former senior executives. The settlement resolved investor claims that the social media network inflated its stock price in 2015 by misleading the public on its daily user growth. Motley Rice securities attorneys Gregg Levin, Meghan Oliver, Max Gruetzmacher, and Lance Oliver represented shareholders in the suit.
Read more on the firm’s securities category award.
View all of the 2021 Law360 Practice Groups of the Year award recipients.
About Law360’s Practice Group of the Year Award
Law360 selected 186 groups across 39 practice areas for its 2021 Practice Groups of the Year award, the award’s 12th year. The award honors “the attorney teams behind litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year,” according to Law360. In all, 91 law firms were selected from nearly 900 submissions. Read more about the selection criteria.