Baum Hedlund Attorney R. Brent Wisner Chosen as Law360 MVP of the Year in Product Liability

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney R. Brent Wisner of Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman was selected as a 2020 Law360 MVP of the Year in the Product Liability category. Mr. Wisner and his team earned historic verdicts on behalf of clients severely injured by Monsanto's (now Bayer) herbicide, Roundup. This award acknowledges the outstanding work attorney Wisner dedicated to representing clients in the Roundup litigation. The massive jury verdicts in the first three Roundup trials led to investigations into Roundup's approval process and the herbicide's negative impact on human health and the environment. 

Law360 bestows the MVP of the Year awards upon elite lawyers who have made significant contributions to their legal practice areas. The practice areas considered range from real estate to health care, product liability, and more. There is no age limit nor practice level limiting the demographic eligible for MVP of the Year awards, rather only about five attorneys for each area are chosen every year. The number ranges from year to year, as Law 360 bases the number of awardees on the quality and quantity of submissions. This year, Law360 editors reviewed more than 900 submissions, stating that this year's competition was fierce. They selected 189 top attorneys from 76 law firms in 38 practice areas. Therefore, it is a noteworthy achievement for Attorney Wisner to earn this award.

In 2018, Law360 recognized Mr. Wisner as a Titan of the Plaintiff's Bar, a lifetime award recognizing lawyers who excel in the courtroom in large-scale litigation and take on leadership roles at their firms.

Attorney Wisner served on all three trial teams for the first Roundup cancer lawsuits. In Johnson v. Monsanto Co. and Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co., Attorney Wisner delivered the opening and closing statements, cross-examined witnesses, and served as co-lead trial counsel. In the only case where Mr. Wisner was not co-lead (Hardeman v. Monsanto Co.) he presented a key expert witness and cross-examined key corporate witnesses. These cases were filed against Monsanto on behalf of plaintiffs who alleged their use of Roundup caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, despite the Product being marketed as completely safe for consumers.

All three cases ended in large jury verdicts in favor of the plaintiffs. The case won on behalf of the Pilliods, a married couple in their 70s, was ranked as the nation's second-highest verdict and California's highest verdict in 2019 by the National Law Journal Top 100 Verdicts. It is also the ninth largest verdict in American history. The jury verdict in Hardeman v. Monsanto Co. led the presiding judge to issue a formal order of mediation, which started settlement negotiations between Bayer and the attorneys representing thousands of individuals similarly injured by Roundup.

Law360 also recognized Attorney Wisner for his success in winning an important appeal that he briefed and argued before the First Circuit Court of Appeals in a pharmaceutical fraud case against Forest Pharmaceuticals / Forest Labs. This is a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) class action case alleging Forest engaged in misleading and false promotion of antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro's efficacy for pediatric use. 

As vice president and a senior shareholder at Baum Hedlund, attorney Wisner focuses his legal practice on consumer fraud litigation, pharmaceutical product liability, class action suits and toxic torts. Baum Hedlund has won more than $4 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients and received recognition from many prestigious organizations, such as The National Law Journal Elite Trial Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers 2019 Mass Torts Elite Trial Lawyers Law Firm of the Year, and U.S. News and World Report Best Lawyers® Best Law Firms.

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