Paulina do Amaral Co-Chairs HarrisMartin Opioid Litigation Conference in San Francisco

Lieff Cabraser Partner Mark Chalos Also Presenting at SF Opioids Litigation Conference

On Friday, March 2nd, Lieff Cabraser partner Paulina do Amaral will co-chair HarrisMartin’s Opioid Litigation Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. The all-day conference will cover a wide variety of topics and issues relating to the national opioid litigation, including an overview of state and federal cases, journalist perspectives, MDL case updates, insurance and bankruptcy issues, and liability issues.

In addition to co-chairing the conference, Paulina will be moderating a panel discussion entitled “Who are the Entity Plaintiffs and What are the Causation Theories?” She will also be a panelist for the “MDL 2804 Litigation Update.” Separately, Lieff Cabraser Nashville office Managing Partner Mark P. Chalos will be participate in the discussion of “Theories for Approaching Class Actions and Individual Actions on Opioid Over-Prescription Cases.”

Detailed information on the conference is available on HarrisMartin’s website.

The Opiate Drug Plague and Prescription Opioid Drug Lawsuits

Prescription opioid drugs kill an estimated 100 Americans every day — over 36,000 lives lost every year. Communities and taxpayers are on the line for billions of dollars each year both in payments for unnecessary and harmful prescriptions of the drugs themselves and the costs of treating the diseases and injuries the opiates cause. Accidental drug overdose deaths — of which at least two-thirds are opioid overdoses — are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. The economic burden caused by opioid abuse in the United States has been estimated at $78.5 billion, including lost productivity and increased social services, health insurance costs, increased criminal justice presence and strain on judicial resources, and substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation.

Opioid manufacturing and distributing companies systematically and repeatedly disregarded the health and safety of their customers and the public. Charged by law to monitor and report dangerous behavior, they failed to do so in favor of maximizing corporate profits and increasing their market share. Defendants in the myriad of opioid drug lawsuits helped unleash a healthcare crisis that has devastated our country.

On December 5, 2017, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation formally approved the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804. Assigned to Judge Daniel Polster of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the litigation relates to the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales practices of prescription opioid drugs by “Big Pharma” drug makers and distributors. On January 3, 2018, Judge Polster named Lieff Cabraser founding partner Elizabeth Cabraser to the 16-member Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the coordinated litigation. Learn more about Lieff Cabraser’s work on the national opioid drugs litigation.

About Paulina do Amaral

Paulina do Amaral has dedicated her career to achieving justice for individuals injured by dangerous and defective products and other corporate wrongdoing both in the United States and abroad. As a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office, she represents classes, groups, and individuals in complex, multi-party litigation in state and federal courts and in multidistrict litigation throughout the U.S. She currently represents women in lawsuits over uterine cancer injuries allegedly caused by long-term use of talc products, infant birth defects that mothers claim relate to their use of the anti-nausea drug Zofran during pregnancy, and serious complications and injuries tied to the implantation of allegedly defective surgical mesh.

About Mark Chalos

The managing partner of Lieff Cabraser’s Nashville office, Mark Chalos represents individuals who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries and families whose loved ones died due to the negligence or misconduct of others. He has obtained millions of dollars in settlements for families who have been harmed by wrongful conduct.

Through jury trials, Mr. Chalos has held wrong-doers accountable, including representing 32 school children who were videotaped undressing in their school locker room ($1.28 million jury verdict) and a young woman who suffered a severe brain injury in a car wreck (nearly $4 million jury verdict). He also obtained an $8 million arbitration award on behalf of a business client.