Law360 has published an in-depth profile on Lieff Cabraser partners Elizabeth Cabraser and Richard Heimann, named Product Liability “MVPs of the Year” for 2022. The profile highlights the pair’s most notable accomplishments of the past year.
Law360’s coverage on Elizabeth focuses on her groundbreaking work securing a $26 billion settlement against pharma giant Johnson & Johnson and three top drug distributers for their role in fueling the nationwide opioid addiction crisis.
“I’m pleased to say that the distributors’ and Johnson & Johnson’s settlements are now being distributed throughout the country to states, cities and counties,” noted Cabraser. She went on to explain that aside from the enormous settlement reached with Big Tobacco and the U.S. government in the 1990’s, “this is the largest settlement of civil tort litigation.”
Richard is highlighted for his recent win representing the City of San Francisco in a landmark opioid trial against Walgreens pharmacy. In August 2022, the Court found Walgreens liable for substantially contributing to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco by dispensing hundreds of thousands of suspicious painkiller prescriptions without proper screening. This is the first bench trial to decide in plaintiff’s favor in the national opioid litigation and the first bench trial to find Walgreens liable.
“It’s one of the key trials to have proceeded to verdict in the opioid litigation,” noted Heimann. “The San Francisco case was selected as one of the key cases to serve as a bellwether, and it was the first case that went to trial against pharmacy defendants, in this case Walgreens. The defendants were hopeful that the judge would see it differently, but that didn’t happen.”
Read the full profile of both Elizabeth and Richard on Law360’s (subscription) website.
About Elizabeth J. Cabraser
Co-founder of Lieff Cabraser, Elizabeth Cabraser is one of the nation’s leading class action litigators, possessing unparalleled expertise in complex civil litigation. She has served as court-appointed lead, co-lead, or class counsel in scores of federal multi-district and state coordinated proceedings, and currently serves in leadership positions in several of the nation’s highest profile civil cases, including a solo leadership role in the VW “Clean Diesel” Emissions case, and co-lead positions in the GM ignition switch defect and Takata defective airbag cases, the Fiat Chrysler Jeep Dodge diesel emissions fraud litigation, the Generic Drugs Pricing antitrust litigation, and the National Prescription Opiates litigation.
About Richard Heimann
Richard Heimann supervises Lieff Cabraser’s securities and financial fraud practice. He began his legal career as a deputy public defender and later served as an assistant district attorney. From this foundation, Richard has become one of the nation’s foremost trial attorneys and skilled negotiators, with unparalleled experience in complex securities and investor fraud, antitrust and intellectual property, consumer protection, and personal injury and mass torts cases. In its inaugural review of the nation’s top trial lawyers, Law360 selected Richard as a “Trial Ace.” Just one of 50 attorneys recognized, Richard was the only trial ace practicing at a law firm that represents solely plaintiffs. A Lawdragon 500 “Leading Lawyer in America” for 2019 and a “Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer” for 2019-2022, Richard was also named a “Top 100 Trial Lawyer in America” by Benchmark Litigation in 2017 and 2018.
Richard supervised the firm’s landmark litigation against the tobacco industry on behalf of Massachusetts, California, and several other states. The litigation was resolved in 1998 as part of a record $206 billion master settlement agreement with the state Attorneys General.
Richard has also successfully tried over 30 civil jury cases, highlighted by the FPI/Agretech and Edsaco securities class action trials, the Wells Fargo Bank overdraft fees consumer protection class action trial, and the LCDs antitrust class action.
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