Law360 Names Tara Sutton a Product Liability MVP

Minneapolis, MN—December 13, 2017—Robins Kaplan LLP^® is pleased to announce that Tara Sutton, chair of the firm’s Mass Tort Group and a member of its Executive Board, has been named a Law360 MVP for Product Liability. This is the second time that Law360 has honored her with this award.

Law360’s MVP award recognizes attorneys who have distinguished themselves from their peers in litigation, deals, and other complex matters. Sutton is one of only six attorneys recognized for Product Liability, and one of only 157 attorneys recognized nationally across 32 practice areas.

Throughout her career, Sutton has repeatedly achieved victories that create a path to recovery for hundreds—in some instances, thousands—injured by drugs and medical devices. In the firm’s history-making win against Big Tobacco nearly 20 years ago, Sutton served as trial counsel in the first state tobacco lawsuit to go to trial; the landmark case settled for $6.6 billion.

Most recently, Sutton served on the executive committee and plaintiffs’ negotiating committee of a 2,000-plaintiff multi-district litigation over the blood pressure medication Benicar, which was resolved for a proposed $300 million. Sutton also acted as plaintiffs’ settlement counsel in multi-district litigation over antipsychotic drug Abilify.

Sutton has served as lead trial counsel in several other matters, including: the first bellwether trial over smoking cessation drug Chantix, which settled three days before jury selection and led to the nearly $300 million settlement of virtually all pending cases; the massive Stryker Rejuvenate/ABGII modular hip litigation, in which she spearheaded the development of a $1.4 billion global settlement program; and the first bellwether trial over the Parkinson’s disease drug Mirapex, which resulted in a $8.2 million jury verdict ($7.8 million in punitive damages), and nearly 300 Mirapex cases that she subsequently settled.

In July 2017, she was elected president of Public Justice, a non-profit public interest law firm that protects consumer rights through precedent-setting and socially significant litigation.

Law360 published a profile of Sutton, describing many of her biggest achievements of the previous year. The profile can be viewed here. 

The full list of 2017 Law360 MVPs can be viewed here.