Wisner Baum

Patients living with chronic pain are told spinal cord stimulators may change their lives. For many, the reality was painful electric shocks, device failures, and multiple corrective surgeries. Wisner Baum has filed lawsuits in state and federal courts against four leading manufacturers — Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and Nevro — alleging these devices caused serious harm and failed to deliver the relief patients were promised. These cases also highlight a larger issue: a device originally approved in 2001 has been modified hundreds of times through the FDA's PMA supplement process, without new safety or efficacy trials. Read the full release here: https://lnkd.in/gUVmQCBx

Chlorpyrifos was the active ingredient in dozens of insecticide brands — Lorsban and Dursban among the most widely used — but the label rarely made that clear. Now, new research links long-term chlorpyrifos exposure to more than a 2.5-fold increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Wisner Baum is investigating chlorpyrifos claims nationwide on behalf of people who were exposed and later diagnosed with Parkinson's. Our new article covers the brands, the manufacturers, and what to know about exposure history. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUcxhPBG

Netflix has begun production on a film about the case that started it all: Johnson v. Monsanto, the first Roundup cancer lawsuit ever to reach trial — tried and won by our managing partner, R. Brent Wisner. Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks), the film stars Jonathan Bailey and Laura Dern, with LaKeith Stanfield, David Duchovny, Greg Kinnear, and Elizabeth McGovern among the ensemble cast. In 2018, Brent represented Dewayne "Lee" Johnson, a school groundskeeper who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after years of using Roundup on the job. The jury found that Roundup caused his cancer and that Monsanto failed to warn consumers of the risk, awarding him $289 million. That verdict set the stage for thousands of lawsuits that followed — litigation that continues to this day. We're excited to see this story come to life on the big screen. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gZ_jN47V

Wisner Baum partner Pedram Esfandiary recently joined KXAN to break down the Supreme Court's 7-2 ruling in Monsanto v. Durnell, and what it does (and doesn't) mean for Roundup litigation. His key point: the ruling is narrow. Plaintiffs can no longer pursue failure-to-warn claims tied to EPA-approved labels, but design defect and other core claims remain fully intact. Tens of thousands of cases continue to move forward. As Pedram put it, leaving warnings solely to regulators is "the fox guarding the hen house" — especially given evidence that Monsanto withheld studies from the EPA.

Courts have documented at least 95 U.S. incidents of AI hallucinations in legal filings since June 2023. The consequences are escalating: sanctions, disqualification, bar referrals. Wisner Baum partner and AI Committee member William Crawford Appleby IV says AI mistakes in court filings are failures of attorney responsibility, not software. "AI can be a useful tool, but it cannot replace the lawyer's duty of candor, competence, and independent judgment," Appleby says. Wisner Baum has adopted an internal AI-use policy limiting attorneys to approved tools and requiring human verification before AI-assisted work is used in litigation — including in-house tools that flag hallucinated references before a brief is filed. Read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/g2M-ATNw #LegalEthics #LegalTech

A new JAMA Psychiatry study lays out a striking case: the antidepressant gepirone ER (Exxua) won FDA approval in 2023 despite failing 11 of the 13 trials the agency used to judge its efficacy. Only two trials showed a benefit. Across all 12 short-term trials combined, the drug beat placebo by less than half a point on a 52-point depression scale—a difference that wasn't statistically significant. The FDA rejected the application four times over roughly three decades. An FDA advisory committee voted 9–4 that efficacy hadn't been demonstrated. Senior FDA leaders approved it anyway. Here's the part that matters for patients and prescribers: the drug's label mentions only the two positive trials. The other eleven don't appear at all. The authors—including a former FDA reviewer—argue that labels should report every adequate, well-controlled trial, not just the ones that worked. When the record is incomplete, clinicians and patients are left to assume a drug performed better than the evidence shows. https://lnkd.in/g_VUWkDD

In Medtech Insight's new feature on the spinal cord stimulator litigation, Wisner Baum attorney Behram Parekh explained that "virtually every plaintiff had direct contact with the sales representatives from the manufacturer who made representations to these plaintiffs directly"—often outside the presence of a doctor. The lawsuits allege that when complications arose, sales reps downplayed them. More than 107,000 adverse events involving spinal cord stimulators were reported to the FDA between 2016 and 2020. Plaintiffs allege paralysis, nerve damage, electrical burns, loss of bowel and bladder control, and pain worse than what the devices were meant to treat. With an MDL established in June 2026, the litigation is just getting started. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gs8nWefb #ProductLiability #MedicalDevices

Scientists can now trace toxic metal exposure in children down to the developmental window when it occurred. Federal regulators still haven't set a single enforceable limit on those metals in baby food. That gap is the focus of a new WJLA-TV Spotlight on America investigation from The National Desk — years after Congress documented arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury in popular baby foods, there is still no federal limit on how much of these metals baby food can contain. Wisner Baum managing partner R. Brent Wisner discusses how litigation and new state laws, which require companies to test baby food for heavy metals and publicly disclose the results, are stepping in where federal regulators haven't. State laws are a start. Full accountability for what these companies knew and when is what we're fighting for in court. #ToxicTort #ConsumerSafety

Great trial lawyers are made, not born — and they never stop learning. At Wisner Baum, we believe that investing in our attorneys at every level means our clients walk into court with advocates who are prepared to win. That's why a group of our attorneys spent last week in Houston at Lanier Trial Academy 10, sharpening their courtroom skills alongside some of the best trial lawyers in the country. We're excited to see them put that training to work on behalf of our clients. Congratulations to our attorneys on a great week of learning!

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Monsanto — and the implications for tens of thousands of cancer patients could not be more serious. In a 7-2 decision in Monsanto v. Durnell, the Court held that individuals may be barred from bringing failure-to-warn claims against Monsanto if the EPA approved the herbicide's label without a cancer warning. Wisner Baum managing partner R. Brent Wisner was quoted in Atmos Magazine's in-depth coverage of the ruling, speaking to what is truly at stake for the people harmed by Roundup. "That's why this Supreme Court case is so compelling and so disturbing — because it's about whether or not you ever get to that jury," Brent told Atmos. For Brent, this fight is deeply personal. He secured the first jury verdict linking Roundup to cancer, uncovered the Monsanto Papers, and has spent years ensuring that individuals harmed by glyphosate have their day in court. This ruling threatens to close that door. At Wisner Baum, we remain committed to fighting for the people harmed by Roundup and will continue to pursue every available avenue for accountability on their behalf. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gWUafDJD #MonsantovDurnell