Personal Injury / Products Liability Experience

Vioxx Settlement Program

In November, 2007, BrownGreer was selected by the parties and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to serve as the Claims Administrator for the entire $4.85 billion nationwide settlement program for claims relating to Vioxx, the painkiller manufactured by Merck and withdrawn from the market in 2004 amid allegations of heart attacks and strokes caused by the drug. BrownGreer is providing full processing and resolution services to implement the November 9, 2007 Settlement Agreement reached by the parties for the nearly 60,000 claims arising from Vioxx use.

Guidant Medical Device Settlement

In April 2008, BrownGreer was retained to advise Guidant and its counsel on issues relating to the processing the claims of deceased claimants in the voluntary settlement program for claims arising from certain Guidant cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers. The settlement was reached in the MDL litigation before the Hon. Donovan W. Frank of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minnesota. BrownGreer is providing expertise on the issues of representative capacity and court approvals involved in the effort to secure finality on the claims of deceased claimants and incapacitated or deceased derivative claimants in such a program.

"Fen-Phen" Diet Drug Settlement

Since 2000, we have served as liaison counsel between Wyeth (formerly American Home Products Corporation) and the $5 billion AHP Settlement Trust for more than 700,000 claimants in the national class action settlement of "Fen-Phen" diet drug claims. As Liaison Counsel, BrownGreer handles countless legal and administrative issues arising in the implementation of the Settlement Agreement, including working with the Trustee of the facility, notices to the class, and evidentiary and other hearings before the supervisory federal district court on such matters. We played a key role in negotiating, drafting, and securing court approval of a $1.275 billion amendment to the Settlement Agreement, including testimony before the district court at the fairness hearing on the amendment.

We were responsible for designing and implementing a process for resolving over 60,000 diet drug opt-outs in a voluntary settlement program. As part of this process, we created a secure web-based data entry system used by plaintiffs' firms for entering all relevant claim data on their clients. We designed a database that housed all claim information, tracked submission and adequacy of proof, calculated benefits using a computer algorithm we designed, and tracked all payment information. BrownGreer performed full-scale mail intake, claims review, communication with firms, negotiations, release preparation and tracking of all information relating to the 60,000 plaintiffs.

Seroquel

Appointed in August 2007 by the federal MDL transferee court in Orlando, Florida, upon the recommendation of all parties to serve as the Project Management Office for the over 10,000 plaintiffs bringing claims in these coordinated cases against AstraZeneca over its antipsychotic drug Seroquel. The Court appointed Orran Brown as the Special Master for all case-specific discovery. The Court directed BrownGreer to determine the availability of witnesses for depositions; coordinate with liaison counsel for the parties, witnesses, and counsel for the witnesses to schedule depositions; facilitate the steps needed to adhere to the deposition and other discovery deadlines set by the Court; maintain a deposition calendar; facilitate (and, if necessary, direct by order) the resolution among the parties and deponents of scheduling conflicts and changes to the deposition schedule; and provide regularly scheduled reports and other reports as requested on the progress of such discovery. As Special Master, Orran oversees and coordinates all these tasks, working with the parties and the Court.

Achieving the Most Successful Mass Claims Resolution Facility in History: Dalkon Shield

As outside and in-house counsel, the founding members of BrownGreer handled from opening to closing the three trust funds created in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding of the A.H. Robins Company to resolve over 300,000 Dalkon Shield Claims. Orran Brown served as the primary outside counsel to the Trust and Trustees. He advised the Trust's management, Trustees, inside counsel, and other outside counsel in the United States and other countries on the legal and managerial aspects of the Trust's fiduciary duties, operations (including employment issues and the Trust's lease, banking, investment and other contractual relationships), claims processing arrangements and coordination and design of Alternative Dispute Resolution, arbitration, and trial proceedings on Dalkon Shield Claims. Orran handled the judicial proceedings arising out of implementing the bankruptcy Plan, leading to over 170 decisions by the federal bankruptcy and district courts presiding over the case and over sixty-five rulings from the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He also negotiated a class action settlement of Dalkon Shield Claims in Montreal, Canada, and handled proceedings to enforce the Trust procedures in Ireland and other countries.

Lynn Greer is the former General Counsel, Manager of the Legal Department, and Executive Director of the Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust. Lynn directed outside trial counsel, managing and coordinating the defense of over 600 product liability cases nationwide. She interviewed and hired defense counsel in thirty-five states, planned and conducted training sessions for outside counsel on medical, legal, and policy issues in the Dalkon Shield litigation, and developed computer systems to track case activity and outside counsel costs. Lynn drafted the rules governing all Dalkon Shield arbitration and directed the work of the facility chosen by the trust to select, train, and schedule arbitrators across the country. In her role as Manager of the Legal Department, Lynn assisted the Trust's management with organizational strategic planning and policy development for a Trustwide workforce of over 400 employees. As General Counsel and Executive Director, she led the Trust to its successful closure eight years ahead of schedule, designing and implementing the processes necessary to issue the final payments to eligible claimants and wind-up all operations.

On April 28, 2000, the Dalkon Trust was terminated by Order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, having distributed over $3 billion. Claimants, plaintiffs' counsel, legal experts, and judges have hailed the Trust as the most successful mass claims resolution facility in history. BrownGreer continues to advise the Trust's successor on residual issues relating to the wind-up of the Trust. We handle all the Dalkon Shield matters that arise under the final insurance coverage of such claims.

Full Service Claims Administration and Resolution: Sulzer Settlement Trust

In March 2002, the court-appointed Claims Administrator selected us to provide full service legal representation and claims administration to implement this $1 billion nationwide Class Action Settlement Agreement approved by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. This settlement resolved the claims of 27,000 Class Members against the parent and subsidiary companies of U.S. and Swiss defendants Sulzer, Sulzer Medica, Sulzer AG, and Sulzer Orthopedics US. The disputed claims included allegations of defective hip and knee prostheses manufactured over several years.

Even before the Settlement Agreement was finalized, we assisted in designing claim forms for this settlement and in drafting the court-approved notice to Class Members.We helped design the claims administration processes for the reviewing of claims and scheduling payment. As our work continued, we helped to draft the trust agreement between the trustee who holds the assets that fund the settlement and the parties to the settlement. We also helped negotiate agreements with financial institutions for necessary services to the Claims Administrator. Once the settlement was adopted, we worked collaboratively with the parties to suggest and implement amendments to the agreement to address unforeseen issues associated with settlement benefits and claims administration.

Our administration services for the Sulzer settlement begin with receiving and maintaining an inventory of claim submissions, reviewing carefully all claims submissions to determine benefit eligibility, designing and maintaining a website, staffing a call center with carefully trained operators who respond to class member and attorney inquiries, and issuing payments to eligible class members.

Having lawyers decide how the database should drive settlement benefit allocation is part of the value that BrownGreer brings to this enterprise. Maintaining a customized database, and using the most sophisticated technology available to deliver claim processing precision and predictability is a hallmark of the service we provide.

From advising the Claims Administrator of his legal rights and obligations, to helping formulate the mechanics of a settlement, to evaluating claims, to building a database, to running a call center, BrownGreer provides complete client service. Our ability to combine the legal and practical aspects of claims administration sets us apart.

Oxycontin

BrownGreer serves as Claims Administrator in a settlement of a class action related to the distribution of OxyContin from several clinics in South Carolina. We provide full service claims administration, beginning with the Notice program and continuing with all aspects of the claims database, registration determinations, completeness reviews, staffing a toll-free call center, issuing communications with the class and counsel, making benefits determinations and payments, handling appeals of claims determinations, and reporting to the parties and the supervisory court.

Chattem

BrownGreer served as the Claims Administrator for the $60 million Chattem Settlement Trust for claimants relating to over-the-counter diet supplement. BrownGreer's duties included receiving and processing all claims for completeness, coordinating benefit payments from the trust, handling all opt-outs, and accounting for tax withholdings and liens.