Karen is a nationally-recognized mass tort attorney with more than twenty years of experience in federal and state litigation. Courts throughout the country have appointed Karen to serve in leadership positions including Lead Counsel, Liaison Counsel and Plaintiff Steering Committee in some of the largest pharmaceutical and device mass tort cases. Karen currently serves in leadership positions in the Taxotere Litigation (federal court) Zoloft Birth Defect Litigation (federal and California state courts), Transvaginal Mesh Litigation (federal and California state courts), Fosamax Femur Fracture Litigation (California state court), Lexapro/Celexa Birth Defect Litigation (Missouri state court).
Karen is particularly focused on women?s health issues and drugs that cause harm to children. She currently represents women suffering permanent baldness following breast cancer chemotherapy treatments with Taxotere, and children who experienced severe side effects after taking the widely-prescribed medication Risperdal. Karen believes in advocating for drug safety and for the victims in the face of profit-driven corporations. She has testified twice before FDA advisory boards as well as the California State Legislature on the safety concerns regarding the SSRI antidepressants and the manufacturers? misconduct.
One of the preeminent personal injury attorneys in the country, Karen frequently publishes and presents on issues involving drug safety, mass tort litigation, FDA reform and federal preemption for both legal organizations (plaintiff and defense) and medical groups.
California, 1995
U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1995
U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 1999
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1999
U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, 2003
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2003
U.S. District Court, District of Colorado, 2003
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 2005
U.S. District Court, Eastern and Northern Districts of California, 2006
U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, 2006
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2007
Defense Psych Exam, 46th Annual Convention, Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), San Francisco, November 9-11, 2007
FDA and Preemption, Pharma and Beyond: Litigation Today with Special Guest Mark Lanier, American Association for Justice (AAJ), New York City, October 29, 2007
'Preemption in Pharmaceutical Cases,' Preemption Law Litigation Group Panel: Preemption Updates and Roundtable Discussion, American Association for Justice (AAJ) Annual Convention, Chicago, July 14-18, 2007
'Avandia: Timeline / Event / Background,' Mealey's Avandia Litigation Conference, Chicago, July 13, 2007
'Avandia: The Liability Story; FDA; Clinical Studies; Recent publications in NEJM,' Avandia Teleseminar, American Association for Justice Education, June 28, 2007
'Homicide and Psychotropic Drugs,' 30th International Congress on Law and Mental Health - The International Academy of Law and Mental Health (IALMH), Padua, Italy, June 25-30, 2007
Panel Moderator and speaker for documentary screening, 'Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety,' shown at the 4th Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival, Social Justice Program, presented by Friends Of Film and Palisades Enrichment Programs, Pacific Palisades, California, May 19, 2007
'Preemption and Negligent Pharmacovigilance' ATLA - Association of Trial Lawyers of America -- ATLA Education Seminar -- Protecting the Public: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation, Las Vegas, Nevada, November 17-18, 2006
'SSRIs and Suicide in Children' ACAM -- American College for Advancement in Medicine -- 'Neurorestoration: Integrative Approaches to Brain Health, Palm Springs, California, November 1-5, 2006
'Identifying The Emerging Areas of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation' Antidepressant Paxil: Allegations of suicide connected with the use of this antidepressant and the current status of the national class action, Mealey's Teleconference: Emerging Drugs and Medical Devices August 17, 2006
'Update on Discovery Tools: FDA/Regulatory Discovery' ATLA Education Program Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts (STEP) Panel - 2006 ATLA- Association of Trial Lawyers of America Annual Convention, Seattle, Washington, July 15-19, 2006
'Protecting the Public: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation - Panel: Drug Update - Zoloft, Wellbutrin, and other SSRIs' 2006 ATLA Winter Convention, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 18-22, 2006
'Best Practices in Plaintiff-oriented Pharmaceutical Litigation - Lessons for Canada' Strategic Panel Discussion and Master Class - 'Drug Safety, Best Practices, Litigation Update, Regulatory Developments' Insight Information-ALM, Toronto, Canada, January, 23-25, 2006
'Science, Regulation and Litigation Issues Regarding the SSRI-Antidepressants' - 'Drug Safety, Best Practices, Litigation Update, Regulatory Developments' Insight Information-ALM, Toronto, Canada, January, 23-25, 2006
'Antidepressant SSRI-induced Suicide Risks, Public Forum on Antidepressant Drugs: Risks, Benefits and Alternatives,' The Recovery System's Clinic, Mill Valley, CA, December 6, 2005
'Class Actions and MDLs - Hot Topics in Class Actions' - 'The Future of Class Action Litigation in America' American Bar Association, Washington, D.C., November 9-11, 2005
'The FDA's Dilemma - Safety Failures, Public Scrutiny and Industry Influence' Topic: What's Wrong at the FDA?, ATLA's Pharmaceutical Seminar, 'Trends and Hot Topics in Pharmaceutical Litigation,' Las Vegas, NV, September 16-17, 2005
'Federal Preemption How the U.S. Food & Drug Administration Has Become an Advocate for the Drug Industry Against the Consumers It Has a Duty to Protect' - SSRIs and Collisions Between Medical, Legal and Regulatory Worlds, Presented to the 29th International Congress On Law and Mental Health, Paris, France, July 2-8, 2005
Pharmaceutical Update: Vioxx and SSRIs - SSRIs: The Connection Between Antidepressants, Violence and Suicide, Association of Trial Lawyers of America TeleConference, October, 2004
'FDA Oversight of Drug and Medical Devices and Preemption,' The American Bar Association Health Law Section and The ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education TeleConference, October, 2004
The Rising Tide of Pharmaceutical Lawsuits, What the Practitioner Needs to Know About the Future of Psychiatric Drug Litigation, Safe Harbor's Third Annual Medical Conference: Non-Pharmaceutical Approaches to Mental Disorders, Glendale, CA, June, 2004
Case Management and Electronic Discovery in Pharmaceutical Litigation, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Dallas, TX, July, 2003
SSRI Drugs: Suicide, Homicide, Seizures, Dependency, A Scientific Symposium, Extant Medical Legal Consulting, LLC, Philadelphia, PA, October, 2002
Successful Handling of Wrongful Death Cases in California, Lorman Education Services, Los Angeles, CA, August, 2001
Focus on Facts to Defeat Preemption, TRIAL, March 1, 2007
'Preemption and Negligent Pharmacovigilance' ATLA Education Seminar, Protecting the Public: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation, November, 2006
Birth Defects and Other Threats to Mom and Baby Associated with Paxil, Mealey's Litigation Report: Antidepressant Report, October 2006
'Discovery of FDA and Other Regulatory Agency Evidence,' ATLA Education Reference Materials, ATLA 2006 Annual Convention
'Preamble to FDA Final Rule: FDA s Latest Effort To Immunize Drug Manufacturers From Tort Liability At The Expense of Consumer Safety' Mealey's Emerging Drugs & Devices, February 2006; Mealey's Litigation Report: Antidepressant Report, February 2006
'Preemption and the FDA -- Politics as Usual' ATLA Annual Conference, February, 2006
'Internet Disclaimers: Do they waive the attorney-client privilege protection?' ABA Conference 'The Future of Class Action Litigation in America'
'The FDA's Dilemma: Safety Failures, Public Scrutiny, and Industry Influence' ATLA Education, 2005
'A Cure Worse Than the Disease - Recent FDA actions and newly disclosed research on the link between antidepressants and suicide especially among young people are strengthening plaintiffs' claims against drug makers' TRIAL, 2005
The Antidepressant Controversy: The Growth Of A New Area Of Litigation, Mealey's Litigation Report Antidepressant Drugs, 2004
' The Fox in the Chicken Coop' FDA's Recent Intervention in Pharmaceutical Litigation, ATLA Education, 2003
'Biting the Magic Bullet: A Look at the SSRI Litigation' Harris Martin's Columns: Drugs & Supplements. August 2002
'Successful Handling of Wrongful Death Cases in California: Quirks of Courts' Lorman Education Services, January, 2002
Co-counsel for defense in State v. Pittman (S.C.Gen.Sess., NO. 04-GS-12-571, 04-GS-12-572) Zoloft-induced murder case in South Carolina against a boy who was 12 years old at the time.
California State Senate Transportation Committee hearing regarding investigation into CalTrans' oversized truck permits, October 1999
FDA's Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Pediatric Subcommittee of the Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee hearings regarding the risk of suicide in children and adolescents taking antidepressants, February 2004
California State Senate hearing on Antidepressant Drugs and Suicide, regarding antidepressant drugs and suicide, August 4, 2004
FDA's Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Pediatric Advisory Committee hearings regarding the risk of suicide in children and adolescents taking antidepressants, September 2004
FDA's Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting concerning the FDA's Review of Suicidality Data in Adult Antidepressant Studies, December 13, 2006
Prudential Home Mort. Co. v. Superior Court 66 Cal.App.4th 1236 (1998)
Motus v. Pfizer, Inc. 127 F.Supp.2d 1085 (C.D. Cal. 2000)
In re Paxil Lit. 218 F.R.D. 242 (C.D. Cal. 2003)
Cartwright v. Pfizer, Inc. 369 F.Supp.2d 876 (E.D. Tex. 2005)
Barton v. United States District Court for Central Dist. of Cal. 410 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir. 2005)
Witczak v. Pfizer, Inc. 377 F.Supp.2d 726 (D. Minn. 2005)
