Mr. James Ernest Hooper

Practice Details

• Firm Information
  Position

  Partner

  Firm Name

  Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP
• Representative Cases & Transactions
  Cases

  Representative Cases: James Hooper defends manufacturers in high-stakes
  high-profile mass tort litigation. He h
  les cases ranging from federal multidistrict litigation involving Zoloft birth defect claims to asbestos wrongful death lawsuits,
  numerous product liability
  commercial disputes in between.
  Developed, presented,
  defended multiple defense expert witnesses in the fields of occupational medicine, industrial hygiene,
  state-of-the-art scientific knowledge.
  Coordinated asbestos-defense strategies integrating historical
  newly developed scientific research in toxicology, epidemiology, analytical chemistry,
  particulate analysis
  characterization.
  In re: Zoloft (Sertraline Hydrochloride) Products Liability Litigation (E.D. Pa. 2016) - Successfully excluded all of plaintiffs' general causation experts to help Pfizer secure summary judgment in federal Zoloft birth defect MDL.
  Porter v. Smithkline Beecham (Phila. Ct. Com. Pl. 2015) - Contributed to summary judgment win for Pfizer in a Zoloft birth defect case in Philadelphia. WTO partner Jim Hooper cross-examined the plaintiffs' only expert to offer live testimony, leading to the exclusion of both of the plaintiffs' experts. This was the second time courts excluded causation experts in Zoloft birth defect litigation. In 2014, Hooper cross-examined three causation experts in federal multidistrict litigation in Philadelphia
  all three were barred from offering causation opinions.
  McNellis v. Pfizer (3d Cir. 2008) - Won a major appeal for Pfizer in a groundbreaking preemption case before the Third Circuit.
  Taylor v. Solvay Pharmaceuticals - Obtained voluntary dismissal of claims against Solvay Pharmaceuticals in litigation stemming from the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
  Miller v. Pfizer - Won exclusion of a star expert for the plaintiffs in antidepressant suicide litigation
  won summary judgment for Pfizer in federal court in Kansas in a case alleging that the company's antidepressant led to the suicide of a minor.
  Motus v. Pfizer - Obtained summary judgment for Pfizer in a case in California alleging wrongful death, failure to warn,
  other claims involving the company's popular antidepressant.
  Smith v. Pfizer - Won exclusion of a plaintiff's causation experts
  summary judgment for Pfizer in federal court in Kansas in a case alleging that the company's antidepressant led to the suicide of an adult male patient.
  Tebbetts v. Ford - Won a New Hampshire no airbag trial for Ford before getting all no-airbag cases held preempted in Geier in the U.S. Supreme Court.