R. Brent Wisner is the managing partner and lead trial attorney at Wisner Baum. Recognized as one of America’s 50 Most Influential Trial Lawyers by Trial Lawyer Magazine, Brent has built a reputation for taking on large corporations in high stakes litigation and winning significant verdicts and settlements for his clients.
Over the last several years, Brent has served on the plaintiff’s leadership for multiple mass torts, earned jury verdicts worth a combined $2.427 billion, and helped negotiate settlements in excess of $1 billion—all before the age of 40. He is currently the youngest attorney in American history to win a multi-billion-dollar jury verdict, which he achieved with a $2 billion Roundup cancer verdict against Monsanto on behalf of the Pilliods.
While success in the courtroom is often measured exclusively by dollars and cents, Brent’s legal work has led to changes in business practices that will protect people and the environment for generations. Hundreds of media publications across the globe have asked for his perspective on a variety of pressing legal issues.His team has obtained class certification for the first non-settlement national Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) class action lawsuit against Big Pharma. The RICO case is against Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Eli Lilly and Company. The class action alleges both drug companies conspired to conceal the bladder cancer risk associated with the diabetes drug, Actos, because they knew that adding a cancer warning label would harm sales. Experts say the damages total under RICO with trebled damages could reach $7 billion or more.
Wisner Baum is also leading several mass tort litigations that will see their first trials in the country. These include the Zantac cancer litigation in California, in which he serves as co-lead counsel for the Ranitidine Product Cases JCCP 5150 where at least 5,000 cases are filed. Brent also serves as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead National Counsel for the Delaware Zantac litigation where more than 75,000 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits. Wisner Baum will also likely try the first of its kind toxic baby food lawsuit in California in 2024 and the first Gardasil HPV vaccine injury lawsuit against Merck.
Brent believes that being a trial lawyer is more than just securing large verdicts, it is also about using the law to affect real change and obtaining justice for your clients.
A perfect example of using the law to make the world a better place is his firm’s release of the Monsanto Papers. By releasing unsealed key internal Monsanto documents to the EU, US DOJ and California EPA, the truth was revealed about Monsanto’s rampant corporate malfeasance to manipulate the science and collude with the EPA to hide the health risks associated with using Roundup. These documents helped change the narrative across the globe surrounding the weedkiller.
