Alex Walsh and James Rosenthal

Tell us about your biggest win from January 2019 through June 2020 and how you achieved the result for your client.

WILKINSON WALSH

Alex Walsh and James Rosenthal won a complete defense victory in a certified consumer class action alleging Bayer misrepresented the benefits of One-A-Day multivitamins. Rosenthal led a summary judgment strategy that gutted plaintiffs’ statutory damages claim, reducing Bayer’s potential exposure by nearly $4 billion. Walsh led the trial team and got the named plaintiff to admit she was not deceived about the benefits multivitamins provide. Having secured that and other critical admissions from plaintiffs’ witnesses, Walsh announced to the jury that Bayer had no need to call any witnesses of its own. The jury returned a defense verdict in less than hour.

Share two trial tips that have been key to your success.

1) Common sense matters. Plaintiffs’ expert testified multivitamins provide no real nutritional benefit. We attacked that opinion with science, but also hammered the expert’s admission that he himself took multivitamins. 2) Pick your battles. Rather than lose credibility by contesting materiality, we focused all efforts on showing Bayer’s One-A-Day statements were true.

Photo Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Mark MacDougall