Tom Cartmell and other W&C attorneys played a key role in obtaining a $745 million settlement announced on October 17, 2008, between pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, Inc., and claimants across the United States seeking damages as a result of injuries from taking medications Bextra and Celebrex. W&C represents hundreds of such claimants.

Cartmell was one of 15 lawyers appointed to the national Plaintiff’s Steering Committee (PSC) by Judge Charles R. Breyer, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in In re: Bextra and Celebrex Marketing Sales Practices and Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1699 (N.D. Cal.). Cartmell took a very active role as a member of the PSC. He argued a key Daubert motion on behalf of the Plaintiffs in the MDL proceeding before Judge Breyer in San Francisco. Cartmell was then one of three lawyers who were lead counsel in the first Bextra case that was set for jury trial in San Francisco in May 2008. Days before trial was to start, after numerous rounds of negotiations, Cartmell and his trial team agreed to settlement terms with Pfizer resolving thousands of pending cases, and which paved the way for the eventual $745 million settlement finalized in October. The preparation and readiness of Cartmell and his team to take the first Bextra case to trial was a key factor leading to the $745 million settlement.

• Read here about the May 2008 initial settlement on the eve of Cartmell’s trial, as reported in the Wall Street Journal’s legal blog:
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• Read Judge Breyer’s order appointing Cartmell a member of the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee:
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