Alexandra Walsh, co-founding partner of Wilkinson, Walsh + Eskovitz, Tamarra Matthews Johnson, and Rakesh Kilaru led the defense team to another victory.
WASHINGTON – The Wilkinson Stekloff trial team, led by Founding Partner Alexandra Walsh and partners Tamarra Matthews Johnson and Rakesh Kilaru, won the third state-court bellwether trial over the blood- thinner Xarelto in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. This is the third win for Bayer in state court, and the sixth win overall, in the Xarelto litigation.
The Plaintiff, Kevin Cooney, alleged that Bayer and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals were liable for claims that the Xarelto label did not adequately warn or instruct doctors on the risks of bleeding associated with the anticoagulant medicine Xarelto. Walsh and Johnson served as lead trial counsel for Bayer, and Kilaru helped direct the legal strategy. A 12-member jury in Philadelphia returned a defense verdict after less than three hours of deliberations. The court had previously granted summary judgment to Bayer and Janssen on Plaintiff’s claim that Xarelto was defectively designed.
The Wilkinson Stekloff team worked alongside Lindsey Boney and Nick Danella of Bradley, who also served as counsel for Bayer, and Mike Zellers of Tucker Ellis LLP and Chanda Miller of Drinker Biddle, who served as trial counsel for Janssen.
The case is Cooney v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al., case number 160602012, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.