James Heller, vice chair of the firm's Commercial Litigation Department and chair of the firm's Products Liability Practice, was quoted in Law360's "Prescribing Doc's Testimony Key In 2nd Philly Xarelto Trial." After a $28 million verdict in a bellwether Xarelto case in Philadelphia was axed over testimony that additional warnings about the drug's bleeding risks wouldn't have changed a doctor's prescribing decision, attorneys say the plaintiff in a second trial set to begin Thursday will face a challenge ensuring similar testimony doesn't derail his case. Judge Michael Erdos threw out the $28 million verdict, the first that plaintiffs have managed to win across four Xarelto-related product liability trials in state and federal court against a pair of Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson units, in January based on testimony from a prescribing physician that she had known about the risks of the drug and would have prescribed it anyway even if stronger warnings had been provided. "The judge now has a history and a precedent that each side knows about, so this doctor is front and center and is going to be the highlight of the trial," Jim said.
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