OVERVIEW
Steve Rotman has over thirty years of experience in the practice of law. For the last 25 years his practice has focused on product liability litigation involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and tobacco. Prior to that, his practice encompassed personal injury, product liability, constitutional law, and commercial litigation, both on the defense and plaintiff sides.
Steve has experience with trials in state and federal courts, with AAA arbitrations, mediations, and appeals in state and federal courts. He has tried alone or with others, pharmaceutical and medical device products cases, medical malpractice cases, construction, family law, and commercial cases.
Clients
Over the course of his career, Steve has concentrated on product liability litigation, representing plaintiffs who suffered devastating injuries or loss of life from unreasonably dangerous drugs, medical devices, and tobacco. He has served (and currently serves) on Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees in Multi-District Litigations, including on science and expert committees, and has performed common benefit work in several pharmaceutical and medical device multi-district litigations.
EDUCATION
University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., Order of the Coif, 1979, Virginia Law Review
Harvard College, B.A., magna cum laude (Philosophy), 1975
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
AFFILIATIONS
American Association for Justice (AAJ), Former Chair of the Daubert/Expert Witness Admissibility Litigation Group
WHAT OTHERS SAY
Lawdragon
- Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer since 2019
Other
- Awarded a Medal for Excellence for his service to the American Association for Justice.
- Invited to speak at local Bar Association and national legal conferences on the subjects of electronic evidence, medical evidence, and proving causation in pharmaceutical cases.
PUBLICATIONS
PERSPECTIVES
Experience
Environmental & Product Liability
All the cases below involved extensive work with experts in the fields of epidemiology, pharmacology, toxicology, neurology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, oncology, radiology, cardiology, pathology, life care planning, physical therapy, biostatistics, vascular surgery, radiology and interventional radiology, and economics. These cases also entailed the review and analysis of medical and scientific studies and documents obtained in discovery.
- In re Zofran Products Liability Litigation – In this case, the firm represented clients alleging birth defects were associated with Zofran exposure. Steve served on the court-appointed Plaintiffs Steering Committee before the Honorable Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Steve also served as co-chair of the Science and Expert Committee in this multi-district litigation.
- Boston Youth Tobacco Litigation – Steve is currently involved in representing clients who have developed smoking-related disease from starting to smoke in their teens, becoming addicted to nicotine and smoking for decades. One of those cases resulted in a jury verdict of $200 Million, including punitive damages.
- In re Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Products Liability Litigation – In the PPA litigation (decongestants associated with hemorrhagic stroke - 2000-2006), Steve was principally responsible for the MDL general causation Daubert briefing and general causation expert witness work. He took multiple depositions of defense liability witnesses and MDL causation experts in the fields of epidemiology and stroke neurology.
- In re Hormone Replacement Therapy Litigation – In HRT (2007-2012), Steve contributed to common benefit work regarding Daubert issues, safer alternative science development, recruitment of case specific causation, cell biology and epidemiology experts, and was primarily responsible for negotiating an aggregate settlement for clients who were exposed to estrogen without a progestogen. For individual HRT cases (2007- 2012), he handled all causation witnesses in two federal court trials (one settled post defense verdict; one plaintiffs’ verdict resulting in a $4 million compensatory and punitive damages award. He also recruited experts in oncology, pathology, cell biology, radiology, and epidemiology, and took or defended over 80 depositions.
- In re Fresenius Granuflo/Naturalyte Dialysate Products Liability Litigation – In this case, Steve served as a member of the Daubert committee and conducted significant work finding and preparing expert witnesses (in the areas of epidemiology, general, and specific causation), drafting multiple Daubert briefs, and arguing Daubert motions before the Honorable Judge Woodlock of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
- Bard IVC Filter Litigation – This case involves the representation of clients with defective IVC filters. Steve served on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the multi-district litigation, and represented individual clients who suffered injuries from defective IVC filters.
- Essure Products Liability Litigation – In this case, Hausfeld represented clients with claims against Bayer Healthcare for injuries caused by the Essure® System for Permanent Birth Control.
- Talcum Powder Products Litigation – In this litigation, the firm is representing clients who allege that their long term use of talcum powder products led to their development of ovarian cancer. Steve serves on the Science and Expert Committee.
- Steve serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and the Expert and Science Committee in the Zantac multi-district litigation.
- Steve serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and the Expert and Science Committee in the TDF multi-district litigation.
- In re Diet Drugs – Steve represented clients in this litigation alleging that diet pills were causing heart and lung injuries.
- Steve has also represented clients with defective Cox-2 inhibitor pain medications associated with heart attacks; clients who were prescribed Yaz birth control pills associated with clotting injuries, and clients alleging Paxil-related birth defect cases.
