Law firm Paul Weiss taps lawyer for 3M, GSK to expand mass torts team

3M Co

05/02/2024 18:53

By David Thomas
       Feb 5 (Reuters) - The lead defense lawyer in the largest
mass tort case in U.S. history is switching law firms, taking
her practice to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the
New York-founded firm said on Monday.
    Kimberly Branscome is joining the firm as a partner in Los
Angeles from Dechert, where she has been defending 3M  MMM.N 
against 260,000 lawsuits by U.S. military veterans and service
members who said they suffered hearing loss from using the
company's earplugs. 
    In August, 3M said it would pay $6.01 billion to settle the
lawsuits. The company said it was not admitting liability and
that the earplugs "are safe and effective when used properly."
    Paul Weiss said Branscome is also lead counsel for GSK
 GSK.L  in litigation claiming that its discontinued heartburn
drug Zantac caused cancer, which GSK has denied.
    "Kim is widely regarded as one of the most talented and
respected lawyers in product liability and mass torts," Paul
Weiss chairman Brad Karp said in a statement.
    Dechert in a statement said it wished Branscome well, and
that its product liability and mass torts practice will be led
by Douglas Fleming and Jay Bhimani. 
    The firm did not answer questions about Dechert's future
involvement in the 3M and GSK litigation. Branscome, who co-led
the mass tort and product liability practice at Dechert, could
not immediately be reached for comment.
    A federal judge had sanctioned Branscome and Bhimani in the
earplug litigation for allegedly flouting a court order that
restricted the use of contested evidence during 3M's closing
argument in a 2021 trial. Those sanctions were overturned by the
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and later dropped altogether
by the judge.

 (Reporting by David Thomas)