Shook Wins Bellwether Trial in Taxotere MDL

Shook won an important defense verdict for Sanofi in the first bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation involving allegations that the breast cancer chemotherapy drug Taxotere causes permanent hair loss when a Louisiana jury returned a defense verdict in two hours after a multiweek trial. 

The win earned the team led by Partners Hildy Sastre and Jon Strongman runner-up status for American Lawyer Media's “Litigators of the Week.” The jury verdict was the first trial result in an MDL of more than 11,000 cases. In addition to ALM, Bloomberg, Law360, Reuters and the Daily Business Review reported on the outcome. 

Also on the trial team were Partners Kelly Bieri, Adrienne Byard, Chris Kaufman, Chris McRae, Harley Ratliff and Connor Sears, with Associates Jordan Baehr, Matt DePaz, Hillary Nicholas and Torrey Peterson. 

The case is Earnest v. Sanofi Aventis U.S. LLC, No. 16-17144 (E.D. La.); In re Taxotere (docetaxel) Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2740.