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Peter Resnik is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm's Boston office. He is head of the Firm-wide pharmaceutical and biotech products liability practice. Peter's practice focuses on pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech products liability, agricultural products litigation, crisis management, general products liability litigation and complex business litigation including professional liability and commercial litigation.
Pharmaceutical and Biotech Products Liability Defense
Peter has represented manufacturers of a variety of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotech products, including anorectic drugs, various asthma medications, injectable iron supplements, prescription cough medications, latex gloves and genetically modified corn.
Peter served as lead partner of McDermott Will & Emery's StarLink® national defense team representing a major producer and seller of Starlink a genetically modified corn seed-not approved for human use-that was the subject of 300 product recalls in September of 2000 when fragments of the corn DNA were detected in taco shells and other food products. Involving regulatory, biotechnology, products liability and commercial issues, the widely publicized StarLink litigation included federal actions consolidated in multidistrict litigation and multiple state actions.
He also currently serves as national counsel for two phentermine manufacturers in the Fen-Phen diet drug litigation and is co-lead counsel for all phentermine defendants in the consolidated multi-district (MDL) federal diet drug litigation which is pending before the United States District Court in Philadelphia. The diet drug litigation, which began in 1996, has now grown to become one of the largest pharmaceutical mass torts in U.S. history. The Firm has represented individual pharmaceutical clients in more than 7,000 individual and multi-party cases in the federal courts and in the courts of all fifty states as well as in Canada. We have primary responsibility for all aspects of the litigation including trial, expert selection, class action defense and overall coordination, management and strategy. We coordinate and direct local counsel in all fifty states and have developed and use state-of-the-art information and data systems to manage and coordinate the litigation.
The Firm has achieved significant success in this litigation to date. We have successfully litigated the issue of the admissibility of scientific evidence in courts in various parts of the country, including widely publicized wins in evidentiary Daubert hearings in Massachusetts and in the federal consolidated actions resulting in the preclusion of expert testimony against our clients.
Commercial Litigation
In addition to his products liability practice, Peter has an active commercial trial practice in the state and federal courts. He has tried jury cases in the federal courts involving claims of misappropriation of nuclear steam generator cleaning technology; breach of contract for deep sea salvage of the treasure ship, the SS Republic; and defense of a national broadcasting and cable company in a multi-million dollar defamation and unfair competition claim. In the state court, he won a highly publicized jury verdict in a case involving professional liability arising out of valuation of claim reserves of a failed insurance company. He has also represented a broadcaster and two professional sports teams in litigation arising out of unauthorized use of excerpts of broadcast games and has been involved in litigation to clear title to a parcel of prime urban real estate.
Peter is a frequent speaker on trial practice matters. He is also co-author of a chapter in Massachusetts Deposition Practice Manual, edited by the Honorable Peter M. Lauriat.
Peter is a member of the state and federal bars of Massachusetts and the American and Massachusetts bar associations. He has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America for personal injury, and is recognized as a leading products liability lawyer in the 2006 edition of Chambers USA.
Education
Boston University School of Law, J.D., 1970
Yale University, B.A., 1967 | 