Attorney Richard M Barnes's Legal Cases

Class action

Goodell DeVries Attorneys Defend Pacemaker Lead Manufacturer in Class Action

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OUTCOME: Sucessfully negotiated a favorable class action settlement

From 1994 to 2001 Goodell DeVries acted as national trial counsel for the Colorado based manufacturer of pacemaker leads in thousands of individual cases filed nationwide. The National Team including C ... harles P. Goodell, Jr., Richard M. Barnes, and several other Goodell DeVries attorneys coordinated national discovery, participated in a summary jury trial following class certification and Multidistrict Litigation status and sucessfully negotiated a favorable class action settlement in the United States District Court for the District of Ohio. Goodell DeVries also sucessfully opposed efforts to have a second class action certified as to a different, but related model lead, and sucessfully opposed an international class action. A number of opinions have been reported in connection with this litigation, including In re Telectronics Pacing Systems, Accufix Atrial J Lead Litigation, 168 F.R.D. 203 (S.D. Ohio 1996) (on motion for reconsideration, earned decertification of an international and nationwide product liability class action involving allegedly defective pacemaker leads).

Defective and dangerous products

Goodell DeVries Assists Pharmaceutical Company in Securing Dismissal in First Trial Alleging Suicide Caused by Neurontin

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OUTCOME: Secured dismissal

Goodell DeVries' partners Charles P. Goodell, Jr. and Richard M. Barnes, partnering with attorneys from Boies, Schiller & Flexner and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, represented Pfizer Inc in the ... first Neurontin case to go to trial. The case was pending in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiff, who alleged that Neurontin caused the decedent’s suicide, voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice after just one day of trial. The dismissal was announced on July 29, 2009.

Appeals

The Court of Appeals Upholds Summary Judgment Ruling that Statute of Limitations Protects Oral Laxative Manufacturer

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OUTCOME: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Upheld Summary Judgment

On May 14, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling for C.B. Fleet Company, a manufacturer of an over-the-counter oral saline laxative commonly ... used in colonoscopy prep. Quillin v. Fleet, (4th Cir. 2009). Richard M. Barnes and Thomas J. S. Waxter, III led the successful appeal, which affirmed the ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, holding that the statute of limitations had run and that the plaintiff was on inquiry notice as a matter of law more than three years before filing suit. Plaintiff had argued that he was not on notice of a possible claim for damages for his renal failure until he read an advertisement from a personal injury lawyer. His lawyers argued at summary judgment, on motion for reconsideration, and on appeal that actual notice was a jury question not fit for resolution before trial and that more discovery was needed. At each stage, Goodell DeVries persuaded the presiding judges that plaintiff was on actual implied notice because he had a duty to diligently investigate his potential claim after he was injured and that he also had a duty to file a Rule 56(f) affidavit if he needed more discovery. Both courts recognized that plaintiff's failure to investigate did not toll his claim and he was not entitled to re-open discovery to bolster his claim. Goodell DeVries attorneys Paula Krahn Merkle and Derek M. Stikeleather were an instrumental part of the success in this case.

Richard M Barnes's Legal Cases (3)

Goodell DeVries Attorneys Defend Pacemaker Lead Manufacturer in Class Action

Goodell DeVries Assists Pharmaceutical Company in Securing Dismissal in First Trial Alleging Suicide Caused by Neurontin

The Court of Appeals Upholds Summary Judgment Ruling that Statute of Limitations Protects Oral Laxative Manufacturer