John’s practice focuses on product liability litigation, with an emphasis on defending pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in complex, multidistrict litigation in federal and state courts. His clients include manufacturers of prescription products and medical devices; agricultural and other chemicals; automotive products; and, in the context of asbestos litigation, railway products. John regularly partners with lawyers across the country and has served as national and case-specific coordinating counsel in a number of mass personal injury and wrongful death matters.
John has experience, both at the state and federal levels, with the challenges inherent in mass tort actions and multi-district litigation, including initial procedural matters, strategies for early product identification and proof of injury, and removal of cases to federal court. Additionally, he handles consolidation of cases in the MDL setting, strategies for efficient and effective discovery, plaintiff-specific case work-up, summary judgment and other motion practice, and preparation of cases for trial. John currently works closely with client teams and co-defendants’ counsel in connection with a pharmaceutical multidistrict litigation involving more than 10,000 plaintiffs to coordinate defense strategies, facilitate day-to-day case work-up, manage discovery issues, undertake substantive and procedural motion practice, and implement strategies for managing the docket.
Beyond his product liability practice, John has broad experience representing policyholders in multi-million dollar coverage disputes under first-party commercial property / business interruption and third-party comprehensive general liability insurance policies. He also has experience litigating general business disputes, business torts, and intellectual property matters.
Committed to public service, John serves on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national nonpartisan civil rights organization combating racial discrimination and inequality of opportunity. Since 2008, he has co-led the Florida volunteer lawyer effort of the Lawyers’ Committee’s Election Protection project, designed to ensure voters are able to exercise their right to vote. He is also involved in the Lawyers’ Committee’s Stop the Hate Project, which began in 2017 to combat the increase in hate crimes across the country.
A native of Miami, John is active in his community. He is a founding member of the Community Learning Partnership of Greater Miami Shores, whose mission is to share educational opportunities and facilitate social awareness, development, and outreach among students and teachers. He also has served his community as a judge in the Miami-Dade County Teen Court program, as a member of a task force assembled with the goal of making the Village of Miami Shores a more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Brockway Memorial Library.
