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$109 Million
Largest Verdict in a Personal Injury case
in Pennsylvania history
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$100 Million
Medical Malpractice
Largest-ever compensatory verdict
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$153 Million
Then-second largest Product
Liability verdict in U.S. history
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$38.2 Million
Delaware County
Auto Accident Verdict
Read More... -
$36.4 Million
Workplace Injury
Largest single-victim fatality settlement
Read More... -
$51 Million
Premises Liability/
Civil Rights verdict
Read More...
- Watch Here For Kline & Specter News Alerts
- On TV ⇒ Kline & Specter files suit in unnecessary stent procedure case
- Suit filed in Seton Hill University bus crash
- Firm wins record $105 million settlement in power line death case
- On TV ⇒ Tom Kline comments on possible PSU victim settlements
- Tom Kline argues before appellate panel vs. cap on jury awards
- Specter, Baldwin, Guerrini $109 million verdict among U.S.Top 10
- On TV ⇒ Tom Kline comments on kidnap case
- Tom Kline named 2013 Best Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
- Seven at Kline & Specter named "Best Lawyers in America"
- Specter sues city over captivity and torture of 10-year-old girl
- High Court refuses case, $8.75M verdict vs. Ford stands
- Kline & Specter files suit on behalf of Eagles' Jason Peters
- Eleven at Kline & Specter selected as "Super Lawyers"
- Tom Kline named No. 1 PA lawyer 9th straight year
- Kline & Specter Courtroom dedicated at Penn Law School
- Waldenberger wins $3M verdict in cancer case
- On TV ⇒The Kline & Specter Squash Center opens at Drexel University
- Kline, Caputo win $14M verdict in Pennsbury school bus accident case
- On TV ⇒ Tom Kline interviewed on Penn State case by CNN, MSNBC ...
- Kline & Specter named No. 1 Product Liability Firm in the United States
- Specter, Safier, Williams win $17.5M med-mal verdict
- On TV ⇒ Shanin Specter comments on the Ellison case, CBS3
- Guerrini wins $15M verdict in teen's death
- Specter featured on Super Lawyers magazine cover
- Tom Kline again No. 1 in PA, firm has nine named Super Lawyers
- PA Superior Court panel upholds $8.75M Blumer verdict
- Kline & Specter wins largest-ever Erie personal injury verdict, $21.6M
- Michael Smerconish joins Kline & Specter
- On TV ⇒ Kline, Inscho, Baldwin obtain $1.8M in psychologist sex case
- Kline & Specter named among Best Law Firms in U.S.
- Trunk, Zakeosian win $11.7 million against PHA and property manager
- Kline, Specter named among nation's 500 "Leading Lawyers"
- On TV ⇒ ESPN features the Plevretes case, Shanin Specter
- Best Lawyers names Tom Kline No. 1 Phila. personal injury attorney
- See more Kline & Specter stories in the news
Mass Tort/Drug Cases
Pennsylvania - New Jersey - Delaware - New York - Nationwide

Kline & Specter, P.C. is a recognized leader in pharmaceutical and product liability litigation.
The firm's Mass Tort Department was named among the nation's best for 2011-2012 by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers, for its handling of cases involving a litany of drugs from Accutane to Vioxx. It is currently litigating cases involving zinc poisoning that resulted from the use of Fixodent and other denture creams.
The Mass Tort department also litigates cases involving a wide range of other products, such as asbestos, defective pacemakers and defibrillators and Bausch & Lomb ReNu brand contact lens solution. (See lists below.)
Kline & Specter was among the handful of law firms spearheading national litigation against Merck & Co. involving the pain medication Vioxx, litigation which resulted in a $4.85 billion settlement. Vioxx was removed from the market in 2004 after it was linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Tom Kline and Shanin Specter deposed ranking Merck executives and scientists. Kline was also a member of the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee directing the federal Vioxx litigation.
Kline & Specter has some 30 attorneys, seven of whom are also highly skilled doctors. Heading the mass tort litigation team for the firm is Lee B. Balefsky, a partner at Kline & Specter, who has 30 years experience in complex litigation. (continued below)
Pharmaceuticals:
Medical Devices and Other Products:
Beyond being a national leader in the Vioxx litigation, Kline & Specter has had more than 1,000 clients in the Fen-Phen diet drugs case.
Lee Balefsky serves as the Philadelphia County Mass Tort Program liaison counsel in the Vioxx, Diet Drugs, and PPA cases, a role in which he aids the court in case management while providing information to other attorneys involved in the cases. The Mass Tort Department has achieved significant settlements for in lawsuits against the makers of several drugs, including Baycol, Fen-Phen and PPA.
The Mass Tort Department's expertise goes far beyond pharmaceutical cases. Balefsky has won numerous cases over the past two decades for clients stricken with cancer because of asbestos inhalation, a still-present danger. The division also handles cases involving defective medical devices and is currently representing a water company in a case involving MTBE, a gasoline additive that works its way into water supplies.
Although clients are individually represented in mass tort cases, the system allows for consolidation and streamlining by allowing lawyers for numerous clients to "pool" discovery. Numerous witness depositions and document gathering can be conducted once, with the information centralized and shared among the parties for each individual trial or settlement negotiation.
The firm handles cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. For cases outside those states, Kline & Specter works with local attorneys in each state as applicable.
For more information on mass tort litigation, see the article co-authored by Michelle Tiger titled "Philadelphia Mass Tort Program: Alive and Well" and published in the February 2005 issue of Product Liability Law & Strategy.
Kline & Specter handles cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York and Nationwide, working with local attorneys in states outside PA, NJ and NY.
In Pennsylvania, Kline & Specter handles cases in and around: Allentown, Altoona, Bethlehem, Chester, Doylestown, Drexel Hill, Easton, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Johnstown, Lancaster, Levittown, McCandless, McKeesport, Monroeville, Norristown, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Pottstown, Radnor, Reading, Scranton, State College, West Chester, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport and York.
In New Jersey, the firm handles cases in and around: Atlantic City, Bayonne, Brick Township, Camden, Cherry Hill, Clifton, Edison, Elizabeth, Fort Lee, Jersey City, Lakewood, Millville, Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson, Pennsauken, Plainfield, Toms River, Trenton, Union, Vineland, Voorhees and Willingboro.
News
- Tom Kline comments on increased Mass Torts drug cases, The legal Intelligencer 3/19/09 (Full story)
- Tom Kline speaks out on FDA drug labeling policy
- Johnson & Johnson has spent at least $68.7 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits filed by women who suffered blood clots, heart attacks or strokes after using the Ortho Evra birth-control patch. In the product liability case, complaints filed on behalf of 4,000 women in state and federal courts claim the company hid or altered data about the risks of high levels of estrogen released by the patch. (Full story)
- A study by Merck of its pain reliever Arcoxia showed similar risks of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems compared with another painkiller, diclofenac, federal reviewers said in an analysis made public Tuesday. (Full story.)


































