Taft Cincinnati partner Ryan Edwards and Chicago associate Paul Coogan recently secured a significant win on interlocutory appeal in a series of consolidated products liability matters. A number of plaintiffs who reside in various states sued Taft’s client, BG Medical, LLC, in Illinois state court. BG Medical filed motions to dismiss, arguing first that the laws of the plaintiffs’ home states should apply, and then arguing that based on those laws, certain of plaintiffs’ claims must be dismissed. The trial court denied those motions and held that Illinois law would govern the substantive issues all of the plaintiffs’ claims.

After granting BG Medical’s petition for interlocutory appeal, the Illinois Appellate Court reversed the trial court’s decision and held that the substantive law of the states where the plaintiffs resided and suffered injury applied to each case. The Court agreed with Edwards and Coogan’s argument that the trial court misapplied the controlling case from the Illinois Supreme Court, and that each of the plaintiffs’ home states had a more significant relationship to the claims, and therefore those laws should apply. This early win will significantly winnow the scope of the claims and the potential liability faced by BG Medical.

Edwards focuses his practice on complex litigation, especially mass tort actions and multi-district litigation involving pharmaceuticals and medical devices. For the last several years, he has been part of the national counsel team defending one of the world’s largest orthopedic manufacturers against more than 3,000 individual product liability lawsuits relating to hip implant devices. 

Coogan focuses his practice on commercial litigation. He assists clients in resolving a wide range of business disputes in federal and state court, as well as representing local municipalities in constitutional and class action litigation. As a member of Taft’s Appellate group, Paul also represents clients on both sides of the bar in state and federal appellate courts. 

The case is Bennington, et al. v. Aspide Medical and BG Medical, LLC, case no. 1-20-0726, 2012 IL App (1^st) 200726-U.