Ardoin, Alesia Mottle

Don is a leader among plaintiffs’ attorneys in assessing the legal, medical, and scientific aspects of personal injury, mass torts, and environmental and toxic exposure litigation. Don has served on Plaintiffs’ Science/Expert Committees in several national cases, and he is Chair of the Epidemiology/Causation Sub­committee of the federal Vioxx litigation. Between 1998 and 2011, Don has served on science and expert witness committees in the Yaz, Diet Drug, Rezulin, Baycol, Vioxx and Sulzer hip implant cases. In April 2010, Don was trial counsel in a federal Vioxx case concerning Medicaid reimbursement claims.

Don has specialized in toxic exposure and defective pharmaceutical cases for twenty years. From 1994 to 1998, Don was lead counsel for a certified class of women who were intentionally exposed to radioactive iron without their consent while receiving prenatal care at Vanderbilt University hospital in the 1940s. Settlement included $10.3 million and a formal apology from Vanderbilt University.

Don also played a leading role in California coordinated litigation arising out of the Sacramento River Spill of 1991; the release of a sulfuric acid cloud from the General Chemical plant in Richmond, California in 1993; and a 1995 toxic release from the Unocal refinery in Rodeo, California. These cases resulted in settlements of approximately $300 million.

Don has authored articles on environmental and pharmaceutical drug issues for Ecology Law Quarterly, Mealey’s Emerging Toxic Torts, and Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. Super Lawyers magazine has recognized Don as a Northern California Super Lawyer four times.