Sukup, Joe

Melissa works with our Pharmaceutical Drug and Medical Device Litigation team to help people nationwide who have been injured by these products. Injuries can happen when a product is defectively manufactured, defectively designed, or when there is an inadequate warning about the risks associated with the product.

In addition to drug and device product liability cases, Melissa works on various class actions, including litigation on behalf of several Indiana National Guardsmen who were exposed to harmful chemicals while serving in Iraq.

Melissa also has an interest in qui tam or whistle-blower cases involving the False Claims Act. In those cases, a person (usually an employee) discovers that an individual or company who performs work for the government or who has a government contract is committing fraud or otherwise misappropriating tax-payer money. By filing the case on behalf of the government, the person who came forward (also known as a "whistle-blower" or relator) may collect a certain percentage of whatever the government recovers.

Prior to joining Cohen & Malad, LLP, Melissa worked for several years at Riley Children's Hospital in the Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center as a Research Specialist.