Vergara, Earl A.

Ms. Latimer's complex litigation practice emphasizes trials and appeals in the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device product liability and toxic tort claims.  The National Law Journal has profiled three of her most significant victories as top defense wins of the year (Warren v. Sandoz Pharm. Corp. in 1998, Glastetter v. Novartis Pharm. Corp. in 2001, and Crowson v. Davol, Inc. in 2005) and in 2010, she secured a defense verdict for her client in plaintiffs' lead bellwether selection in serial pharmaceutical litigation centralized in New Jersey.  Bessemer v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., MID-L-1835-08-MT (N.J. Super. Ct., defense verdict Oct. 6, 2010).

Ms. Latimer represents manufacturers, premises owners, contractors, and other corporate members of highly regulated industries in trials and appeals of matters involving such products as prescription and over-the-counter drugs (including contrast dye, anxiety treatments, obstetrical drugs, antifungals, antiseizure medicines, cough/cold medicines, diet aids, osteoporosis drugs, and cancer therapies), prostheses, welding rods, pesticides and herbicides, and manufacturing-use chemical compounds (including detergents, solvents and polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”)).  She is experienced in mass tort, class action, and multi-jurisdiction litigation, and she serves as national trial counsel, regional trial counsel, and Multidistrict Litigation (“MDL”) defense steering committee member in complex toxics matters.  She also counsels clients on due diligence, product registration, and labeling issues, as well as federal and state reporting requirements.

Ms. Latimer has extensive experience in Daubert proceedings and the presentation and cross-examination of expert witnesses in diverse medical and technical fields.  She represents our clients in their most high profile litigation, including cases involving death, encephalopathy, brain, lung, and breast cancer and cancer clusters, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, myocardial infarction, serious skin disorders, immunological injury, bone disease, endocrine disruption, and myriad other serious injuries, as well as cases involving very substantial alleged business losses.  These cases cover the gamut of liability theories, including fraud, conspiracy, and other intentional torts.

Ms. Latimer regularly coordinates amicus curiae support for our clients’ positions and frequently drafts amicus curiae briefs.  She lectures at international and national seminars and private conferences on various aspects of pharmaceutical products liability and toxic tort litigation defense.  She is the Consulting Editor and a member of the Advisory Board for the Expert Evidence Reporter published by BNA.  She served on the inaugural Board of Editors for Law360's Product Liability newswire (2010), and she also was a member of Lexis/Mealey's inaugural Toxic Tort Defense Advisory Council, on which she served until 2007. She served as an editorial board member of Mealey’s Litigation Reports: Toxic Torts from 1992 until 1995. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute (DRI).  Prior to her coming to the Firm, Ms. Latimer served as judicial clerk to the Hon. Johanna L. Fitzpatrick of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Virginia (subsequently Chief Judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals).  Ms. Latimer is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, and Who's Who in the East, and named once again to the Washington, DC edition of Super Lawyers.  Ms. Latimer is recognized as a 2013 Top Rated Lawyer by American Lawyer Media & Martindale-Hubbell™.

Ms. Latimer serves on the Grants Committee for Sharing Montgomery, a strategic funding effort operated through The Community Foundation for Montgomery County (Maryland) and focused on nonprofits serving the County's low-income children, families, and seniors.