July 2023 Newsletter

Major Firm News

Baum Hedlund is now Wisner Baum

We entered 2023 with a new name and our flagship office moved to a larger space at Westwood Gateway in Los Angeles. On January 10, Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, PC changed its name to Wisner Baum, LLP. Vice President R. Brent Wisner, Baum Hedlund’s lead trial attorney, is now Wisner Baum’s managing partner. At 39, he is perhaps the youngest attorney in America to take the reins of a nationwide plaintiffs’ law firm of our size and stature.

Wisner Baum is poised to make waves across several practice areas this year with 10 trials, mostly in California. Our firm will take two truck crash cases to trial in Madera, CA and South Carolina. We are also lead counsel in a tree v. vehicle case in Humboldt County, CA. Our other trials include a baby food case, an electroconvulsive therapy case, an LAPD police misconduct case, a Robinson R66 helicopter crash case, a battery explosion case, and a cooking spray fire case. You can read more about these and other cases on the next page.

Ronald Goldman retires after 60 years of practice

After a 60-year career in law, Ronald L. M. Goldman, vice president and senior trial attorney at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, has retired.

Renowned for leading major cases, Goldman's unique, respectful approach earned high praise from clients, colleagues, and opposing counsel. Senior partner, Michael L. Baum, acknowledged Goldman's significant contribution to the firm's success and conveyed his best wishes for Goldman's retirement, “We wish him nothing but the best as he turns the page on a storied career.”

Litigation Updates

Robinson Helicopter Crash Lawsuit Filed

Wisner Baum attorneys, Timothy A. Loranger and Ari S. Friedman, recently filed a lawsuit against Robinson Helicopter Company and several aircraft parts manufacturers on behalf of a newly married couple and photographer who sustained severe injuries in a Robinson R44 crash. Known as the go-to law firm for Robinson helicopter crashes, we have filed more than a dozen cases against them and are often asked to comment on these cases in the media. “Unfortunately, protecting profit margins is often more important to manufacturers than protecting the people that fly their aircraft,” Loranger told the media outlets after the case was filed. “Robinson helicopters must do more to identify and resolve safety issues that all too often injure or take the lives of pilots and passengers.”

Zantac Cancer Cases

We were disappointed when the federal judge overseeing the Zantac MDL in Florida issued an order in December dismissing all the cases. We saw this outcome early on, which is why we did not have any cases in the MDL. Instead, we focused our efforts on state courts, where the Zantac litigation is alive and well. We are on the plaintiff’s leadership in Delaware, where more than 77,000 cases are filed, and in California, where over 5,000 cases are filed. Wisner Baum’s lead trial attorney R. Brent Wisner is co-lead trial counsel in both states, along with Jennifer Moore of Moore Law Group.

Toxic Baby Food

We are one of the leading firms in the U.S. representing children diagnosed with autism and ADHD after exposure to heavy metals in baby foods from Gerber, Hain (Earth’s Best Organic), Walmart, and others. On October 4, 2023, our firm’s R. Brent Wisner and Pedram Esfandiary will co-lead what is likely to be the first baby food trial in California state court. So far, we represent more than 3,000 children in this litigation.

Actos RICO Class Action

A federal court recently certified our class action against Takeda and Eli Lilly. Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fun is the first non-settlement national RICO class action certified against Big Pharma. The lawsuit alleges Takeda and Lilly violated the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by conspiring to conceal the risk of Actos and bladder cancer because they knew it would harm sales. Experts say the case could be worth billions. R. Brent Wisner and Michael L. Baum of Wisner Baum and Christopher L. Coffin of Pendley, Baudin & Coffin will serve as national class counsel.

Individual Attorney Honors

• Trial Lawyer of the Year Finalist 2023, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association – Brent Wisner
• Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles Presidential Award – Tim Loranger
• Top 100 Lawyers in California 2022, Daily Journal – Brent Wisner
• Southern California Super Lawyers®
• Northern California Super Lawyers®
• Best Lawyers®
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Consumer Plaintiff Lawyers 2023 – Brent Wisner, Michael Baum, Tim Loranger, Bijan Esfandiari

Wisner Baum's Sponsorships

We are proud to support these organizations.

• Aviation Law Section, American Association for Justice
• Leaders Forum Champions, American Association for Justice
• President’s Club Benefactors, Consumer Attorneys of California
• Partner of Justice, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
• SMU Air Law Symposium, Dedman School of Law
• Champion of Courage, Truck Safety Coalition
• Latina Lawyers Bar Association’s 25th annual awards scholarship dinner and Career Summit

Why Partner with Wisner Baum?

Since 1985, the award-winning attorneys at Wisner Baum LLP have won more than $4 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients across a wide variety of practice areas. Our firm has earned a reputation for breaking new legal ground, holding major corporations accountable, influencing public policy, and raising public awareness about important safety issues.

Wisner Baum is a national leader in several ongoing litigations. We accept case referrals for several areas of practice and have the resources and experts to get the job done and secure your referral fee. The next time you receive any of the following cases, we hope that you will consider our firm:

• Plane and Helicopter Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Zantac (Ranitidine)
• Cancer Lawsuits
• Toxic Baby Food - Autism and ADHD Lawsuits

Wisner Baum LLP recently moved our flagship office to 11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1750, Los Angeles, CA 90025. We also have an office in the San Francisco Bay Area, plus four satellite offices across the state of California and another in Washington, D.C.