Law Firm Sanctioned for ‘Bad Faith,’ ‘Dishonesty’ in Prosecuting Thalidomide Lawsuits

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge has adopted a special master’s recommendation that sanctions be imposed against a law firm for continuing to prosecute thalidomide birth defect actions after it knew that the lawsuits were baseless, time-barred or both.

In a March 9 opinion, Judge Paul Diamond of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP to pay reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to defendant Grünenthal USA Inc.

From 2011 to 2013, plaintiffs sued various drug makers in Pennsylvania state court, alleging that their mothers had taken thalidomide while pregnant, causing …