Mark P. Robinson Jr.

Mark P. Robinson Jr. wants to talk about drugs. Like the destruction opioids wreak on the lives of young people.

One of the nation's top product liability lawyers, Robinson says that is where his effort will be focused in the next few years.

He has teamed up with Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas once again, this time to aid in the prosecutor's efforts to take pharmaceutical companies to task over the marketing of opioids, a class of narcotic prescription painkillers.

The man who helped hammer out a $1.6 billion class settlement with Toyota last year and who was catapulted to national prominence when in 1978 an Orange County jury awarded $128 million over injuries caused by a Ford Pinto's gas tank exploding, said he remembers his days as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

Robinson worked in that office for about a year after being admitted to the bar in 1972 and said he was affected by the experience.

"I'd go down to court at these preliminary hearings and what I saw was these kids taking drugs and I really had a problem with that," he said. "I went off in to the world as a civil lawyer, but when I read stuff about kids on drugs, it really gets to me."

The lawsuit filed in May by Santa Clara and Orange counties accuses five drug companies of false advertising, unfair competition and creating a public nuisance.

"I'd like to be a leader on this. I really feel I can get a fair shot to help these people. I gotta feel good about what I am doing," Robinson said.

He's not just helping Rackauckas, but helping the state, Robinson added. "I really feel dedicated to that."

The two also teamed up against Toyota Motor Corp., which in 2013 agreed to pay the Orange County district attorney's office $16 million to settle an unfair competition lawsuit over unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles.

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