Eric B. Fastiff

For Fastiff, perseverance can pay big dividends and he isn’t one to back down from a fight.

That was the case in a 17-year pharmaceutical class action case against Bayer AG and Barr Pharmaceuticals where Fastiff acted as court-appointed co-lead counsel on behalf of California consumers and third party insurance carriers. Cipro Cases I & II, JCCP 4154 (San Diego Super. Ct., filed Oct. 23, 2001).

Fastiff and his co-counsel eventually recovered $399 million in a case that saw Bayer make payments to its competitor Barr to delay bringing a generic version of the antibiotic Cipro to market.

“Pharmaceutical companies, any companies, should not pay off their competitors to stop them from bringing a lower price product to market,” Fastiff said, highlighting that perseverance paid off after summary judgment was originally granted in favor of the defendants in the case.

Fastiff said he and his co-counsel eventually appealed the case to the California Supreme Court which reversed the summary judgment and remanded the case. He added that everything from that point on was a challenging case of first impression.

“How do you prove what the price would have been when the claim was that the settlement of patent litigation injured the consumers?” Fastiff said.

He also said he used of all of his firm’s resources in working the case, including the more junior lawyers who wrote briefs in the case and coordinated discovery. “Because they wrote such good briefs, with guidance, I asked them to argue those motions,” Fastiff said, adding that he had been afforded similar opportunities as a younger lawyer.

“What guides me as a leader of the practice group is giving junior lawyers and all lawyers the opportunities to succeed,” Fastiff said.

“Once they prove they’re capable of success, I give them as many opportunities as possible to succeed in representing our clients.”

— Chase DiFeliciantonio