Mark P. Robinson, Jr.

Robinson burst to the top of the plaintiffs’ trial bar 43 years ago with his $128 million win in the Ford Pinto case, and he hasn’t slowed down since.

This year, he has been especially busy. He is in trial against four opioid manufacturers while simultaneously juggling nine or 10 other mass tort litigations involving wildfires, breast implants, gun violence and consumer products.

“I don’t think in my life, I’ve ever been as busy,” Robinson said.

In the opioid trial, he represents Orange County, one of four municipal governments suing the drug makers for costs associated with treating and responding to addicts. The trial began in mid-April, seven years after the case was filed, and is predicted to extend into July. People v. Purdue Pharma LP, 30-2014-00725287 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed May 21, 2014).

Fortunately for Robinson’s other cases, it is a virtual, non-jury trial in session only on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

But it also has its difficulties. “There’s a lot of lawyers,” he said, 30 of them, so the case is not moving along briskly, although Robinson has high praise for Judge Peter Wilson.

Thursdays through Sundays, Robinson prepares for the next day in trial and works on other cases. For instance, he is hoping for a bellwether trial in the consolidated litigation alleging talcum powder caused ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Cases, JCCP4872 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 10, 2016).

He serves as co-lead counsel in two more consolidated litigations, one over Juul Labs Inc.’s e-cigarettes and the other over Allergan Inc.’s Biocell textured breast implants. Juul Labs Products Cases, JCCP5052 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 20, 2019); Allergan Implant Cases, JCCP5104 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 9, 2020).

He also has cases in the federal multidistrict litigation in New Jersey over the Allergan implants.

Robinson was part of the plaintiffs’ leadership team that settled litigation against MGM Resorts International over the horrific mass shooting at the Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay Resort in 2017. Sheppard v. Mandalay Bay LLC, A-18-769752-C (8th Nev. J.D.Ct., filed Feb. 16, 2018).

He also represents people who suffered losses in the four huge wildfires in Northern and Southern California a few years ago. And he represents many clients in federal litigation over the pesticide Roundup. All those cases are also now in settlement mode, he said.

“I’ve been busy in trial, but I’m also having to protect and watch these other cases that I’m handling,” Robinson said. “It’s a busy time in my life.”

— Don DeBenedictis