Elizabeth J.Cabraser

Dashing cross-country in late April, Elizabeth J. Cabraser went from representing the plaintiffs in the opening week of a bellwether opioid trial in federal court on San Francisco to teaching her aggregate litigation course at Yale Law School.

The Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP co-founder was busy as usual.

In San Francisco, she and law partner Richard M. Heimann are making a rare team appearance-- with a lot of other lawyers-- representing the city and county of San Francisco in a bench trial seeking to hold liable for creating a public nuisance opioid manufacturers Allegan and Teva and distributors Anda and Walgreens, the non-settling defendants who remain in the case. Claims against Purdue Pharma LLP are stayed pending bankruptcy proceedings. City and County of San Francisco et al., v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., 3:18-cv-07591 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 18, 2018).

"We're two and one on nuisance theory," Cabraser said, referring to successful outcomes last year on similar claims in federal courts in New York and Ohio plus a loss in state court in Orange County. In Ohio, next month a judge in the case there will determine the value of the opioid epidemic abatement funds owed by CVS, Walgreens and Walmart.

Cabraser said it's been a long time since she and Heimann tried a case together. "He's lead counsel. I do backroom nightshift briefing and try to reach settlements," she said. Beyond her work for San Francisco, she serves on the plaintiffs' executive committee, the settlement committee and the tribal committee in the nationwide consolidated case. National Prescription Opiate Litigation, 1:17-md-02804 (N.D. Ohio, trans. order Dec. 12, 2017).

She describes the sprawling case as "the most complex civil litigation in history by the sheer number of defendants, the sheer impact of the opioids epidemic and the different types of plaintiffs involved." Another part attempts to hold an ad agency to account: In re: McKinsey & Co. Inc. National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation, 3:21-md-02996 (N.D. Cal., filed June 8, 2021).

"These are the cases I essentially spend every day on now," Cabraser said.

Last year Equal Rights Advocates named Cabraser the 2021 Ramey Gender Justice Award winner. "It's very important to me to develop women in the legal profession as advocates," she said. "I'd love to see more women leading MDLs, for instance. And I'd love to see more civil and legal education in elementary and high schools. My Yale students don't need a lot of encouragement--they're raring to go. Courts empower us."

- John Roemer