Stites & Harbison, PLLC

For more information contact John Famularo or John Tate.

Stites & Harbison defends difficult lawsuits, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the convergence of medical device & pharmaceutical product liability insurance defense litigation.

The firm represents a broad cross-section of pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers, enjoying a national defense practice in these industries dating from the late 1980s.  A sampling of pharmaceutical litigation includes hydrocodone, hormone replacements, antibiotics, anti-depressants, oral vaccines, surgical anesthetics, and various contraceptives.  Representative medical devices include orthopedic implants and joint replacements, cardiovascular stents and catheters, pain pumps, defibrillators, anesthesia equipment, ultrasound and x-ray machines, surgical mesh, neurosurgical clips, intraocular lenses, ventilators, and kidney lithotripters.

We serve as national and regional counsel for brand-name companies in product liability claims, mass torts, MDL proceedings, and Class Actions.  We also are experienced in public sector pricing disputes and the defense of actions brought by attorneys general. 

Rounding out our medical experience, the firm represents state and county medical organizations, major clinics, and hospital staffs across the southeastern U.S., and we defend hospitals, nursing home, and physicians in a variety of tort, regulatory, and business litigation.

More than 20 attorneys with the firm, including members of this service group, have technical backgrounds, including several engineering disciplines and all of the natural sciences.

Representative matters include:  

• Defending nationwide a major manufacturer of implantable orthopedic devices alleged to be defectively designed 
• Defending nationwide a type of infusion pumps frequently prescribed for patient-controlled analgesia 
• Defending nationwide a line of cardiovascular catheters used to treat coronary occlusions
• Defending statewide, in thousands of individual cases, a manufacturer of respiratory protection equipment
• Defending statewide mass tort claims against both brand-name and carefully selected generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in claims alleging undisclosed side-effects of drug usage