R. Brent Wisner is the managing partner and lead trial attorney at Wisner Baum. Recognized as one of America’s 50 Most Influential Trial Lawyers by Trial Lawyer Magazine, Brent has built a reputation for taking on large corporations in high stakes litigation and winning significant verdicts and settlements for his clients.
Brent has litigated cases against such companies as Bayer, Eli Lilly, Forest Labs, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Monsanto, Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda and obtained multiple verdicts totaling $2.427 billion and negotiated mass tort settlements in excess of $1 billion, all before the age of 40. He is the youngest attorney in U.S. history to win a multi-billion-dollar jury verdict, which he achieved in 2019 with a $2 billion Roundup cancer verdict against Monsanto on behalf of the Pilliods.
Wisner Baum is leading several mass torts. These include the Zantac cancer litigation in California, where he serves as Co-Lead Counsel for the Ranitidine Product Cases JCCP 5150 where at least 5,000 cases are filed. Brent also serves as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead National Counsel for the Delaware state court Zantac litigation where more than 72,000 cases are filed. The judge overseeing the Delaware litigation issued her Daubert ruling on May 31, 2024, allowing the cases to move forward, finding the opinions of plaintiffs’ experts reliable and admissible, allowing them to testify at trial that Zantac causes cancer.
A federal judge overseeing the Baby Food Products Liability multidistrict litigation (MDL 3101) in San Francisco, also appointed Brent as Co-Lead Counsel to help direct the litigation for plaintiffs who allege toxic heavy metals in commercial baby food caused their children to develop autism or ADHD.
In 2023, Brent’s team obtained unprecedented class certification for the first non-settlement national Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) class action lawsuit against Big Pharma. The RICO case is against Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Eli Lilly and Company. The class action alleges both drug companies conspired to conceal the bladder cancer risk associated with the diabetes drug, Actos, because they knew that adding a cancer warning label would harm sales. Experts say the damages total under RICO with trebled damages could reach $7 billion or more.
Brent’s age belies an incredible track record of success which legal publications have recognized. He has received numerous awards, such as “Civil Plaintiffs Trial Lawyer of the Year” by ALM and National Trial Lawyers and earned “Elite Trial Lawyers” recognition from the National Law Journal. Law360 recognized Brent as a “Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar” and “MVP of the Year” in Products Liability. Brent was also awarded “West Trailblazer” by The American Lawyer and the “Clarence Darrow Award” by Mike Papantonio, founder of Mass Torts Made Perfect. Brent is consistently recognized in the Daily Journal’s “Top Plaintiffs Lawyers” and “Top 100 Lawyers” in California. He is also inducted in the Verdicts Hall of Fame by the National Law Journal and Verdict Search and is listed in Best Lawyers in America® and Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers.