Raising The Bar

Top 100 attorney Mike Kelly of San Francisco’s Walkup Melodia Kelly and Schoenberger obtained  the first  plaintiff’s verdict in the nationwide litigation over failed ASR metal-on-metal hip implants. In Kransky v DePuy  Orthopedics, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury returned a verdict of $8,341,000 to Mike and co-counsel Brian Panish’s client Loren Kransky, a retired Montana correctional worker. Kransky had the defective hip in place for almiost 5 years. DePuys attorneys defended the case in part on the basis that Kransky’s ASR removal surgery was not due to the hips flaws but was engineered by lawyers to profit on the products recall. The compensatory damage-only verdict  sent shockwaves  through the medical device industry.  The verdict came on the heels of Mikes’ recognition by the  Consumer Attorneys of California who presented him with the  Robert E. Cartwright award, given to a member of the Association for contributions to the teaching of Trial Advocacy. Mike has taught advocacy across the U.S., the U.K.,  Europe and Asia.  In all he has volunteered time at more than 150 CLE programs during the course of his career.