Mark C. Hegarty

Mark began his legal career as a law clerk for The Hon. James K. Logan of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Judicial Circuit. Since then, his practice has focused on nationwide complex litigation, including the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in state, federal and appellate courts across the United States. 

Mark’s representation of companies in complex litigation has included a focus on medical and scientific issues. He has become known for his ability to effectively cross exam opposing experts and communicate these complicated issues to courts and juries. Mark has tried high-stakes cases, including trials in nationwide litigation. In particular, Mark has served for the past several years as trial and National Coordinating Counsel for Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in litigation involving more than thousands of plaintiffs who allege that exposure to talc-based products caused ovarian and other cancers. In this role, Mark handled all aspects of case preparation for trial, including presenting company witnesses, producing and deposing expert witnesses, arguing all pretrial and trial motions, cross examining witnesses and leading and arguing post-trial appeals.  

He has also lead the defense for Upsher-Smith Laboratories in cases involving amiodarone, a medication that treats arrhythmias. In a numerous amount of these cases, Mark has successfully argued motions to dismiss and for summary judgment on preemption and other grounds. These successes have extended to upholding these dismissals and summary judgments on appeal. For example, in McDaniel v. Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Mark argued that the district court properly dismissed the plaintiff’s claims at the pleading stage based on the Supreme Court’s preemption decisions in Mensing. The Sixth Circuit agreed and affirmed the district court’s dismissal. Mark also successfully argued in the Fourth Circuit case of Bean v. Upsher-Smith Laboratories that the district court properly dismissed plaintiff’s claims based on the learned intermediary doctrine.  

In addition to representing Johnson & Johnson and Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Mark has also represented on a national basis Astellas Pharma US, Inc. for all of the company’s product cases. Further, Mark has represented Pfizer in cases involving Zoloft®, Lipitor® and HRT,  Monsanto in cases involving Roundup®, Boston Scientific in cases involving pelvic mesh, Hoffmann-La Roche in cases involving Accutane®, Eli Lilly and Company in cases involving Prozac® and diethylstilbestrol, American Home Products Corporation in cases involving Cordarone®, Wyeth in cases involving diet drugs, Pfizer in cases involving Rezulin®, Sanofi Inc. in litigation involving Marcaine®, Organon in cases involving Raplon® and Zemuron®, Akzo Nobel in cases involving coatings, the Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust in litigation involving the Dalkon Shield IUD and G.D. Searle & Company in cases involving the Cu-7 IUD, and American Cyanamid Company in cases involving claims of yield loss and exposure to antibiotics.

Mark has spoken on numerous occasions regarding various litigation topics, including at several Drug Information Association meetings and at the Defense Research Institute’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Annual Meeting. He assisted in program scheduling for the Drug Information Association’s Annual Meeting from 1995 to 2014. Before pursuing a legal career, Mark worked as a process engineer for AT&T in its semiconductor manufacturing division.