LEVIN LAW - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Partner
- President of Levin Papantonio Rafferty
Brian Barr is the president of Levin Papantonio Rafferty. He litigates pharmaceutical, environmental, mass tort and personal injury cases throughout the country. Mr. Barr has been appointed to leadership in many of the largest mass tort cases in the country.
Mr. Barr is presently serving as co-liaison counsel and a member of the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in the 3M Combat Arms Earplugs Litigation (MDL 2885) presently pending in the Northern District of Florida before the Honorable Casey Rodgers. The 3M Combat Arms Earplug MDL is the largest MDL in history with over 240,000 pending claims. Mr. Barr recently served as trial counsel in the first bellwether trial in the 3M MDL resulting in a verdict for three plaintiffs in excess of $7 million in both compensatory and punitive damages.
Mr. Barr was also appointed as co-lead counsel by the Honorable Eldon Fallon in In re: Xarelto Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2592) pending in the Eastern District of Louisiana. As part of that litigation, Mr. Barr served as lead trial counsel in three bellwether trials that took place in New Orleans and Philadelphia. After several years of hard fought litigation and multiple trials, Mr. Barr helped to negotiate a $750 million settlement on behalf of more than 20,000 claims pending in both the MDL and in Pennsylvania and California state court.
Prior to serving as co-lead counsel in the Xarelto MDL, Mr. Barr was appointed as a one of four members of the Plaintiffs Executive Committee by the Honorable Carl Barbier in the BP/Deepwater Horizon MDL (MDL 2179) pending in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Mr. Barr was also one of the nineteen members of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, as well as class counsel for both the Economic and Property Damages Settlement Class and the Medical Class, Mr. Barr has been one of the leaders of the massive BP litigation. The litigation has resulted in two multi-billion dollar class action settlement agreements with BP. Mr. Barr was honored to serve as trial counsel for Phase 2 of the Limitation and Liability Trial against BP.
Prior to his work in the oil spill litigation, Mr. Barr was appointed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to serve on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in the national Trasylol litigation. Mr. Barr was also heavily involved in the national litigation surrounding the drugs Rezulin and Diet Drugs. In 2008, Mr. Barr, along with a trial team led by his partner Mike Papantonio, obtained a verdict of $390 million on behalf of the residents around a Dupont smelter in the town of Spelter, West Virginia. For their efforts, Mr. Barr and the other members of the trial team were named finalists for the 2008 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year.
Mr. Barr received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor University in 1996 and graduated magna cum laude from The Florida State University College of Law in 2001. He has been recognized as one of Florida's top young lawyers by Florida Super Lawyers and as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyer's Association.
Mr. Barr is a frequent lecturer throughout the country on mass tort litigation. He is currently licensed to practice law before all Florida state courts and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts.
Jeff Gaddy is a Shareholder with Levin Papantonio Rafferty. He graduated magna cum laude from Auburn University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. Mr. Gaddy then received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi in 2007, graduating cum laude. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gaddy spent eight years as an Assistant State Attorney at the Office of the State Attorney of the First Judicial Circuit where he served as a special prosecutor in the Homicide and Major Crimes Division. During his time as a prosecutor, Mr. Gaddy tried over one hundred jury trials to verdict.
Since joining the firm in 2015, Mr. Gaddy has focused his practice on mass tort litigation, working on projects such as Actos, C-8 Environmental Contamination, and Opioids. Mr. Gaddy also handles and tries single event matters, including trucking cases.
In the C-8 litigation, Mr. Gaddy was a member of multiple trial teams, including one which received $5.6 million verdict for a man who developed cancer as a result of drinking C-8 contaminated water, and was co-lead trial counsel on the final C-8 bellwether trial that resulted in a $670 million national settlement mid-way through the trial.
In the Opioid litigation Mr. Gaddy represents more than 700 local and state governments in claims against the pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers of opioids for their role in contributing to the opioid epidemic across the country. The lawsuits have led to $26 billion in national settlements by defendants to date. In the course of the litigation, Mr. Gaddy was a member of the trial team that won a $650 million verdict on behalf of two Ohio counties against pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. Mr. Gaddy was also co-lead trial counsel on behalf of the State of New Mexico in a trial against pharmacy chains Kroger, Walgreens, and Walmart that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement during the pendency of trial.
Mr. Gaddy also actively tries personal injury cases. He was co-lead trial counsel in a case in Santa Rosa County, Florida, representing a man injured in a collision with an 18-wheeler and won an $8.3 million verdict. He was co-lead trial counsel in a case in Alachua County, Florida, representing a many injured when his scooter was struck by a motor vehicle and won an $875,000 verdict.