Williams & Connolly recently helped secure a pivotal ruling on behalf of its client Pfizer, Inc. in the Viagra® Multidistrict Litigation (MDL).  On January 13, 2020, the MDL court in the Northern District of California issued an order excluding plaintiffs’ general causation experts under Daubert, finding the experts’ opinions unreliable and inadmissible.  Based on a four-day evidentiary hearing that occurred in October 2019, the court concluded that “[p]laintiffs have been unable to point to any conclusion reached by any scientist, researcher, regulatory agency, or other qualified person or group apart from their experts in this litigation that use of [Viagra®] causes melanoma progression.”  Further, the court found, “there simply is no interpretation by anyone other than plaintiffs’ experts that supports general causation.  On that critical question, despite substantial research on the issue over many years, plaintiffs’ experts apparently stand alone.”  Joe Petrosinelli served as lead counsel in the hearing, presenting both opening and closing arguments and cross-examining one of plaintiffs’ lead experts.  Other members of the Williams & Connolly team included John Joiner, Neelum Wadhwani, Emily Renshaw Pistilli, and Janine Pierson.  Recognizing the significance of this win, Joe was named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer.