Mass Torts

Attorney Pamela A. Borgess, the founder and managing attorney of Borgess Law, is an experienced and respected trial attorney who aggressively handles civil (non-criminal) disputes and litigation, including personal injury, defective medical drugs/devices or recalled consumer products, car & truck accidents, wrongful death, product liability, nursing home litigation, and contract/business disputes. She has extensive experience with numerous national high-profile cases, such as the national litigation involving a contaminated drug, Heparin, which claimed the lives of hundreds of people after being manufactured in an uninspected overseas facility. The case was featured in national news media, such as TIME magazine, CNN, Bloomberg and ABC News. Borgess Law was founded on the principle that serving individuals is an honor and privilege and that clients should be treated with dignity, professionalism and respect. At Borgess Law, we believe that seemingly opportunistic, “ambulance-chasing” attorneys who appear more interested in exploiting their clients’ injuries or legal problems than helping the clients overcome them, bring shame and dishonor to our profession and do a disservice to the clients. We seek to bring a higher level of professionalism, ethics and quality of legal services that are client-centered and results-driven. We only represents people with real injuries or legal problems. Borgess Law never charges a fee for an initial consultation. If your legal matter is not one that we handle, we will help you find an attorney who does.

Hezekiah is a National Partner and President of The Cochran Firm, founded by the legendary Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. The Cochran Firm is one of the nation’s largest personal injury, medical malpractice, and consumer law firms with some of the most aggressive personal injury attorneys, known for their tireless and effective legal representation. Hezekiah is also Chairman of the National Firm's Executive/Management Committee and the Managing Partner of the Firm's Atlanta Office. He has tried over 100 cases to verdict. Hezekiah and his trial teams have attained verdicts and settlements on behalf of injury victims and consumers in excess of $1Billion. Hezekiah has authored and lectured on medical professional liability issues, complex litigation matters, including class action and mass tort litigation, and has conducted risk management and risk assessment seminars for various clients. In addition to his trial experience, lecturing and advising clients, Hezekiah has also served as a mediator in hundreds of matters. Mr. Sistrunk’s practice focuses largely on the litigation of complex disputes involving common law, statutory law, contract law, physician and hospital liability law, product liability law, commercial, corporate, and business issues, catastrophic personal injury cases, and class action/ mass torts/pharmaceutical litigation. Over the course of his career, in fact, Mr. Sistrunk has prosecuted and defended hundreds of litigated matters before state courts, federal courts, and administrative agencies and has tried over 100 cases to verdict Mr. Sistrunk has lectured on medical professional liability issues, complex litigation matters including class action and mass tort litigation and has conducted risk management and risk assessment seminars for various clients. In addition to his trial experience, lecturing, and advising clients, Mr. Sistrunk has also served as a mediator in hundreds of matters.

In environmental law, in exceptionally challenging cases, an ordinary approach is just not enough. Gregory A. Cade, has made this clear when he developed his personal vision of "Know your case". This is his leading principle that successfully combines all the necessary traits in order to solve complex legal issues. Having a solid science background is also a notable difference in his unique approach. Greg is using his Industrial Hygiene degree in handling injuries resulting from exposure to asbestos, benzene, creosote, coke emissions, dioxins, PAHs, PCBs, and other known toxicants. Representing thousands of individual and community claims all over the Southeast for 20 years, Greg is always driven to help injured people, be it in an occupational setting or in an environmental setting, in a mass setting or a class action setting. None of these would be possible without taking things personally, something that not every lawyer has the dedication to do. He has instilled in his entire firm a strong motivation to establish real connections with every client. Detailed knowledge, time consumption and financial risk may be enough reasons for most law firms to avoid environmental cases. For Greg, this is not the case. Patience, loyalty and knowledge make Greg a powerful ally on the side of environmental victims.

Sara M. Salger received her undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, graduating cum laude, and Saint Louis University School of Law for her J.D. where she received an International Law Certificate and litigation focus. She spent two semesters abroad during law school attending Università Cà Foscari di Venezia in Venice, Italy and University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. Ms. Salger's legal career has been focused on advocating for individuals wronged by the actions of others, with a particularized focus on representing victims of mesothelioma and lung cancer, as a result of exposure to asbestos. She has also handled complex benzene litigation and general personal injury claims. Working at The Gori Law Firm since the firm's inception, and a Partner since May 2016, she is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Missouri, is a member of the American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Madison County Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Missouri State Bar Association, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, American Association for Justice, National Asbestos Mesothelioma Trial Lawyers (Member), National Women Trial Lawyers, and is on the Illinois Trial Lawyers Executive Committee and Board. Actively involved in her community, Ms. Salger serves on various philanthropic boards in the area and volunteers her time speaking to local high school and college law classes and groups.

Squitieri & Fearon, LLP has been recognized by courts throughout the country for its high-quality and professional experience handling complex lawsuits, particularly in the fields of securities, ERISA, wage and hour, mass torts, shareholder derivative actions and antitrust claims.

Charles Boyk is a practicing lawyer in the state of Ohio, who focuses on personal injury law. He has tried cases in the areas of brain injury, car accident, catastrophic injury, mass torts, dog bite, insurance claims, medical malpractice, motorcycle accident, and wrongful death.

Rahysa Vargas is the founder and Managing Partner of Vargas Law , where she primarily represents clients in Personal Injury matters and with Commercial and Residential Real Estate needs including negotiations, closings and title. Prior to starting Vargas Law, Rahysa represented insurance carriers and corporate Defendants in Catastrophic Injury cases, Premise Liability cases, cases involving Ride Shares (i.e Uber/Lyft), Negligent Security cases, Property Claims, Class Actions, and Construction Defect cases in litigation. Prior to working on the Defense side, Rahysa worked as an Attorney representing clients in the areas of Personal Injury, Mass Torts, Medical Malpractice claims, Workers’ Compensation claims and Longshore and Harbor Act based claims. It is there where her passion to help others began, however she knew that working on the Defense side for corporate clients would ultimately lead to long term rewards and experience with litigation to ultimately fight for her clients today. Rahysa brings years of litigation experience and knowledge on both sides in order to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. Rahysa is licensed to practice law in the state of Florida and is fluent in Spanish. Rahysa is also the founder of Ms. Esquire, a networking platform for women attorney’s with over 10,000 members that focuses on empowering women in the legal profession and giving back to the community. Ms. Esquire has paired up with organizations who cater to the nation’s homeless youth population and under-privileged families within our local communities. Rahysa has been a Guest speaker at Facebook Summit for founding Ms. Esquire, one of the largest Facebook communities of its kind. In addition, she has been a guest speaker at several different organizations and institutions including Nova Southeastern Law School, BCTLA, Broward Bar, and Miami Dade FAWL. Rahysa has also been invited to speak to the Miami Federal Bureau of investigation, in honor of women history month where she shared her career story. Rahysa is passionate about giving back and serving homeless youth. Annually she teams up with Broward and Miami Dade public schools and organizations to organize drives for homeless teens. Rahysa also serves at her church Vous Church. When she is not volunteering, or advocating for her clients she spends her time with her two boys and husband who are her constant motivation.

Todd Miller was born in Fargo, North Dakota where he attended school and graduated from Fargo North High School. He is an Eagle Scout. After graduating from high school, Todd went to college at the University of North Dakota and graduated from law school at UND. Todd’s practice will focus on mass tort litigation, including representing people injured by defective and unsafe drugs and defective medical devices. He will also handle personal injury litigation including representation of people hurt in automobile accidents, animal attacks and slip and falls, as well as the general practice of law.

Scott E. Gwartney graduated from Liberty University in Virginia in 1985 with a degree in political science and human resource management. The Tallahassee native then returned home to attend Florida State University College of Law, graduating in 1991. He has remained in Tallahassee since. After working with the first attorney to successfully submit a nursing home case to verdict in the State of Florida, renowned trial lawyer Kenneth L. Connor, the two went on to create The Connor & Gwartney law firm. The firm eventually joined the Tampa-based nursing home litigation firm of Wilkes & McHugh, becoming its Tallahassee office, where Mr. Gwartney continued to work until he joined Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster & Gwartney in 2002, becoming a firm partner in 2003. Mr. Gwartney’s practice is unique: While he always carries a significant number of case files for auto claims and medical litigation in his Tallahassee hometown, his expertise in the fields of Medical Malpractice, Assisted Living Facility, Nursing Home and Group Home litigation is widely known throughout Florida and Georgia. And so, he often finds himself pursuing claims in courthouses from Naples and Ft. Meyers, up the Gulf coast to Pensacola, and on the east coast all the way to Savannah and Augusta Georgia … and virtually all points in between. Mr. Gwartney passionately believes that our disabled and senior citizens deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. In the same manner that fine china is treated with a gentle and compassionate touch, our physically frail citizens also need to be treated with a gentle touch and great respect. The fragile among us deserve no less respect and dignity than that which is afforded to any other member of our society. The results of Mr. Gwartney’s experience and efforts on behalf of the elderly speak volumes about his expertise and dedication. His work on behalf of his clients has led to numerous verdicts and settlements of $1 million or more across the southeast. While Mr. Gwartney’s case load is most active throughout Florida and Georgia, he is also licensed to practice law in Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.