Herman, Katz, Gisleson & Cain

As chair of the plaintiffs' negotiating committee and Liaison Counsel in the Vioxx multidistrict litigation, Russ Herman directed the negotiations that produced a $4.85 billion settlement with Merck resolving approximately 45,000 to 50,000 personal-injury claims.

A New Orleans jury ordered the major tobacco companies to fund a statewide smoking-cessation program for more than 200,000 Louisiana smokers who became addicted before 1988, awarding $591 million in one of the largest class-action verdicts against the tobacco industry.

Representing more clergy abuse survivors in the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy than any other firm, Herman, Katz, Gisleson and Cain helped push a five-year Chapter 11 proceeding to a $230 million settlement confirmed in December 2025, with additional recovery against Travelers Insurance still pending.

An Oklahoma lineman sent to help restore power after Hurricane Gustav was electrocuted near Jennings, Louisiana, when a line he had been told was dead was re-energized. He suffered severe burns, a partial foot amputation and lasting neurological injury. An Orleans Parish jury put 50 percent of the fault on Entergy, and the Fourth Circuit entered judgment against Entergy for its half of the amended damages, $4,811,015, which stood after the Louisiana Supreme Court denied review.

A 27-year-old longshoreman lost his left leg above the knee in December 1987 when a bundle of steel fell on him while he unloaded a barge in Peoria, Illinois. After a bench trial in New Orleans, the court entered judgment of $1,722,640 against the stevedore that had loaded the barge. The Fifth Circuit upheld the finding of negligence and the damages, sending back only the interest calculation.

Robert Labat, a derrick hand on a Mallard Bay Drilling rig, fell ill in December 1999 and was left without medical evaluation until he was found convulsing; he died of bacterial meningitis a week later. The district court ruled for the company. The Louisiana Fourth Circuit reversed in 2002 and itself rendered an award to his widow for his pre-death pain and suffering, lost future earnings and the loss of guidance and support.

Rayford Comeaux, a maintenance man on the quarterboat BARBARA, was pinned against a derrick on 10 September 1993 when a Bean tug fired its engines and a tow line snapped taut, breaking his left femur. After a bench trial the court entered a $1,006,466.79 judgment against C.F. Bean and Bean-Weeks, assigning no fault to Comeaux or his employer. The Fourth Circuit affirmed in December 1999.