Herman Herman & Katz

Appointed by the court as Plaintiffs Liaison Counsel and Co-Lead Class Counsel, Stephen Herman of Herman Herman and Katz helped negotiate a $7.8 billion economic and property-damage class settlement with BP covering more than 100,000 Gulf Coast businesses and individuals harmed by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

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.

Serving as court-appointed Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel, Russ Herman of Herman Herman and Katz spent more than a decade guiding the Chinese-manufactured drywall multidistrict litigation to a $248 million settlement with Taishan Gypsum that covered thousands of homeowners across the Gulf Coast and Southeast.

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.

The Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated a $92.7 million penalty judgment against the state's insurer of last resort after it failed to begin adjusting more than 18,000 homeowner claims within 30 days of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with Stephen Herman of Herman Herman and Katz among the attorneys who won the class on behalf of policyholders.