About Kelsey Stokes

Kelsey Stokes is recognized as a national leader in mass personal injury litigation . Kelsey practices primarily in the areas of mass tort litigation, products liability , and complex commercial litigation . As Co-Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in multiple Hernia Mesh MDLs (Multi-District Litigation) at the federal level and 3 MCLs (Multi-County Litigation) in New Jersey, the home of Johnson & Johnson, Kelsey has spent countless hours fighting for victims of defective medical devices, ensuring their voices are heard and their suffering acknowledged. Her leadership in the litigation against C.R.

Bard and Johnson & Johnson has not only changed lives but has also set a precedent for women in leadership roles within the legal industry. Kelsey is currently serving as Co-Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the second largest MDL in the country (MDL No. 2846, In re Davol, Inc./C.R. Bard, Inc., Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio). Appointed as Co-Lead Counsel in 2018, the MDL has over 23,000 cases consolidated there.

Kelsey served as lead trial counsel for the three bellwether cases tried in MDL 2846. In 2024, as Lead Settlement Counsel for the Bard Hernia Mesh MDL, Kelsey Stokes successfully negotiated a path to resolution for over 30,000 plaintiffs. Kels

Proven verdicts and settlements at The Lanier Law Firm

These results are credited to The Lanier Law Firm. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.

A St. Louis jury in July 2018 awarded 22 women and their families $4.69 billion, the largest U.S. verdict of that year, finding that asbestos in Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder products caused ovarian cancer; a Missouri appellate court upheld $2.11 billion in 2020.

Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Missouri · 2018Product LiabilityRead the full story →

After a six-week federal trial, a jury found three of the nation's largest retail pharmacy chains created a public nuisance by flooding Lake and Trumbull Counties, Ohio with opioid pills, and a judge ordered $650 million to fund a 15-year abatement plan.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Cleveland (MDL 2804) · 2021Product LiabilityRead the full story →

A Dallas federal jury awarded $1.04 billion to six California patients harmed by Johnson and Johnson's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, with W. Mark Lanier leading an eight-week trial that produced one of the largest product-liability verdicts of 2016.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas (MDL 2244) · 2016Product LiabilityRead the full story →

Hours before opening arguments in the first federal opioid bellwether trial, Cuyahoga and Summit counties in Ohio secured a $260 million settlement from distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, plus manufacturer Teva.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Cleveland (MDL 2804) · 2019Product LiabilityRead the full story →

A Dallas federal jury awarded six New York patients $247 million against Johnson and Johnson and its DePuy unit, finding that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant system was defectively designed and that the company concealed known risks from patients and surgeons.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas (MDL 2244) · 2017Product LiabilityRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

University of Houston Law Center
J.D.
University of Texas at Austin
Undergraduate

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The Buzbee Law Firm
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$1.1 Billion Verdict for Child Left Brain-Damaged by Oil-Fortune Heir
Arnold & Itkin
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$2.07 billion · Cobb County Jury Awards John Barnes $2.065 Billion in Roundup Cancer Trial
Williams Hart & Boundas
Williams Hart & Boundas
$15.3 billion · Texas Recovers $15.3 Billion From Tobacco Industry in Landmark 1998 Settlement
The Ammons Law Firm LLP
The Ammons Law Firm LLP
$812 Million Verdict for Family of Worker Killed in Pecos Chemical Plant Explosion, Part of $1.6 Billion
Abraham Watkins
Abraham Watkins
$28.59 million · Jury Finds ExxonMobil 100% Liable for Baytown Plant Explosion, Awards Five Workers $28.59 Million

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.