About John Boundas

John Boundas has spent over two decades primarily representing people injured by prescription drugs or toxic substances, including children born with serious birth defects after exposure to prescription drugs in utero. He attended the University of Michigan and then graduated first in his class from the University of Iowa College of Law. Following law school, he interned at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and clerked for a federal judge before joining Fulbright and Jaworski.

He received the second highest score statewide on the Texas bar exam. John was appointed Co-Lead Counsel in the In re Depakote Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, representing children who suffered birth defects from Depakote exposure. A cancer survivor himself, he brings personal perspective to the medical and emotional dimensions his clients face.

Proven verdicts and settlements

$38 millionVerdictTop 20 of 2015 · #9

A St. Louis jury returned a $38 million verdict against Abbott Laboratories for failing to adequately warn patients and physicians that Depakote, taken during pregnancy to control epilepsy, could cause severe birth defects including spina bifida.

Missouri Circuit Court, City of St. Louis (Barron v. Abbott, Case No. 1222-CC-0247901; affirmed Missouri Supreme Court No. SC96151, 2017) · 2015Product LiabilityRead the full story →
$15 millionVerdict

A federal jury in East St. Louis found in June 2017 that Abbott Laboratories failed to warn a prescribing doctor about the risk of severe birth defects from Depakote. It awarded $15 million in compensatory damages to a 10-year-old boy born with spina bifida after his mother took the drug during pregnancy. The jury declined to award punitive damages.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, East St. Louis · 2017Product LiabilityRead the full story →
$3.5 millionVerdict

A Philadelphia jury returned a $3.5 million verdict for Kelly Martel in December 2023, finding Monsanto's Roundup weed killer caused her non-Hodgkin lymphoma after more than fifteen years of exposure. The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the judgment in full in 2025.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (Mass Tort Program) · 2023Product 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 Iowa College of Law
J.D., 1995
University of Michigan
Undergraduate, 1991

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of Texas

Other attorneys at Williams Hart & Boundas

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Houston firms

The Lanier Law Firm
The Lanier Law Firm
$4.85 Billion Vioxx MDL Settlement for Heart-Attack and Stroke Victims
The Buzbee Law Firm
The Buzbee Law Firm
$1.1 Billion Verdict for Child Left Brain-Damaged by Oil-Fortune Heir
Arnold & Itkin
Arnold & Itkin
$2.07 billion · Cobb County Jury Awards John Barnes $2.065 Billion in Roundup Cancer Trial
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.