Background: This pharmaceutical company faced more than 63,000 lawsuits in the U.S. arising from injuries
alleged to have been sustained by one of its products. With no central administration and control over litigation costs and fees, legal
expenditures were substantial.
Solution: A Litigation Budget Program was established for the litigation. Administered entirely with in-house
resources, the program created a set of guidelines for the conduct of the ongoing litigation, a budget procedure for each law firm, a database
to track and trend spending, and a comprehensive bill review process.
Result: The Litigation Budget Program resulted in dramatic and substantial reductions in litigation fees and
costs and enormous cost avoidance. Because of its immediate and unprecedented success, the Budget Program was adapted to virtually all other
mass tort litigation against the company.
