Faculty Profile: Annika Martin

Annika K. Martin is a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and has represented plaintiffs since 2005 in environmental, mass tort, and consumer protection cases.

 

Annika currently represents Tennessee victims of the deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated medication manufactured by New England Compounding Pharmacy (NECC) and administered to tens of thousands of patients nationwide. Annika also serves as court-appointed Pro Se Liaison counsel in the multidistrict litigation arising out of the outbreak, In re New England Compounding Pharmacy Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2419. An initial settlement valued at $200 million has been reached. Annika is now an integral member of the trial team litigating bellwether cases against the remaining defendants, including the Tennessee hospitals and clinics that unlawfully purchased and administered contaminated medication to the victims of this outbreak.

 

For the past five years, Annika has been representing individuals, property owners, and business owners across the Gulf Coast in class action litigation against BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and the other companies responsible for the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, which resulted in the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Annika was deeply involved in negotiating, implementing, and gaining court approval for the economic and medical settlements with BP that promise to fully compensate hundreds of thousands of victims of the tragedy. Annika assisted in drafting of the briefs filed before U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and subsequently the U.S. Supreme Court that were successful in convincing the court to reject BP's challenge to its own class action settlement. Approval of that settlement is now final, and has so far delivered nearly $6 billion to compensate claimants' losses. The medical settlement is also final, and an additional $1 billion settlement has been reached with defendant Halliburton, as well as a $212 million settlement with defendant Transocean.

 

Annika is also a key member of Lieff Cabraser's court-appointed leadership team representing plaintiffs from all across the U.S. in the multi district litigation concerning ignition switch defects in numerous GM vehicles in In Re General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation, MDL 2543, against GM and other defendants for the plaintiffs' physical and economic injuries caused by GM's allegedly defective vehicles.

 

An active member of the legal community, Annika serves as the Co-Vice Chair of the Class Action Litigation Group and on several committees within the American Association for Justice. Annika is also a working group co-captain for Women En Mass, and a dialogue leader for the Sedona Conference Working Group 1 (Electronic Discovery Retention and Production). Annika also led drafting teams for the Duke Guidelines and Practices for Implementing the 2015 Discovery Amendments to Achieve Proportionality and the Sedona Conference's Principles on Proportionality. Annika also speaks and writes regularly on issues of class actions, mass torts, and e-discovery.