About Kendra Goldhirsch 

Kendra Y. Goldhirsch is an Associate with Chaffin Luhana in the firm’s New York office.

Ms. Goldhirsch—a 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 Super Lawyers Rising Star for the New York Metro area—focuses on complex product liability and mass tort litigation, as well as significant personal injury matters. She has developed particular expertise in the area of pharmaceutical and medical device litigation.

Ms. Goldhirsch currently handles the day-to-day management of the firm’s Zantac, Essure, Hernia Mesh, Testosterone, Transvaginal Mesh, Talc, Tasigna, Pradaxa, Xeljanz, and Xarelto litigations.

She has been a member of multiple trial teams in pharmaceutical bellwether cases that were tried to verdict in state and federal courts. Ms. Goldhirsch has briefed successful dispositive and evidentiary motions and oppositions addressing a variety of topics including, jurisdiction, removal and remand, forum non-conveniens, complex expert and regulatory matters, drug labeling, and federal preemption.

Before joining Chaffin Luhana, Ms. Goldhirsch was an associate at another prominent national plaintiffs’ firm, representing thousands of injured individuals in pharmaceutical and medical device cases, including the Actos, Cochlear Implants, Accutane, Avandia, DePuy ASR, Fosamax, Hydroxycut Dietary Supplements, Power Morcellator, and Seroquel litigations.

Previously, Ms. Goldhirsch was a member of the Actos Multidistrict Litigation trial team that secured a multibillion-dollar verdict. (See Allen, et al. v. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. et al., Case No. 6:12-cv-00064). She was also involved in briefing a successful motion in limine opposition that resulted in the admission of evidence of a hip implant recall in the DePuy ASR California state-court bellwether trial. Ms. Goldhirsch also prepared presentations and appeared at hearings and Case Management Conferences on behalf of the DePuy PSC. The DePuy ASR litigation and ultimately resolved with a large global settlement prior to any trials.

Additionally, Ms. Goldhirsch has been involved in Electronically Stored Information (ESI) discovery in a number of federal Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). In the DePuy ASR Hip Implant MDL, on behalf of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC), Ms. Goldhirsch managed the document review assignments for over 60 million pages of corporate ESI discovery and the white papers submissions that were used for the corporate liability depositions. Ms. Goldhirsch negotiated the ESI, including the selection of search terms, in an Over-The-Counter dietary supplement MDL. She managed a team responsible for targeted document review in the Fosamax MDL to support plaintiffs’ preemption briefing.

In addition to mass tort litigation, Ms. Goldhirsch litigates catastrophic single-event cases from inception. She is responsible for researching and investigating theories of liability and causation, drafting pleadings, motions, and discovery, and preparing experts, trial submissions and settlement materials.

Ms. Goldhirsch also believes in giving back to her community. Since 2018, her Chaffin Luhana Foundation charity donations were given to The Campaign Against Hunger (TCAH), a charity that started in 1998 as a food pantry, servicing communities in Brooklyn, N.Y. TCAH has grown to be the largest food pantry in Brooklyn and connects local Brooklyn residents much-needed services, including healthy living programs, financial services, and educational programs.

Select Successes

Member of the trial teams for pharmaceutical bellwether trials in:

• In Re: Actos [Pioglitazone] Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2299;
• In Re: Fosamax Products Liability Litigation II, MDL 2243 (D.N.J.) (femur fracture)

New Jersey State Court Accutane bellwether case, Kathleen Rossitto v. Hoffman-La Roche, 007481-10

Lead brief writer for:

• Plaintiff’s case-specific and general medical causation Daubert opposition brief in In Re: Actos [Pioglitazone] Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2299
• Plaintiff’s case-specific and general medical causation Daubert opposition brief In Re: Fosamax Products Liability Litigation II, MDL Docket No. 2243
• Plaintiffs’ opposition to Order to Show Cause on Preemption in In Re: Fosamax Products Liability Litigation II, MDL 2243 (D.N.J.) (femur fracture)
• Plaintiff’s Summary Judgment opposition and oppositions to motions to exclude plaintiffs’ experts (Kemp motions) in New Jersey State Court Seroquel bellwether cases
• Plaintiff’s Summary Judgment opposition on the adequacy of the label and proximate causation in a New Jersey State Court Accutane bellwether case

Areas of Practice 

• Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Mass Torts
• Product Liability
• Premises Liability
• Automobile Accidents
• Trucking Accidents
• Workplace Injuries

Bar Admissions

• State of New York
• United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
• United States District Court, Southern District of New York
• United States Supreme Court