Justin Browne, Esq
Justin Browne, EsqSenior Partner (Licensed in MD)
Mr. Browne is a partner at KBA. He is passionate about litigating cases to aggressively uncover evidence, exclude opposing experts, and develop well-founded, trial-ready cases backed by sound evidence and innovative strategies and technology.
He handles an array of cases but has focused primarily on mass tort (medical devices and other products), catastrophic injuries (including brain and spinal cord injuries), and class action cases. He has diverse experience in complex matters, including within consolidated actions in state and federal courts nationally. In short, if you have been taken advantage of or seriously injured, he is interested in speaking with you to have the privilege of fighting on your behalf.
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Mr. Browne’s experience spans the entire spectrum from meeting with clients through trial work and appeals. He enjoys being part of litigation strategy planning and implementation, and is invited by other lawyers to develop their cases and consulted on litigation and trial strategy. As part of litigation teams, particularly within multidistrict litigations (MDLs) or state court consolidations, he is often charged with obtaining and responding to discovery, taking high-level depositions including of Rule 30(b)(6) corporate witnesses, corporate officers, and experts, and identifying and developing experts to support plaintiffs’ cases, while cross-examining opponents’ experts. He has repeatedly moved to exclude defense experts and successfully argued these matters before judges in several venues in state and federal court. Mr. Browne employs his experience on the defense side to deconstruct affirmative defenses and has successfully moved to exclude defenses from trial as well.
He often argues motions in court, including Daubert and dispositive motions in federal and state courts, motions in limine, and has been on trial teams through verdicts, including a $35,940,756 jury trial verdict, and post-verdict motions and an appeal. He has successfully negotiated several substantial recoveries securing tens of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for his clients.1
Mr. Browne has litigated cases across the country on a pro hac vice basis and been part of several trial teams, most recently second-chairing the first bellwether trial in a mass tort litigation involving thousands of individuals and complex interrelated regulatory and scientific issues. He has also served on committees within and been a member of Plaintiffs Steering Committees, most recently for the medical device Essure litigation consolidated in California state court. Mr. Browne was a leader in the pain pump and GranuFlo litigations, including leading committees on and working within the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee. His mass tort consolidation and MDL litigation experience include:
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, In Re Essure Product Cases, JCCP No. 4887
Co-Lead Of The PSC Warnings Subcommittee, Member, Experts, Oversight, And Regulatory Subcommittees, In Re Fresenius GranuFlo/Naturalyte Dialysate Prods. Liab. Lit. (D. Mass. And Mass. Super. Ct.)
Maryland Liaison, In Re: New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc. Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2419 (D. Mass.)
Local Counsel, In Re: J&J Talcum Powder Prods. Marketing, Sales Practices & Prods. Liab. Lit., MDL No. 2738
In Re Consolidated Steroid Injection Litigation Matters (Balt. Co. Cir. Ct.)
In Re Harford County Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC (Harf. Co. Cir. Ct.)
In Re Box Hill (Harf. Co. Cir. Ct.)
In Re Infusion Pump Cases, JCCP 4615
Mr. Browne founded KBA after working for nearly a decade at a prominent Baltimore-based firm where he rose the ranks from a contract attorney to become a partner. He also worked at defense firms in the Baltimore area in products liability, employment, commercial, and business litigation, while supporting a partner serving as in-house counsel for several businesses.
He previously interned with a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He also worked for a non-profit organization doing appellate and administrative law work. Before graduating cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law, Mr. Browne worked in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, in clinical research, and other healthcare related capacities.
Mr. Browne is AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated for personal injury, mass torts, and products liability. The National Trial Lawyers Organization selected Mr. Browne for its Top 40 under 40 in Maryland list beginning in 2014 and up until he was 40, which we won’t tell him has now passed. He has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” Rising Star every year since 2012 through 2018, which does not involve capes but is a recognition bestowed through a multiphase selection process resulting in no more than 2.5 percent of attorneys being named to the list.2 Mr. Browne moved from the Rising Stars list to the Super Lawyers list in 2020 and remains on the list. Mr. Browne is a member of the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute. He has also won several awards and been recognized academically and for his community service.
Mr. Browne provides clients with candid assessments and advice and is frequently called upon to help other attorneys prepare their cases and to mentor developing law students and attorneys. He has published several articles and has spoken at conferences on substantive and strategic legal matters.
Representative Opinions
- Mathias v. Shoemaker, No. 15-2261, 2017 WL 3592457 (D. Md. Aug. 21, 2017)
- Staub v. Breg, Inc., No. CV 10–02038, 2012 WL 1078335 (D. Ariz. Mar. 30, 2012)
- Musgrave v. Breg, Inc., No. 2:09-CV-01029, 2011 WL 3876529 ((S.D. Ohio Sept. 2, 2011)
- Musgrave v. Breg, Inc., 2:09-CV-01029, 2011 WL 4502032 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 28, 2011)
- James v. Stryker Corp., 1:10-CV-2082, 2011 WL 292240 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 27, 2011)
Representative Publications and Presentations
- Justin Browne, Everything you Need to Get Started in Mass Torts – the Nuts & Bolts: Working with Experienced Mass Tort Firms, MTMP (June 2020);
- Justin Browne, Managing Mass Tort Cases, MTMP (Apr. 2019);
- Justin Browne, Fighting for Justice by Taking Down Human Trafficking Websites: the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, Trial Reporter (Summer 2018);
- Justin Browne, Gore Hernia Mesh, Harris Martin (July 2018);
- Justin Browne, Hernia Mesh, MTMP (Oct. 2017);
- Justin Browne, Covidien Hernia Mesh, MTMP (Oct. 2017);
- Justin Browne, Ten Opportunities For Making Discovery Work For You, Trial Reporter (Spring 2017);
- Justin Browne, “Regulatory Experts:” Five Tips For Avoiding Pitfalls, 53 Trial 46 (July 2017);
- Justin Browne, Hernia Mesh, Harris Martin (June 2017);
- Justin Browne, Hernia Mesh, AAJ (May 2017);
- Justin Browne, the Changing Paradigm of Mass Torts, MTMP (Apr. 2017);
- Justin Browne, Recent Cases Remind Us to Scope Settlement Agreements Carefully and Consider the Preclusive Effect of Such Agreements and Findings from Earlier Related Litigations, Trial Reporter (Fall 2015);
- Justin Browne, Design Controls, MTMP (April 2015);
- Avoiding New Lawyer Pitfalls: How to Get What You Want & What You Need from your Deposition, MAJ Deposition in a Day Seminar (Mar. 2015)
- Justin Browne, Unearth Design Controls Evidence, 50 Trial 14 (Aug. 2014);
- Justin Browne, Expert Challenges – Frye/Daubert, MAJ (Feb. 2013);
- Justin Browne, Getting Cases File-Ready, AAJ (Mar. 2013);
- Justin Browne, Regulatory Experts: Avoiding Landmines to Prevent Exclusion While Going on the Offensive, AAJ National Convention (July 2012);
- Justin Browne, Switch Sales Rep Testimony to Your Advantage, 48 Trial 36 (Nov. 2012);
- Justin Browne, Expert Challenges: Protecting Yours, Attacking Theirs, MAJ (Feb. 2012);
- Justin Browne, the Case Against Breg, AAJ (July 2012);
- Justin Browne, Consumer-Related Threats Facing Maryland Military Personnel & How the Legal Community Can Respond, Md. Bar Bulletin (2009);
- Susan Leviton & Justin Browne, Students Schooling Students: Gaining Professional Benefits While Helping Urban High School Students Achieve Success, 38 J. Law & Educ. 359 (July 2009);
- S. Leviton & J. Browne, Preventing Schools From Becoming the Pipeline to Prison, 42 Md. Bar. Jn. 42 (2009);
- Justin Browne, Ensuring Accessibility Of Combination Products, 9 Reg. Aff. Focus 22 (2004); and
- Justin Browne, Seizure-Alert Dogs: The Saving Sense Of Smell, 14 J. Psychol. & Behav. Sci. 41 (2000).
Law Related Honors and Distinctions
- Associate Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America
- AV Preeminent Rated by Martindale-Hubbell (peer-reviewed)
- Maryland Super Lawyers 2020, 2021
- Maryland Super Lawyers Rising Star (2012-2018)
- National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
- Spotlight On Lawyers Award Recipient, Maryland State Bar Ass’n
- Award Recipient, Homeless Persons Representation Project
Law Related Leadership Activities
- Founder & Former Co-Chair, Military Law And Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Maryland State Bar Association
- Former Board Member, University Of Maryland School Of Law Alumni Association
Illustrative Verdicts and Non-Confidential Settlements
Jury verdict: $35,940,757
(Montgomery County Circuit Court, Maryland) Securing Future Medical Needs for a Client with a Spinal Cord Injury
Mr. Browne’s client was a 27-year old undocumented worker from Mexico who lived in the United States for seven years before working as a contractor at an electric substation. The defendant failed to de-energize a transformer close to where our client was erecting a 10-foot high scaffold. Electricity arced and struck his body, throwing him to the ground. Suffering a broken neck, he remains completely paralyzed from the neck down, unable to attend to his basic needs.
He worked on the case with the Yarborough Applegate law firm from Charleston South Carolina. Aggressive discovery and expert development yielded a stipulation to liability from the Defendant before trial – this meant Defendant would not disclaim fault and would not blame the victim to avail itself of the contributory negligence doctrine, under which if a plaintiff is found to be even just one percent at fault, that person can recover nothing.
Identifying and working with the right experts as Justin did proved critical in this case. Thanks to diligent discovery of defendants’ cabal of experts and hard-hitting depositions, defendant withdrew some of its experts, including a particularly well known and sympathetic one. Motions practice resulted in exclusion of another one of defendant’s experts, one who intended to eliminate most of our client’s claimed damages. Weeks of tireless trial preparation resulted in a $35,940,757 verdict thanks to the leadership and skill of lead trial counsel at Yarborough Applegate and second chairing by Mr. Browne.
Because of a tort reform initiative, our client lost over $14,000,000 from his pain and suffering award. Maryland law allowed him to recover only $770,000, thereby reducing the judgment to $21,710,756.94. The verdict was vacated pursuant to a post-trial settlement for a confidential amount.
Settlement: $994,540.85
(Frederick County, Maryland) Wrongful Death Caused by a Truck
Mr. Browne represented the family of a driver killed by a truck that collided into the back of the driver’s vehicle. An expert had to be retained to help establish liability. The family was entitled to the value of lost services, non-economic damages for the loss of comfort, guidance, affection, companionship, and everything a loved one shares throughout a natural life. The amount of recovery was limited due to the available insurance and Maryland’s cap on the amount of non-economic damages one can recover.
Handling a case like this goes beyond investigating the potential claim, securing admissible evidence, filing the lawsuit, conducting discovery, and litigating it. Mr. Browne’s services necessarily included working with other professionals to ensure compliance with Maryland law regarding trusts for minors and financial planning. This case reflects the holistic approach the lawyers at KBA take to working with clients.
Settlement: $717,500
(Cecil County Circuit Court, Maryland) Overcoming Sudden Medical Emergency Defense (complete bar to recovery)
Mr. Browne’s client was rear-ended at a traffic light by an individual who claimed to have had a sudden medical emergency. This person allegedly “blacked out” and was not in control of the vehicle. If successful, that defense would result in $0 recovery for our client because Maryland recognizes this defense as a complete bar to recovery.
Through hard-fought discovery and motions practice, he was able to neutralize this defense and resolve the case jury before trial for 80% of the maximum amount our clients could possibly recover, if they were even successful and did not fall victim to the complete defense.
Settlement: $450,000
(U.S. District Court, Northern District) Maryland) Overcoming Contributory Negligence Defense (complete bar to recovery)
Mr. Browne’s client was driving to work one night when the car in front swerved suddenly. A second car appeared in the middle of the highway out of nowhere, leaving our client no recourse but to strike the car from behind. Prior to filing, the insurance company offered no money because Maryland is one of only a handful of places left in the United States where a victim found to be even only 1% at fault cannot recovery anything because of an old legal doctrine called contributory negligence.
Aggressive discovery tactics uncovered several pieces of damaging evidence. Justin’s strategic deposition of the defendant and comprehensive preparation of our client effectively established liability and neutralized, if not negated, the contributory negligence defense. As a result, the case resolved well in advance of trial for near policy limits (90%) without any expert discovery being necessary.
Settlement: $100,000
(Pre-Suit Settlement – Maryland)
Mr. Browne’s client was a passenger in a vehicle that was rear-ended. The individual had a complicated medical history. By diving into the science and medicine, and demonstrating an ability and readiness to litigate and ultimately try the case, full insurance policy limits were tendered.
Footnotes
- Each case is different and past results are not predictors of future results. No one should have any expectation about the outcome of their matter based on representations herein.
- The following are examples of recent successes on which Mr. Browne has worked directly. The facts and law discussed are summaries of some of the highlights and do not include everything involved in each case. Each case is distinct; therefore, no one should form any expectation based on these results. The firm and Mr. Browne note that anything on this page does not imply the same results can be replicated in any current or future matter.
- SUPERLAWYERS: The Super Lawyers Rising Star list is issued by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology can be found at http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html. No aspect of this listing has been approved by the Court of Appeals of Maryland.)
Education
University Of Maryland School Of Law, J.D., (Cum Laude)
Fairleigh Dickinson University, B.A., (Magna Cum Laude)