Christopher V. Tisi is a shareholder with Levin Papantonio. For over 30 years, Mr. Tisi has been a nationally recognized trial and appellate lawyer with extensive experience litigating mass tort, pharmaceutical, medical device and major personal injury cases. In that time, Mr. Tisi has established himself as one of the country’s top lawyers, selected by his peers, in The Best Lawyers in America, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers as well as inclusion in the publication The Legal 500. He has been awarded an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell legal directory, the highest rating for competence and ethics issued by that publication. In 2015 he was inducted as a fellow of the International Society of Barristers.

Throughout his legal career, Mr. Tisi has been appointed by federal courts throughout the United States to handle some of the nation’s largest and most complex pharmaceutical and mass tort cases. He was appointed to serve on the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee for In Re: Vioxx Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1657 (E.D. La), In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2545 (N.D. Ill.), and In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Prods. Marketing, Sales Practices & Prods. Liab. Litig.; MDL 2738 (D. N.J.). In addition, he was appointed Chair or Co-Chair of Plaintiffs’ Discovery Committees for some of the most high-profile pharmaceutical cases in the past 20 years. These included chairing Plaintiffs’ Discovery Committees for In Re: Vioxx, In Re: Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent Litigation, MDL 1909 (N.D. Ohio); In Re: Tylenol (Acetaminophen) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2436 (E.D. Pa) and In Re: Rezulin Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1348 (S.D. N.Y). He was also active litigation counsel in In Re: Diet Drug Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1203 (E.D. Pa), In Re: Phenylpropanolamine Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1407 (D. Wash) and In re Zyprexa Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1596 (E.D.N.Y.). In total, the recoveries for plaintiffs in these pharmaceutical liability cases have exceeded $20 billion.

Mr. Tisi has served as co-chair of the Plaintiffs’ Discovery for In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MD 2738 (D.N.J.). In this capacity, he is litigating cases on behalf of 40,000 women who developed ovarian cancer as a result of using talcum powder products. Most recently, Mr. Tisi was appointed committee representative for the Official Talc Claimants Committee in the J&J Bankruptcy proceeding and was part of a team that forced J&J out of bankruptcy court.

Mr. Tisi has tried numerous complex pharmaceutical and professional liability cases including numerous cases resulting in verdicts 1 million dollars or more. These verdicts include a $5 million verdict in a gadolinium case, a verdict that was upheld in an important appellate decision Decker v GE Healthcare, 770 F3d 378 (6th Cir 2014). He has also argued important appellate cases in both state and federal courts.

Mr Tisi is also a part of the anti-human trafficking litigation team at Levin Papantonio. He is actively litigating cases on behalf of victims of human trafficking against the hospitality industry and websites that turn a blind eye to this scourge.

Mr. Tisi’s litigation efforts on behalf of victims of AIDS–Tainted blood in the 1990’s was the subject of a book entitled Bad Blood: Crisis in the American Red Cross (1996). Bad Blood chronicled Mr. Tisi’s representation of several such victims who contracted AIDS through blood transfusions they received in the 1980’s and 1990’s. His efforts on behalf of these plaintiffs culminated in his successful argument in Ray v American National Red Cross, 921 F2d 324 (D.C. App 1990), a case that established a plaintiffs’ right to proceed to trial against blood and blood products providers.

Mr. Tisi is a frequent lecturer and has lectured to trial lawyers throughout the country on mass tort litigation and general trial practice issues. He has lectured on topics such as the use of scientific and medical evidence in a pharmaceutical case, how to try a failure to warn case, how to rebut defenses in a pharmaceutical case, how to review raw clinical trial data and the ethics of mass tort settlements. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland bars and has been admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for Fourth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit and various United States District Courts.

Year Joined Law Firm
2018

Areas of Practice
Personal Injury
Mass Torts
Pharmaceutical Litigation

Bar Admissions
District of Columbia
Maryland
U.S. District Court Maryland
U.S. District Court District of Columbia
United States Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals DC Circuit

Education
Wake Forest School of Law (1986)
State University of New York at Albany (1982)

Professional Associations & Memberships
American Bar Association, member
American Association for Justice, member
International Society of Barristers (ISOB), fellow
Summit Council, member
National Trial Lawyers Association

Sample Reported Cases Briefed and/or Argued
Decker v. GE Healthcare, 770 F.3d 378(6th Cir. 2014)
In re: Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents (Decker v GE Healthcare), 956 F. Supp. (N.D Ohio 2013)
In re: Tylenol (Acetaminophen Marketing Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (Hayes v. McNeil-PPC), (E.D. Pa. Nov 13, 2015)
In re: Tylenol (Acetaminophen Marketing Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (Hayes v. McNeil-PPC), (E.D. Pa. July 14, 2016)Byrd v. Aarons, Inc, 784 F.3d 154 (3rd Cir 2015)
In re: Rezulin Products Liability Litigation, 178 F. Supp. 2d 412 (S.D. N.Y 2001)
In re: Diet Drugs (Phentermine, Fenfluramine, Dexfenfluramine) Products Liability Litigation (E.D. Pa. 2001)
Miltier v. Beorn, 696 F. Supp. 1086 (E.D. Va. 1998)
Walker v. District of Columbia, 682 A.2d 639 (D.C. 1996)
Warner Fruehauf v. Boston, 654 A.2d 1272 (D.C. App. 1995)
Ray v. American National Red Cross, 921 F.2d 324 (D.C. App. 1990)
Thompkins v. Girolami, 566 A.2d 1074 (D.C. App. 1989)