At MTMP Spring 2025, Mike Papantonio and Peter Mougey took the stage together to walk attendees through exactly how to build a new mass tort project like Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs)—not in abstract terms, but with real-world strategies and hard-earned insights from decades of leadership in the field. Their message was crystal clear: if you’re serious about launching a successful mass tort campaign, collaboration, infrastructure, and storytelling are not optional—they’re foundational.

The Vision: Creating a Movement, Not Just a Case

Mike Papantonio opened the session by challenging the room to think beyond litigation mechanics. He emphasized the importance of turning emerging science and social awareness into a compelling legal narrative. “If you want to build a new project,” Papantonio said, “you better build it around a story—a human story that the average American juror can relate to. That’s where it starts. That’s how you win.”

With UPFs, the story is both timely and urgent. Scientific literature is catching up with what common sense has known for decades: ultra-processed foods are linked to a wave of chronic illnesses—from obesity and diabetes to cancer and cognitive decline. “We’ve got the literature,” Papantonio explained. “We’ve got the science. Now we need to build the story that connects it to corporate misconduct—and make juries care.”

To Start, Break Free From Legal Comfort Zones

Too often, Papantonio argued, lawyers default to what’s safe and familiar—what he calls the “1-800 car crash” mentality. “We gravitate towards one 800 car crash because Mary’s doing it down the road, Bob’s doing it down the road and seems like it’s what we ought to do… and we get too comfortable with that,” he said, acknowledging the gravitational pull of predictable, high-volume practice areas.

But comfort, he warned, comes at the cost of impact. Drawing from decades of litigation that has transformed industries and saved lives, Papantonio called on attorneys to remember what first drove them into the law: leadership, ambition, and the desire to make a difference. “Most of you are overachievers,” he told the packed audience. “You were the person leading the charge… trying to better yourself the whole way. And then you’re put into a world where all of that is deconstructed. Organically, who you are doesn’t make any difference anymore.”

Then Enter the “Legacy Zone”

That, he said, is the existential crisis many lawyers face—but also where the opportunity lies. With the same law license as any great trial lawyer in the room, each attendee has the power to pursue a “legacy case”—litigation that leaves a lasting mark.

He defined legacy thinking with a personal lens: “I always try to visualize how my daughter Sara [Papantonio] might say to me, ‘Dad, what did you do?’… It always made me proud to say, well, I got 87 products fixed that were killing people… I got 14 ecosystems cleaned up… I got mom and pop millions of dollars back from pensions Wall Street stole.”

The message was clear: “Don’t limit your world.”

From there, Papantonio walked attendees through his approach to building mass tort projects from scratch, using past successes to illustrate how game-changing cases get off the ground. He recalled early meetings trying to convince lawyers to take on Big Tobacco—many of whom thought he was “insane” for suggesting they challenge an industry with more wealth than “third world countries.” But the blueprint was simple: political outreach, creative thinking, and grit. That $265 billion settlement didn’t start with a mass tort—it started with a vision.

He gave similar behind-the-scenes glimpses into landmark litigation over opioids and PFAS. In both cases, co-counsel Peter Mougey played a pivotal role, facing down rejection and skepticism from government agencies and fellow lawyers alike. Together, they built relationships, overcame closed doors, and helped secure opioid settlements nearing $70 billion—and PFAS settlements totaling $17 billion so far.

“Peter set out on taking it to a science,” Papantonio said, praising his partner’s relentless pursuit of government cooperation in both litigation efforts. “He figured out how to get control from governmental agencies… and he’s not afraid to have doors slammed on his face.”

Explore the New Frontiers

Papantonio also previewed the next frontier: pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), an opaque corner of the pharmaceutical industry that’s driving up prescription drug costs. Referencing his new book, “The Middleman,” he explained how PBMs manipulate drug pricing to exploit consumers. “If you read this and you aren’t sick to your stomach about what the pharmacy industry’s doing, I’d be shocked.”

He used insulin as a prime example: “Why are people having to cut pills in half and decide, can I eat tonight or do I take this pill? Can I pay my mortgage or do I take this pill?”

To Papantonio, these issues—ultra-processed foods, PBMs, opioids, and toxic pollution—are not fringe projects. They are opportunities for mass tort lawyers to rise to their full potential, push the legal system forward, and deliver justice on a systemic level.

His challenge to the room was not just to recognize new legal frontiers, but to own them: “You’ve got the same license I’ve got. It’s how you use that license.”

In other words: “Don’t wait for the next big tort. Build it.”

The Model: Open Architecture and a 25-Year Legacy of Collaboration

Peter Mougey’s portion of the session served as both a roadmap and a retrospective. He began by reflecting on his first MTMP conference 25 years ago, and how radical the “open architecture” model seemed at the time. “You mean you want me to go up on stage and explain exactly what we’re doing? Explain all the documents, the theories of the cases, how we’re getting cases, and give all of the stuff that I’ve been working on for years to everybody in the audience?” he recalled. “Absolutely made no sense to me.”

But that model—laid out by Papantonio and MTMP Co-Founder Mark Proctor—has become the engine behind many of the most successful mass torts in history. “Why? Because the better we all do as a group, the more windows we break, the more doors we bust open, the better results our clients get,” Mougey said.

Building the UPF Litigation from the Ground Up

UPFs are a textbook example of what it looks like to launch a new tort under the MTMP ethos. “One case has been filed in Pennsylvania,” Mougey said, “but my guess is in the next year or two to come, we’ll see thousands of cases get filed, we’ll see an MDL get formed, we’ll see state court strategies being built.”

He emphasized the importance of getting ahead of the curve—both legally and socially. “We are the ones driving the narrative. We’re typically the ones out in front as the trial lawyers… building out what we do and how we can fix problems.”

Building the Right Business Model: Know Your Role

Mougey was candid about the range of business models that can support a successful tort campaign. “Look at your model first. What is my business model? Am I looking to get cases in and work those up? Or do I need to partner with someone who can?”

For firms without infrastructure to manage large volumes of clients, referral models might make more sense. “Okay, that’s not really my model. I don’t have big enough infrastructure. I’m going to go find a firm that I can refer those to… and they can work them out, work out a fee deal.”

He also spoke plainly about the growing complexity of today’s tort landscape, particularly with the increasing involvement of institutional capital. “This has gotten more complicated… because of the intersection of institutional money and what we do,” Mougey noted. Marketing vendors, litigation funders, co-counsel firms—all need to be aligned. And that’s exactly what MTMP is designed to facilitate.

Building Teams That Scale: Collaboration, Not Competition

Beyond the infrastructure, Mougey stressed the power of scale—and why territorialism holds projects back. “The stronger model is the collaborative model,” he said. “Not, ‘Hey, I’m going to keep my own common benefit fee.’ Not, ‘I’m going to keep my own contingency fees.’ But working together as part of a group—you get scale.”

He gave a practical example: “You can have one person handling hundreds of clients or two people handling hundreds of clients, rather than five different firms all handling 25 clients each.” It’s a lesson he believes UPF and future projects must take to heart. “The same model that’s used here in Vegas matters. Bring everyone to the table—it can be extremely powerful.”

Media: The Tail That Wags the Dog

In one of the session’s most critical takeaways, Mougey circled back to the role of media in mass tort strategy. “There’s nobody better in the country on the media side than Pap,” he said, asking Papantonio to share a few words on how media can shape litigation outcomes.

“The idea that you’re going to go try a case and that’s all you have to do is ridiculous,” Papantonio said. “If you don’t control the narrative outside the courtroom, you’ve already lost inside the courtroom.”

Getting the story out early and often—in the press, on social media, and through public interest campaigns—sets the tone and helps shape jury pools, regulatory agendas, and public expectations. As Papantonio put it, “The litigation doesn’t wag the media tail—the media tail wags the litigation.”

Final Word: UPF Is Just the Beginning

The session wrapped with an invitation—not just to join the UPF litigation, but to participate in the mass tort movement as a whole. Mougey reminded attendees that MTMP is more than a conference. “This is a one-stop shop,” Papantonio said. “We’ve built this out where you can literally walk to our booth, and we’ll help put you in a room with the right people to start building out your model.”

For those thinking about UPFs, insulin and PBMs, or whatever project is next—this session laid out the blueprint. And as Mougey put it best: “We can become the nation’s largest plaintiff firm by working together and achieving phenomenal results.”