America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 12, "Showdown, Almost"

The 1-800 Cases Come To Philly

Aside from Gorsky’s deposition, Johnson & Johnson had still not had, or taken, the opportunity to offer its side of the story in any full-length, high profile adversarial hearing.

But in a Philadelphia courtroom in September 2012, that faceoff seemed imminent. Local judges had ordered all of the personal injury cases Sheller had gathered through his own office and through referrals—by now numbering over 200—to consolidate under one set of depositions, such as Gorsky’s, and one set of document demands. Then the individual cases were chosen for trial in the order in which they had been filed.

Both sides expected a few or maybe a dozen would be argued to a verdict. By then, each would be able to gauge the cases’ value in order to settle the rest. A loss or a lowball verdict in a few early cases would push the settlement in one direction; a few big wins would push the numbers the other way.

First up, on September 24, 2012, was Andrew Bentley of Houston. Then 17, Bentley had been prescribed Risperdal when he was 5 after being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome . He started growing breasts at age 12.

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To read Chapter 12 in its entirety and view the accompanying materials online, visit The Huffington Post: Highline website: http://huff.to/1glg1wp.