J. Carter Thompson

Shareholder

Jackson
T: 601.351.8942
F: 601.974.8942

Memphis
T: 901.526.2000
F: 901.577.2303

Carter Thompson is the former chair of Baker Donelson's Product Liability and Mass Tort Group and the Drug, Device and Life Sciences Team.

Featured Experience

National product liability counsel for major health care manufacturer and asbestos defendants.

National counsel for defendants in Phenergan®/promethazine HCI injection litigation; obtained numerous summary judgments and dismissals.

Professional Biography

Mr. Thompson concentrates his practice in the national, regional and local defense of products liability, drug and medical device, commercial and professional liability cases. He has more than 35 years of experience defending product liability and other claims and lawsuits across the United States and abroad.

Mr. Thompson has been lead counsel representing product manufacturers in more than 25 states from Hawaii to Massachusetts.

National product liability counsel for major health care manufacturer and asbestos defendants.
National counsel for defendants in Phenergan®/promethazine HCI injection litigation; obtained numerous summary judgments and dismissals.
Served as counsel for a defendant in talcum powder litigation.
Served as a relationship partner and regional counsel for a Fortune 25 manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical and medical products.
Obtained numerous dismissals of cases as national counsel in phenytoin litigation.
Served as lead counsel for the distributor of anesthesia medication in more than 250 cases involving more than 4,000 plaintiffs in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Represented the manufacturer of a dialysis product withdrawn from the market, and successfully resolved over 125 suits/claims worldwide.
Served as lead counsel for a homeopathic drug manufacturer in a California putative class action alleging false drug labeling.
Represented manufacturers of Docetaxel in a consumer protection case brought by the Mississippi Attorney General.
Represented a college loan service provider in a consumer protection action brought by the Mississippi Attorney General.
Represented an over-the-counter product manufacturer in a consumer protection action brought by the Mississippi Attorney General alleging the company engaged in false and deceptive labeling.
Represented several defendants in covered outpatient drug litigation brought by the Mississippi Attorney General.
Represented a manufacturer of opioids in an action brought by the Mississippi Attorney General alleging over-promotion.
Served as lead counsel for defendants in the Mississippi Average Wholesale Price (AWP) Litigation brought by the Mississippi Attorney General.
Serve as Mississippi counsel for pelvic mesh manufacturer in consumer protection case brought by the Mississippi Attorney General.
Represent former Chief Executive Officer of specialty pharmacy in breach of contract and preliminary injunction suit against new owner of the limited liability company which owns the specialty pharmacy.
Mississippi counsel for manufacturer of inferior vena cava filters in multiple cases remanded to Mississippi federal courts from MDL.
Represented defendants in metoclopramide litigation.
Represented defendants in digoxin litigation.
Represented a pharmaceutical company in isotretinoin litigation.
Served as deputy national counsel in defense of cases relating to a mechanical heart valve withdrawn from the worldwide market.
Served as deputy regional defense counsel in California-based multi-district litigation involving a hepatitis C infection resulting from a blood derivative withdrawn from the worldwide market; tried one of the cases in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for more than four months.
Represented the manufacturer of a component part of commercial refrigeration unit in product liability suits. Excluded plaintiff's expert and received summary judgment on eight of ten claims in Georgia case involving serious burns. Obtained unanimous jury verdict at trial on remaining claims. The case was the Featured Verdict in the February 2014 issue of Verdict Search Georgia.
Represented a breast implant manufacturer in a product liability case alleging defective design.
Represented a wheelchair lift manufacturer in product liability cases.
Successfully defended the manufacturer of an anti-malaria drug.
Provided successful defense in numerous legal malpractice cases.
Provided a successful defense in nurse and pharmacy malpractice cases.
Obtained a jury verdict in favor of the manufacturer of an industrial forklift in a catastrophic injury case.
Defended an excavator manufacturer in a product liability wrongful death case.
Represented a fire extinguisher and fire systems service company involving a fire that occurred in a manufacturing facility located in Newport, Tennessee. Plaintiffs asserted allegations of negligence, breach of contract, breach of warranty and other causes of action. The damages alleged by plaintiffs were in excess of $31.5 million.
Represented a minority owner of a limited liability company in a case against the majority owner.
Secured dismissal of product liability cases against health care company that alleged that the company's dialysis equipment was defectively manufactured.

AV^® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America^® since 2007 in the areas of Product Liability, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, Commercial Litigation, Professional Malpractice Law - Defendants and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
Named The Best Lawyers in America^® 2018 and 2016 Jackson-MS Professional Malpractice Law- Defendants "Lawyer of the Year"
Listed since 2007 in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers as a leading litigation lawyer in Mississippi
Listed since 2006 in Mid-South Super Lawyers, Personal Injury Defense: Products
Listed in The International Who's Who of Life Sciences Lawyers (2014 – 2020)
Listed in The International Who's Who of Product Liability Defence Lawyers (2011 – 2017, 2019 – 2020)
Listed in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers (2013 – 2014)
Named a 2011 Top Ten Leader in Law by the Mississippi Business Journal
Senior Fellow – Litigation Counsel of America
Member – Product Liability Advisory Council (PLAC)
Member – Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ)
Member – DRI (National Director, 2017 – 2020; Immediate Past Chair, Drug and Medical Device Committee, 2017 – 2018; Vice Chair, Drug and Medical Device Committee, 2013 – 2015; Program Chair, Drug and Medical Device Committee, 2011 – 2013; Governance Committee, 2017 – 2018; Steering Committee, Corporate Counsel Roundtable, 2017 – 2018; Product Liability Committee; Medical Liability Committee; Diversity Committee)
Partner – National Foundation For Judicial Excellence
Member – Product Liability Editorial Advisory Board, Law360 (2011 – 2012)
Member – American Health Law Association
Member – International Association of Defense Counsel
Member – American Bar Association (Litigation Section; Torts and Insurance Practice Section)
Member – Mississippi Bar (General Litigation Section; Health Law Section; Chair, Minority Involvement Committee, 1994 – 1995)
Chair – Mississippi Law Institute (1991)
Graduate – International Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy
Member – Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association (Director, Trial Practice Academy, 1989)
Member – Mississippi Claims Association
Member – Capital Area Bar Association
Former Member – Mississippi College School of Law Board of Visitors

"Reflections from My Living Room," DRI's The Voice, Volume 19, Issue 23 (June 2020)
"Civil Rules Committee Decides Companies Must Have Right to Choose 30(b)(6) Designees" (April 2019)
"One of DRI's Flagship Committees Sets the Bar High," For the Defense, From the Chair (September 2017)
"Chair's Corner," RX for the Defense Newsletter, Volume 25, Issue 3 (June 2017)
"Chair's Corner," RX for the Defense Newsletter, Volume 25, Issue 1 (January 2017)
"Offering Immediate, Tangible Benefits," For The Defense, From the Chair (September 2016)
Co-author – "Litigation: Trademark licensor liability in product-liability cases," InsideCounsel.com (October 2012)
Quoted – "Mobile Health Apps, Part 4: Life, Death and Lawsuits," TechNewsWorld, May 5th edition (May 2011)

"2017 DRI Drug and Medical Device Seminar," Baker Recommends (May 2017)
"2016 DRI Drug and Medical Device Seminar" (May 2016)

69 Baker Donelson Attorneys Named to 2020 Mid-South Super Lawyers; 38 Named to Mid-South Rising Stars (November 30, 2020)
23 Baker Donelson Attorneys Recognized in 2020 Who's Who Legal (October 8, 2020)
Baker Donelson Top-Listed in the Nation in Six Practice Areas in The Best Lawyers in America^® 2021 Listing (August 20, 2020)
78 Baker Donelson Attorneys Ranked in Chambers USA 2020 (April 27, 2020)
77 Baker Donelson Attorneys Named to 2019 Mid-South Super Lawyers; 45 Named to Mid-South Rising Stars (November 6, 2019)
Eleven Baker Donelson Attorneys Recognized in 2019 Who's Who Legal (July 25, 2019)
Baker Donelson Achieves High Rankings in Chambers USA 2019 (April 30, 2019)
87 Baker Donelson Attorneys to be Ranked as "Leaders in Their Field" in Chambers USA 2019 Directory (February 27, 2019)
86 Baker Donelson Attorneys Named to 2018 Mid-South Super Lawyers; 43 Named to Mid-South Rising Stars (November 8, 2018)
277 Baker Donelson Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® 2019 Listing (August 15, 2018)
Baker Donelson Achieves High Rankings in Chambers USA 2018 (May 8, 2018)
78 Baker Donelson Attorneys to be Ranked as "Leaders in Their Field" in Chambers USA 2018 Directory (March 21, 2018)
94 Baker Donelson Attorneys Named to 2017 Mid-South Super Lawyers; 53 Named to Mid-South Rising Stars (November 7, 2017)
Baker Donelson's Carter Thompson Elected National Director of DRI (October 23, 2017)
290 Baker Donelson Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® 2018 Listing (August 15, 2017)
Baker Donelson Achieves High Rankings in Chambers USA 2017 (May 26, 2017)
82 Baker Donelson Attorneys to be Ranked as "Leaders in Their Field" in Chambers USA 2017 Directory (February 16, 2017)
98 Baker Donelson Attorneys Named to 2016 Mid-South Super Lawyers; 57 Named to Mid-South Rising Stars (November 14, 2016)
262 Baker Donelson Attorneys Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® 2017 Listing (August 15, 2016)
Baker Donelson Achieves High Rankings in Chambers USA 2016 (May 31, 2016)
83 Baker Donelson Attorneys to be Ranked as "Leaders in Their Field" in Chambers USA 2016 Directory (February 26, 2016)

Practices

Industries

Education

University of Mississippi, J.D., 1984, cum laude
- James O. Eastland Scholar in Law
- Associate Editor, Research Editor and Articles Editor – Mississippi Law Journal
Mississippi College, B.A., 1981, with high honors and special distinction

Admissions

Mississippi, 1984
Tennessee, 2016
U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi
U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
Admitted pro hac vice in more than 25 states

What Carter does well is he is a really good trial attorney. I've seen him in trials in Indiana and Hawaii, and he can reach people from different backgrounds, ages and nationalities equally well. He's a very effective communicator. He understands how to present what is sometimes very complicated information to a jury in a way they can understand it.

Senior Counsel at a global health care company

Carter Thompson is commended for his work in product liability, with extensive experience in drug and medical device matters. One client notes that Thompson has 'a lot of trial experience,' and demonstrates 'a lot of good judgment.' He splits his time between Jackson and Memphis, Tennessee.

From Chambers USA 2019

I am impressed with [Carter Thompson]. He's someone I can rely on to do a good job.

From Chambers USA 2020