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J. Carter Thompson

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Carter Thompson is a member of Baker Donelson's Logistics, Energy and Manufacturing Litigation Group and the former chair of the 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  • Represented the manufacturer of a dialysis product withdrawn from the market, and successfully resolved over 125 suits/claims worldwide.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 actions brought by the Mississippi Attorney General, political subdivisions, and hospitals alleging over-promotion.

  • Served as lead counsel for multiple 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 as well as individual product liability cases.

  • 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.

  • Represent former owners of specialty pharmacy in breach of contract suits involving the sale of the company and a promissory note for purchase price.

  • 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.

  • Represented a drug manufacturer in a suit brought by a former employee—retained after the plaintiff took a $2.5 million default judgment in state court, successfully removed the case, and had the default judgment set aside; obtained dismissal without prejudice following the default judgment being set aside; obtained dismissal of the amended complaint with prejudice of the employee's claims for constructive termination, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2007 for Product Liability Litigation - Defendants; Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants; Commercial Litigation; Professional Malpractice Law - Defendants; Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants   
  • Named Best Lawyers® 2024, 2018, and 2016 Professional Malpractice Law- Defendants "Lawyer of the Year" in Jackson-MS
  • Listed in Chambers USA as a leading Commercial Litigation lawyer in Mississippi since 2007
  • Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America (2022 – 2025)
  • Selected since 2006 to 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 – 2022, 2024)   
  • Listed in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers (2013 – 2014, 2024)
  • Named a 2011 Top Ten Leader in Law by the Mississippi Business Journal
  • Member – Product Liability Advisory Council (PLAC)
  • Member – Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ)
  • Member – DRI (formerly Defense Research Institute) (Chair, Finance and Audit Committee, 2021; 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 – 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

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

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