Derek H. Potts

About Derek

Mr. Potts is nationally known for his leadership of mass litigations involving environmental disasters such as Hurricane Harvey, the Texas Freeze and Hurricane Ida. He also has been leading complex litigations on behalf of people injured by dangerous medical devices and pharmaceuticals for over a decade and is regularly appointed by judges to lead these mass cases and multi district litigations. As a member of the PSC, he was one of the leaders of the litigation on behalf of all plaintiffs and was one of the lead trial counsel in the first bellwether jury trial that resulted in a finding of defective design of the medical device. Mr. Potts successfully resolved class actions in 2022 in Texas against a power company and a natural gas company for overcharging thousands of Texas businesses related to the Texas freeze. In 2023, Mr. Potts successfully settled a class action with Live Nation and other defendants related to the Astroworld concert disaster. Throughout his career, Mr. Potts has been lead counsel in jury trials representing catastrophically injured clients. Examples of some of his jury verdicts include the $3.0 million verdict in Novogradac vs. Shirshekan, a nursing home negligence case tried in Platte County Missouri Circuit Court which was appealed and sustained by the Missouri Supreme Court and Millard v. Gard, M.D. a medical malpractice case tried in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas which resulted in a $12.1 million verdict for a minor injured due to medical malpractice. Mr. Potts began pursuing cases for women injured by transvaginal mesh products in 2009. He was one of a handful of plaintiffs’ lawyers from around the country who spearheaded the establishment of what would become the largest medical device MDL consolidation in history. He would be appointed by the Judge overseeing the litigation as one of 8 members of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Executive Committee and Plaintiffs’ Co Lead Counsel of 3 transvaginal mesh MDLs. He and his partners in the litigation would ultimately resolve over $1,000,000,000 in transvaginal mesh settlements. Mr. Potts has also been involved in numerous mass pharmaceutical litigations including being appointed the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel of the Los Angeles Country Superior Court’s consolidation related to the drug, Xarelto. Mr. Potts has also been involved in multiple class actions including being class counsel for the states of New York, New Jersey, and Arkansas in the In Re ATT Mobility MDL which resulted in over $1,000,000,000 in settlements nationwide relating to the improper charging of sales tax. Mr. Potts also spearheaded a series of state court consolidations against General Motors related to its ignition switch auto defect in certain model cars. Mr. Potts successfully resolved thousands of personal injury and wrongful death cases with General Motors through his state court consolidations. After Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in August 2017, Mr. Potts spearheaded litigation against the United States Army Corp of Engineers related to its intentional release of water during the storm which flooded tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the City. Mr. Potts was appointed as Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel by the United States Court of Claims to lead the prosecution of the case. In 2020, Mr. Potts spearheaded the formation of the In Re Generali Travel Insurance MDL and was appointed Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel to represent the thousands of individuals who were improperly denied their travel insurance benefits as a result of Covid-19 related travel restrictions. In 2021, Mr. Potts filed a $1 Billion Class Action against the electricity retailer Griddy related to its overcharging of Texas customers during Winter Storm Uri.

Licensed States

Education

Colleagues at Potts Law Firm

Wayne Fox

Of Counsel - Business Disputes & Property Loss Divisions

SE

Scott Emerson

Partner - Little Rock, Arkansas

Hardy Wilkerson

Of Counsel

Sterling Burleson

Of Counsel - Catastrophic Injury

J. Ryan Fowler

Partner - Catastrophic Injury & Property Loss Divisions

J. Todd Trombley

Of Counsel - Appellate Division