Trent B. Miracle

During the course of his legal career, Trent has handled thousands of cases involving asbestos and mesothelioma, general personal injury, aviation disaster litigation, wrongful death, product liability, dangerous drugs and medical devices.  He is admitted to practice in Illinois, Missouri and Texas as well as numerous federal district courts throughout the country.  Trent began his career in 1996 practicing aviation law and concentrating primarily on airline and helicopter disasters.  Notable cases include representation of numerous families in the American Eagle Flight #4184 disaster as well as representation of Christie Brinkley arising from injuries she suffered in a helicopter crash while heli-skiing in Telluride, Colorado.

Since joining Simmons Browder Gianaris Angelides and Barnerd LLC (the Simmons Firm) in 2003, he has focused primarily on representation of the firm’s mesothelioma and dangerous drug clients. In addition to representing almost 100 individuals suffering from the deadly asbestos caused cancer, mesothelioma, Trent has worked extensively litigating drug cases against major pharmaceutical companies for the development and marketing of dangerous drugs such as YAZ/Yasmin,  Vioxx, Bextra, Ortho Evra, Ephedra and Phenylpropanolamine (PPA). 

Presently, Trent is supervising shareholder in charge of pharmaceutical litigation for the Simmons Firm.  He has used his experience and the firm's considerable resources to successfully resolve over a thousand cases in federal Multi-District Litigations such as In re Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Products Liability Litigation (MDL 1407), In re Ephedra Products Liability Litigation  (MDL 1598), In re Vioxx Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (MDL 1657); In re Bextra and Celebrex Products Liability Litigation (MDL 1691), In re Ortho Evra Products Liability Litigation(MDL 1742), and is currently pursuing Yaz/Yasmin, Chantix, Reglan, Chantix and Fentanyl pain patch cases.  While involved in MDL 1598, In Re Ephedra Products Liability Litigation, Trent was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Mediation Committees in both the Metabolife and TwinLab bankruptcy proceedings, which were responsible for negotiating approximately $100 million in settlements nationwide on behalf of all claimants who suffered injuries manufactured by those defendants.  Recently, Trent has been appointed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee of the Multidistrict Litigation involving the birth-control drugs Yaz and Yasmin (In Re Yasmin and YAZ (Drospirenone) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2100).  In addition, he sits on the Discovery Committee of the Multi-District Litigation involving the recall of DePuy Orthopaedic, Inc. ASR hip implants and the plaintiff's steering committee of the DePuy Orthopaedic, Inc. Pinnacle AcetabularCup hip replacement system.

Trent has been interviewed and quoted by many prominent news outlets and publications relating to the various areas of litigation in which he has been involved.  He is regularly asked to speak at legal conferences and is currently co-chair of the American Association for Justice's Asbestos Litigation Group.

Representative Experience

• Mesothelioma and Asbestos
  
• Reglan
  
• Vioxx
• Bextra
• Ephedra & PPA

News & Publications

Jury Awards Another $9M in Vioxx Lawsuit

Merck Gets a Double Dose of Bad News in Vioxx Cases

Professional & Community Affiliations

• American Association for Justice
• American Bar Association
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
• Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys