Legal Practice

Ms. Bossier has spent over twenty-five years litigating hundreds of complex civil state court and federal court cases throughout the country, involving a broad range of legal issues. She has served as lead counsel in defective drug, medical device, toxic tort, environmental contamination, professional liability and medical malpractice cases, which resulted in favorable jury verdicts and monetary recoveries for many individual clients. Of note, Ms. Bossier was lead trial counsel in an environmental contamination case involving hundreds of residents of Crystal Springs, Mississippi, who were injured by PCB contamination, and after four long years of litigation, two multi-million dollar settlements were achieved with the culpable parties. Ms. Bossier’s successes in mass tort products liability litigation include successfully settling numerous pharmaceutical drug cases following years of litigation, including Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra, Seroquel, and Zyprexa. Ms. Bossier has litigated numerous defective medical device cases for plaintiffs over the years, including Medtronic defibrillators, Zimmer NexGen knee devices, DePuy ASR and Pinnacle hip devices, IVC Filters and Pelvic Mesh devices. Ms. Bossier’s involvement in the pelvic mesh litigation included appearing as lead counsel in the trial of a client severely injured by a Boston Scientific pelvic mesh product, which resulted in a 72 million dollar jury verdict in Dallas County, Texas. This verdict was recognized as one of the top 10 Products Liability verdicts of 2014.

Ms. Bossier’s experience in defective drug and medical device litigation has been recognized by her peers and the judiciary, and has resulted in her serving in leadership roles in multi-district litigation across the country involving thousands of plaintiffs. Ms. Bossier’s leadership roles have included appointment by Honorable Eldon Fallon, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of Louisiana, to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In Re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1657; appointment by Honorable Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, United States District Court Judge, Northern District of Illinois, to the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee in In Re: Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2272; appointment by Honorable David G. Campbell to the Plaintiffs’ Leadership Counsel in In Re: Bard IVC Filters Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2641; and appointment to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the New Jersey consolidated proceedings, MCL 630, In Re: Ethicon Proceed Mesh Litigation.

Ms. Bossier continues to represent women nationwide who were injured by polypropylene pelvic mesh devices. Her caseload has expanded over the last few years to include the representation of hundreds of individuals who have been injured as a result of polypropylene hernia mesh devices. Ms. Bossier is presently working with world-renowned experts in preparation for litigation of hundreds of hernia mesh cases that have been consolidated in various venues across the country.

In addition to representing injured individuals, since 2004, Ms. Bossier has been appointed Special Assistant Attorney General by the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi, serving as lead counsel in consumer protection litigation involving pharmaceutical drugs, Vioxx, Celebrex and Actos. In addition, Ms. Bossier was retained by the State of Mississippi to pursue its claims against J&J/Ethicon and Boston Scientific Corporation related to the sale and distribution of pelvic mesh devices in Mississippi. Her work with the Attorney General’s office to enforce Mississippi’s Consumer Protection Act has resulted in significant monetary recovery for the State.

Finally, Ms. Bossier has been engaged by numerous municipalities in the State of Mississippi to pursue claims against manufacturers and distributors of Opioids, to recover damages sustained by those entities as a result of the Opioid epidemic in the State. The litigation of these claims is ongoing.

Biography

Sheila M. Bossier is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 1989, after receiving her law degree from Tulane University School of Law. She practiced with a firm in New Orleans prior to relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she was admitted to practice in 1990. In 1997, Ms. Bossier became a member of the Mississippi Bar, and for a number of years, she continued a litigation practice as a partner with a large Jackson, Mississippi law firm. Ms. Bossier has served in the position of National Coordinating counsel and National Trial Team Counsel for Fortune 500 companies in connection with various toxic tort cases nationwide.

In 2003, Ms. Bossier formed her own law firm, where she expanded her litigation practice to include the representation of thousands of victims of environmental contamination in the State of Mississippi, involving constituents such as PCBs, chlorinated solvents, and petroleum by-products, including benzene and lead.

Ms. Bossier has organized and spoken at various continuing legal education seminars relating to toxic torts, products liability, and other mass tort matters, and has appeared as a speaker on behalf of the American Bar Association, the Mississippi Bar Association, and the Capitol Area Bar Association related to these topics. For a number of years, Ms. Bossier served as a Vice-Chair of the ABA’s Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee.

In 2015, Ms. Bossier was awarded membership in the Texas Lawyer’s $10 Million Dollar Club related to her representation of the Plaintiffs in Martha Salazar, et al. v. Boston Scientific Corporation. In 2016 and 2017, Ms. Bossier was selected as a member of the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Additionally, she was selected as a Super Lawyer of the Mid-South in 2016 and 2017. Super Lawyers is a creation of Thomson Reuters, which explains at SuperLawyers.com: “Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.”

Legal Associations and Community Involvement

Ms. Bossier is a member of the American Bar Association, the Mississippi Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Capitol Area Bar Association and the American Association for Justice. She has been on the Board of the Mississippi College School of Law Child Advocacy Board, taught trial advocacy programs at Mississippi College Law School, and has been a Troop Leader for the Girl Scouts of America since 2013. In 2007, she became a certified Mediator in the State of Mississippi.

In 2021, Ms. Bossier was selected to join the Fellows of the Mississippi Bar Foundation.

Ms. Bossier is licensed to practice law in Louisiana (1989), North Carolina (1990) and Mississippi (1997).