Thomas M. Greene

Thomas M. Greene has concentrated his practice in complex civil litigation for more than thirty years. Mr. Greene has represented individuals in a wide variety of cases ranging from whistleblowers who have exposed corporate fraud to individuals who have suffered serious injury or death arising from defective products, aviation crashes, and other catastrophic accidents.

Mr. Greene’s pharmaceutical litigation experiences have been chronicled in various publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Boston Globe, the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, the American Lawyer, and Trial magazine. In a seminal lawsuit against Parke-Davis and Pfizer, a qui tam whistleblower case that involved off-label marketing of the drug Neurontin, Mr. Greene established for the first time that off-label promotion of prescription drugs was fraud that could result in liability to the government under the False Claims Act. His work exposing illegal drug marketing by the pharmaceutical industry has been featured in the book Our Daily Meds by former New York Times reporter Melody Petersen, and he has also been featured on national radio and television shows, including National Public Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Company, and NBC’s Dateline for his work in pharmaceutical litigation. Mr. Greene also recently published an article in Trial magazine entitled “A New Weapon in Pharma Cases” about the use of the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act against pharmaceutical companies.

Mr. Greene is a frequent speaker at national conferences and summits, often related to his experience with the False Claims Act and representing qui tam whistleblowers. As Chair and Moderator, Mr. Greene recently led a two-day program entitled Recent Developments in False Claims Act Litigation, at which recent legislative changes to the False Claims Act were discussed. Mr. Greene has also been invited to speak about off-label promotion at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Law School, Boston College, and Northwestern Law School.

Mr. Greene understands being at the helm of multi-district litigation. He was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee of In re Air Crash Disaster, an MDL arising from the crash of American Eagle Flight 3379 on approach to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. He was also appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the MDL arising from off-label promotion of Neurontin, In re Neurontin Marketing and Sales Practices, and was elected its Chairman. In 2010, a “bellwether” case for the MDL was tried on behalf of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, leading to a trebled jury verdict of $142 million under RICO and a $102 million judgment under the California Unfair Competition Law. Later that year, Mr. Greene won “Most Compelling Argument” at the 2010 Massachusetts Battle of the Lawyers for a reprisal of his closing argument in the Kaiser case.

Mr. Greene received his law degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1977. He graduated cum laude from Boston College in 1974.

Presentations and Seminars:

Witness, United States House of Representatives, Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health

February 27, 2013, Washington, DC

Fostering Innovation in Fighting Health Care Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Panelist, ABA Antitrust Law Section, Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee

January 11, 2013, Washington, DC

Off-Label Promotion of Pharmaceuticals: Application of the False Claims Act and Consumer Protection Act to Promotional Strategies

Guest Lecturer, Boston College Carroll School of Management

November 10, 2011, Chestnut Hill, MA

Law of Marketing

Chair and Moderator, Suffolk University Law School Advanced Legal Studies

March 24 and 31, 2011, Boston, MA

“Recent Developments in False Claims Act Litigation”

Seminar, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Center for Clinical Trials

February 9, 2011, Baltimore, MD

“How Industry Distorted the Scientific Evidence and Turned ‘Snake Oil’ Into a $10 Billion Blockbuster: Lessons for Public Health”

Panelist, American Association of Justice Winter Meeting, Sunrise at Litigation

February 8, 2011, Miami, FL

“How to Win a RICO Case Against a Pharmaceutical Giant for Fraudulent Off-Label Promotion”

Winner, “Most Compelling Argument,” Sixth Annual Battle of the Lawyers

Nov 4, 2010, Boston MA

“Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly”

Panelist, Northwestern Law Judicial Symposium

May 3 — 5, 2009, Chicago, IL

“The Pharmaceutical Industry: Economics, Regulation and Legal Issues”

Panelist, Annual Whistleblower Law Symposium

March 4, 2009, Atlanta, GA, State Bar of Georgia

“Recent Developments in Qui Tam Cases Under the False Claims Act — The Relator’s Perspective”

Moderator, Eighth Annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund Conference & Awards Dinner

September 7 — 10, 2008, Washington, DC

“Fraud-Fighting Pioneers: Moving the FCA in New Directions”

Panelist, The Seventh Annual Pharmaceutical Compliance Congress and Best Practices Forum

November 8 — 10, 2006, Washington, DC

“Qui Tam Update Panel”

Panelist, Health Care Fraud Enforcement in the Pharmaceutical Sector

September 25, 2006, Cambridge, MA, Harvard Law School Ethics, Law & Biotechnology Society

Moderator, Sixth Annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund Conference & Awards Dinner

September 10 — 13, 2006, Washington, DC

“Fraud-Fighting Pioneers: Moving the FCA in New Directions”

Panelist, The Second Annual FDA Regulatory and Compliance Symposium

August 22 — 25, 2006, Cambridge, MA

“Lessons from Whistle-Blower Cases”

Panelist, The 6th Annual National Institute on Civil False Claims Act and Qui Tam Enforcement

June 14 — 16, 2006, Washington, DC

“FCA Enforcement Against Pharmaceutical Companies and Medicare/Medicaid Providers”

Participant, The Sedona Conference — Complex Litigation VII: Litigating Mass Torts

April 7 — 8, 2005, Sedona, AZ

Panelist, The International Pharmaceutical Compliance Summit on Medical Affairs, Clinical Trials, Safety and Publication

March 30 — April 1, 2005, Philadelphia, PA

“Qui Tam Update Panel”

Keynote Speaker, The 2nd Annual Pharmaceutical Marketing Compliance Congress

January 31 — February 1, 2005, Washington, DC

“The Growing Role of Whistleblowers”

Panelist, The Fifth Annual Pharmaceutical Regulatory and Compliance Congress

November 14 — 17, 2004, Washington, DC

“Qui Tam Update Panel”

Panelist, Fourth Annual Conference for Qui Tam Relators’ Counsel

October 14 and 15, 2004, Washington, DC

“The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and Its Application to Qui Tam: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Cases”

Faculty, National Pharma Audio conference: Lessons of the Pfizer Settlement for Off-Label Promotion — Compliance Issues and Practices

June 23, 2004