Biography • Product Liability Defence

Maja Eaton is a partner in Sidley's products liability and mass tort group in the firm's Chicago office, and the firmwide co-chair of the committee for the retention and promotion of women. She has defended and tried a wide variety of products liability cases, ranging from the defense of toxic tort litigation to cases and mass tort litigation involving pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices. Ms Eaton's background in the sciences lends itself well to this practice area, and she has substantial experience in the development of trial themes, expert witnesses and company defences involving a variety of scientific and medical disciplines.

Ms Eaton has served as national coordinating counsel and member of the national trial team for a major client in asbestos litigation, and in 2005 secured a defence verdict for the client in a significant asbestos case tried in Madison County, Illinois. She currently serves as trial counsel to a client in cases in the MDL and state court litigation involving gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents. Ms Eaton has also successfully defended trial court level victories in both state and federal appellate courts. She has delivered a number of presentations at national and international law conferences on topics relating to the defence of drug and medical device claims, including challenging the use of circumstantial proof of defect in medical device cases, proof of general versus specific causation in toxic exposure and drug cases and a primer on US product liability law for foreign in-house counsel. Ms Eaton has also taught products liability law as an adjunct professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Ms Eaton received her JD (with high distinction) from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1984, and her BA from the University of Iowa in 1977. Admissions include: Illinois; various US Court of Appeals and US District Courts.