Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2018 
Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP attorney Pete Kaufman represents plaintiffs in complex pharmaceutical and medical device litigation and catastrophic personal injury cases. Formerly a shareholder in the Florida-based national mass tort litigation firm Levin, Papantonio P.A., Mr. Kaufman joined PSR in 2010 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients.
Named the 2025 “Lawyer of the Year” for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs in Los Angeles by Best Lawyers®, Mr. Kaufman has tried cases involving Accutane, Vioxx, Phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Fen-Phen/diet drugs, Adderall and the ASR Hip Replacement Device. He has played a central role in major national pharmaceutical and medical device litigations, combining courtroom experience with leadership in scientific discovery, expert development and trial preparation.
Among his most significant leadership roles, Mr. Kaufman served as Liaison and Lead Plaintiffs’ Counsel in the California Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding involving Olympus duodenoscopes, JCCP No. 4886. The litigation concerned serious infections associated with contaminated duodenoscopes, including the manufacturer’s TJF-Q180V device. His work included litigation against Olympus’s Japanese manufacturer and its American affiliates, addressing device safety, infection risks and corporate accountability.
Mr. Kaufman currently represents plaintiffs in litigation arising from the July 2019 worldwide recall of Allergan BIOCELL® textured breast implants and tissue expanders linked to breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a rare cancer of the immune system. He serves as co-lead counsel in the California coordinated litigation and, in February 2020, was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the federal Allergan BIOCELL Textured Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation.
His catastrophic injury practice also includes a significant carbon monoxide poisoning case arising outside the United States against a major international hotel company. That representation builds on his experience litigating fatal carbon monoxide exposure, including a 2017 verdict finding the owners of a Palm Springs motel personally responsible for a guest’s death.
Previously, Mr. Kaufman served in leadership in the ASR and Pinnacle Hip California coordinated proceedings and on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Pinnacle Hip multidistrict litigation. He was co-chair of the Trial Package Committee in the Vioxx MDL, which resulted in a $4.7 billion national settlement, and served on its Discovery and Science Committees. He tried Vioxx cases in New Jersey, Louisiana, Florida and California.
In the Bextra/Celebrex litigation, Mr. Kaufman served on the MDL Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and resolved hundreds of cases involving heart attacks and strokes. In the coordinated Baycol litigation in Philadelphia, he served on the discovery and deposition committees, worked with leading medical experts and settled nearly 100 individual cases. He has also resolved claims involving Stevens-Johnson syndrome, liver injuries associated with Rezulin and Ketek, Accutane and other pharmaceutical products.
Mr. Kaufman’s appellate work includes successful 2019 appeals in the Pennsylvania Superior Court concerning personal jurisdiction over Olympus’s Japanese manufacturer and the defendants’ efforts to transfer the litigation from Philadelphia. Vaughan v. Olympus America, Inc., 208 A.3d 66 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019), reargument denied June 11, 2019. He also handled Munroe v. Barr Laboratories Inc., 2009 WL 4047949 (N.D. Fla. 2009), an early case addressing generic drug manufacturers’ liability for inadequate warnings.
In addition to his mass tort work, Mr. Kaufman has secured substantial recoveries in catastrophic personal injury cases involving school districts, commercial transportation, medical malpractice and other serious injuries. These include a $16 million resolution involving Ventura Unified School District in 2019, a $21 million resolution involving agricultural and trucking companies in Bakersfield in 2018, and multiple medical malpractice cases involving Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center totaling $16 million in 2017 and 2018.
A frequent speaker on pharmaceutical litigation, scientific evidence, trial preparation and case selection, Mr. Kaufman received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his law degree from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law. He is a United States Army veteran and a graduate of the Defense Language Institute. He served with the 3d Armored Division, 533d Military Intelligence Battalion, during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Mr. Kaufman is admitted to practice in California, Florida and Nevada, as well as before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Central District of California, and the United States District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida.
