Andrea Toy Ohta

Andrea Toy Ohta is an associate in the Commercial Litigation and White Collar Litigation and Investigations Practice Groups of Pepper Hamilton LLP, resident in the Philadelphia office. Ms. Ohta specializes in complex commercial litigation matters and related criminal and regulatory matters in the health care and life sciences industries.

Representative engagements include:

• In re: Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant Products Liability Litigation (N.D. Ill.) - currently representing a physician design consultant in products liability lawsuits against an orthopedics company that have been consolidated in a multidistrict litigation
• represented a subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd. in numerous commercial litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout the nation
• Shareholder Representative Services LLC, as a representative and agent for the stockholders of Cogent Healthcare, Inc. v. Hospitalist Management Group, LLC (Del. Ch.) - represented the selling stockholders of a hospitalist services company in an escrow dispute
• Plubell, et al. v. Merck & Co., Inc. (Mo. Cir. Ct.) - represented a health care research company in a products liability class action
• represented a Japanese national who was a target in a U.S. Department of Justice criminal antitrust investigation of the auto parts industry
• represented a division of a major pharmaceutical company in connection with a U.S. Department of Justice grand jury investigation of the company’s good manufacturing practices and over-the-counter drug recalls
• Ruff v. Albert Einstein Healthcare Network (E.D. Pa.) - represented a major health care network and related entities in a putative collective action alleging violations of the FLSA and a putative class action alleging violations of RICO and ERISA based on the network’s use of an automatic meal break deduction timekeeping system
• Gotham Holdings LP, et al. v. Health Grades, Inc., et al. (S.D.N.Y.) – obtained dismissal of a federal securities fraud action brought by several hedge funds stemming from a leading health care ratings company’s secondary sales of its securities
• State of South Carolina ex rel. Henry McMaster v. Eli Lilly & Company (S.C. Ct. Com. Pl.) and State of New Mexico ex rel. Patricia Madrid v. Eli Lilly & Company (E.D.N.Y.) - represented a major pharmaceutical company in cases brought by state attorneys general alleging Medicaid fraud, violations of state unfair trade practices acts, and other common law fraud claims
• In re Eli Lilly & Company Securities Litigation (E.D.N.Y.) - obtained dismissal of a federal securities class action alleging that a major pharmaceutical company failed to disclose material safety and marketing information regarding its prescription medicine, Zyprexa
• The Honorable Edwin E. Naythons v. Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young LLP and André L. Dennis (E.D. Pa. and 3d Cir.) - obtained dismissal of lawsuit asserting wrongful use of civil proceedings and abuse of process claims against a Philadelphia law firm and one of its partners
• Adelphia Communications Corp. v. Deloitte & Touche (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl.) - represented the bankruptcy estate of Adelphia Communications Corporation in an accounting malpractice case against its former auditor, which resulted in a $167.5 million settlement for client.

Before joining Pepper, Ms. Ohta was an associate with Dechert LLP in Philadelphia from 2002 through 2007, where she worked extensively on complex commercial litigation matters, including insurance coverage litigation, bad faith insurance defense, accounting malpractice, consumer fraud and unfair trade practices litigation, and breach of contract matters for Fortune 500 companies.

Ms. Ohta has been involved in numerous professional organizations. In 2004 and 2005, she chaired the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Minorities in the Profession Committee and served on the Asian American Bar Association of the Delaware Valley’s Executive Committee. Ms. Ohta is a past member of the Temple American Inn of Court and is currently a member of the American Bar Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia Bar Association. Ms. Ohta also serves as a representative for the UCLA Law Firm Challenge.

Ms. Ohta graduated, summa cum laude, from the University of California, San Diego in 1998 and received a B.S. in general biology and a minor in health care and social issues. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2001 and is a member of the Order of the Coif. Following her graduation from law school, Ms. Ohta clerked for the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Education
B.S. 1998, summa cum laude, University of California, San Diego
J.D. 2001 University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law; Order of the Coif

Clerkships
2001-2002 Law Clerk to Hon. Ronald S.W. Lew, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles, CA)

Bar Admissions
Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and California