Episode 10

full
Published on:

26th May 2025

Turning Clinical Judgment Against the Defense: $11.9M Win, with Karen Zahka and Austin Dana

When FDA guidelines failed their client, trial partners Austin Dana and Karen Zahka flipped the script by arguing for clinical judgment, typically a defense position. Hospitalized with an epileptic seizure at age 13, their client was old enough to receive an adult dosage of an anti-seizure medication, according to the FDA – but she weighed only 61 pounds, the weight of a child. That adult dosage led to their client getting Stevens-Johnson syndrome. “Our position was that the defendant should have deviated from the guidelines,” Karen explains to hosts Ben Gideon and Rahul Ravipudi. Tune in as Austin and Karen break down how they secured an $11.9 million verdict.

Learn More and Connect

☑️ Karen Zahka | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers For Justice on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

☑️ Austin Dana | LinkedIn 

☑️ Keches Law Group on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

☑️ Rahul Ravipudi | LinkedIn | Instagram

☑️ Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram

☑️ Gideon Asen on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram

☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

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Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer Podcast
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About your hosts

Benjamin Gideon

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Ben is a founding partner of Gideon Asen LLC—a plaintiff trial firm located in the State of Maine. Ben is fascinated by human nature and politics, loves to study people, read biographies and books written by other lawyers and better understand what makes people tick and how people and groups, especially juries, make important decisions.

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