Dena C Sharp

Practice Areas

Dena’s work encompasses a diverse range of practice areas in complex litigation, including antitrust, consumer protection, finance, investments, IVF, and sexual abuse and women’s advocacy.

Career

Dena Sharp is dedicated to finding common-sense solutions in even the most complex litigation. She recently served as co-lead counsel in the In re Juul Labs Inc. multidistrict litigation, which resulted in recoveries of nearly $2 billion for individual consumers, school districts, municipalities, and Native American tribes. The last of the Juul settlements—for $235 million with Altria (formerly Philip Morris)—was reached after Dena and her co-lead trial counsel rested the plaintiff’s case in a bellwether jury trial against the tobacco giant.

Dena currently serves as co-lead counsel in In re Xyrem Antitrust Litigation and In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, as well as in leadership positions in various life sciences and statutory damage matters. She also serves as a member of the End-Payer Steering Committee in the massive In re Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation. Dena previously led a team to a $104.75 million recovery on the eve of trial in a certified “pay-for-delay” antitrust class action concerning the drug Lidoderm, which delivered the largest recovery for a class of end-payers in similar federal litigation in more than decade.

Dena tries cutting-edge cases. In a first-of-its-kind jury trial in 2021, Dena and team represented clients whose eggs and embryos were in a freezer tank at a fertility clinic that failed. After a three-week trial, the jury returned a $15 million verdict for the plaintiffs, leading to a global resolution with the tank manufacturer for the dozens of households represented by Girard Sharp.

Professional Memberships

Outside the courtroom, Dena chairs the board of directors of the Impact Fund, a public interest nonprofit. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, sits on the board of advisors for the Center for Litigation and the Courts at the UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and serves on the executive committee of the local chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She is the immediate past co-chair for the Northern District of California’s Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council.

Publications

Dena co-wrote a chapter in the ABA’s “Class Action Strategy and Practice Guide,” and the widely-cited Sedona Principles: Best Practices and Principles for Electronic Document Production (Third Edition).

Work Highlights

In re Juul Labs, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, No. 3:19-md-02913-WHO (N.D. Cal.):

Dena Sharp served as co-lead counsel in the historic multidistrict litigation against JUUL, its founders, and Altria (formerly Philip Morris). The plaintiffs alleged that JUUL and Altria intentionally targeted youth and adults, resulting in debilitating addictions and economic losses for consumers.

In December 2022, just before trial, JUUL and other defendants settled for over $1.7 billion. In May 2023, representing the San Francisco Unified School District in a bellwether jury trial, Dena and team pressed cutting-edge RICO, nuisance, and negligence claims against Altria. After Dena examined six live witnesses and the plaintiff rested, Altria agreed to a $235 million settlement, which Judge William H. Orrick III approved in 2024. The recoveries provide settlement programs for personal injury claimants, consumers, government entities, and Native American tribes.

In re Pacific Fertility Center Litigation, No. 3:18-cv-01586-JSC (N.D. Cal.):

In 2021, Dena served as lead trial counsel in the bellwether trial of the precedent-setting In re Pacific Fertility Center Litigation, involving the catastrophic loss of families’ frozen eggs and embryos. In June 2021, a federal jury awarded $14.975 million to five IVF patients affected by the March 2018 cryopreservation tank failure at Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco. After a nearly four-week trial, the jury held tank manufacturer Chart Industries liable for a defect and for its negligent failure to recall a malfunctioning part. The verdict was the first of its kind, holding an entity legally responsible for the suffering of patients who lost their frozen eggs or embryos. A global settlement followed.

In re Equifax Fair Credit Reporting Act Litigation, No. 1:22-cv-03072-LMM (N.D. Ga.):

Dena Sharp serves as court-appointed co-lead counsel in this Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation arising from Equifax’s misreporting of credit scores in the spring of 2022, which subjected millions of consumers to inaccurate credit scores and credit information. Consumers were consequently denied loans, required to accept higher interest rates, or pay higher down payments than they would have if their scores had been correctly represented.

The Equifax litigation reflects Dena’s commitment to providing everyday Americans the same quality legal representation available to corporate interests. Discovery is underway, and Dena is working alongside co-counsel to advance the claims to class certification and trial.

In re Restasis (Cyclosporine Opthalmic Emulsion) Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:18-md-02819-NG-LB (E.D.N.Y.):

As co-lead counsel, Dena Sharp secured a $30 million settlement for a certified class of end-payers for Restasis, a drug used to treat dry-eye disease. Plaintiffs alleged that pharmaceutical giant Allergan engaged in anticompetitive tactics, including transferring its patent interests to a Native American tribe in the hopes of wielding sovereign immunity to protect the patents.

After defeating Allergan’s motion to dismiss and prevailing on key privilege challenges, plaintiffs moved for class certification facing headwinds from the First Circuit’s decertification of a similar end-payer class in In re Asacol. After several days of oral argument and evidentiary hearings—including Dena’s cross-examination of Allergan’s experts and direct examination of plaintiffs’ key economist—the court certified the class and excluded two Allergan experts, finding Dena and co-counsel “extremely qualified and able to represent the certified class.” The court approved the $30 million settlement for the class on August 2, 2022.

Languages Spoken

Dena is fluent in Spanish and German.

Awards