KILA BALDWIN is a shareholder at the law firm of Anapol Weiss. In her career, Baldwin has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including as lead counsel in trials that resulted in verdicts of $80 million, $57.1 million, and $41 million against Johnson & Johnson in transvaginal mesh cases.
Baldwin was selected as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer each year from 2019-2023. In 2023 she was recognized on the Superlawyers Top 50 list: Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. From 2011-2018 she was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star and from 2014-2019 as a New Jersey Super Lawyer Rising Star, designating her as among the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the two states who are 40 or younger. She also was selected for the 2017 – 2021 editions of the peer-review publication Best Lawyers in America.
In her most recent case, Baldwin was co-lead counsel at a trial that resulted in a $9.7 million verdict — nearly $11.6 million with prejudgment interest — against a neurosurgeon and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for a patient who suffered brain damage during surgery. This verdict was recognized as the number one surgical error verdict in the United States in 2021 by Top Verdict. Before that, she achieved a $12.75 million settlement with Monteris Medical Inc., the maker of a defective medical device that broke during the same surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.
In May 2019, Baldwin was lead counsel in a six-week trial that resulted in an $80 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. for a Media, Pa., woman injured by a surgically implanted vaginal mesh device. The verdict in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court included $50 million in punitive and $30 million in compensatory damages, making it the country’s most significant compensatory award to date in a vaginal mesh case.
A few months earlier, Baldwin won a $41 million verdict — including $25 million in punitive damages – against J&J for a Lancaster, Pa., woman who suffered permanent injuries from a vaginal mesh device designed and marketed by a company subsidiary.
In late 2017, Baldwin was lead counsel of an all-female trial team that won a major jury verdict against J&J for a Pennsylvania woman injured by a vaginal mesh device made by the company’s Ethicon Inc. subsidiary. The award included $7.1 million in compensatory and $50 million in punitive damages for the behemoth drug and device maker’s reckless behavior in selling the defective product that was implanted in women across the country. The verdict was featured on the BBC program Panorama. In earlier cases, Baldwin was co-counsel in two trials that resulted in verdicts of $12.5 million and $13.5 million for two other women injured by the surgically implanted vaginal mesh products.
Baldwin was co-counsel in litigation that produced a $15 million settlement in a birth injury medical malpractice case against a northern New Jersey hospital, a labor and delivery nurse, and an obstetrician. Before that, she was co-counsel in a case that produced the largest-ever personal injury verdict in Pennsylvania.
In December 2012, Baldwin was co-counsel when a jury in Allegheny County, following a five-week trial, awarded $109 million to the family of a woman who was killed when a West Penn Power electric line fell on her in her own yard. The case was later settled for $105 million.
Baldwin also was co-counsel in the wrongful death case of a tow truck driver who was killed when the parking brake on his Ford F-350 tow truck spontaneously disengaged and he was crushed beneath the vehicle. An Allegheny County jury awarded his family $8.75 million. That case and Baldwin’s critical role are chronicled in the book Bad Brake.
She previously helped litigate the Bridgeport fire case, which concluded in a preliminarily approved settlement of $35 million in April 2008. The settlement benefited more than 100 businesses and individuals who suffered losses in the fire that destroyed the Continental Business Center in Bridgeport, Pa. in 2001.
During the Covid pandemic, Baldwin received a verdict of $1,335,000 in a medical malpractice case involving a delay in diagnosis of ovarian cancer in the U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Baldwin earned a dual J.D./M.B.A. from the Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was awarded the Beasley Scholarship and two awards for Outstanding Oral Advocacy. While at Temple she studied international law in Rome and was a member of the International Law Society and the Woman’s Law Caucus. Later, while a practicing attorney, she again attended Temple and graduated in 2010 from the LL.M. Program in Trial Advocacy, where she subsequently was appointed an adjunct lecturer.
Baldwin earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Schreyer Honors College.
ANDREA SASSO began her legal career working as a paralegal for a well-respected insurance-defense firm in 2010 while attending Widener University School of Law at night. She continued to work as an attorney on the defense side for several years defending complex toxic tort, motor vehicle, trucking and construction cases. Andrea’s experience representing insurance companies has proven to be invaluable, giving her a unique understanding of how to develop cases and anticipate strategy with the defense perspective in mind.
Andrea has an intimate understanding of how an accident or malpractice can affect a person and their family. Her strong communication skills enable her to translate the effects of an injury to a jury to maximize compensation for her clients. She understands what is necessary to obtain a great result and will not quit until she accomplishes that goal.
Andrea has successfully represented injured victims and litigated numerous claims at the municipal, arbitration and trial court levels in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She has been successful at resolving cases at mediation and binding arbitration as well. Andrea serves as a certified Arbitrator for the Court of Common Pleas Philadelphia Compulsory Arbitration program.
In 2019 and 2020, Andrea was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers “Rising Star,” an award bestowed on the top 2.5% of all lawyers in Pennsylvania under the age of 40.
Andrea is a graduate of Widener University School of Law. As a student, she was elected by her class to be the Student Bar Association Representative. As an alumnae, she works to give back to the school volunteering as a member of the alumni board. Andrea is a graduate of Temple University where she was a double major in Communications and Political Science and a member of the Temple University Diamond Gems Dance Team.
Andrea is currently licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for New Jersey, and the State of New Jersey.
Outside of work, Andrea enjoys traveling, summers at the NJ shore, and taking advantage of everything the great city of Philadelphia has to offer. A former marketing professional who worked in concerts and radio prior to law school, Andrea is an avid music fan and can be found attending concerts large and small around the city. Andrea enjoys challenges outside of the court room as well, and has completed the New York, Delaware and Philadelphia marathons. Andrea lives in center city, Philadelphia.
KRISTIN BUDDLE is a determined and passionate trial attorney representing injured victims across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Kristin focuses her practice on all aspects of serious personal injury, including wrongful death, motor vehicle and trucking accidents, premises liability, medical negligence and nursing home neglect/abuse claims. Kristin has dedicated her career to zealously advocating for her clients in and out of the courtroom, proudly assisting them and their families to get back on their feet while obtaining the best results for each and every one.
Prior to joining Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Law, Kristin litigated hundreds of personal injury and Workers’ Compensation cases, and secured millions of dollars in settlements, verdicts, and awards on behalf of her clients. Among other successes, Kristin was featured in Verdict Search in 2018 for securing a substantial jury verdict in Monroe County, Pennsylvania on behalf of a client who was severely injured as the result defective stairs.
Kristin is licensed to practice in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as a certified Arbitrator in the Court of Common Pleas Philadelphia Compulsory Arbitration program, and is a member of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Association of Justice. In 2021, Kristin was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers “Rising Star,” an award bestowed on the top 2.5% of all lawyers in Pennsylvania under the age of 40.
Kristin is a proud graduate of La Salle University, where she earned her degree in both political science and English in 2008. She went on to earn her Juris Doctor in 2011 from Widener University School of Law, where she participated in the trial advocacy program and began her legal career at a private law firm advocating for victims injured as the result of negligence and accidents in the workplace.