Catelyn McDonough joined Anapol Weiss as an Associate Attorney in 2016, after working at the firm as a Law Clerk and attending law school classes in the evening. She was promoted to Partner in 2024. Catelyn focuses her practice on pharmaceutical and medical device mass tort litigation. As an integral member of the firm’s Women’s Health Litigation Group, she is passionate about advocating for victims of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, which disproportionately affect women.
Professional Background and Current Practice Areas
Catelyn began her legal career helping to obtain millions of dollars for the families of victims who contracted mesothelioma from working with asbestos-containing products. She has played an integral role in many significant verdicts and settlements, including a $1 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. unit, finding the company liable for a series of design and manufacturing defects with its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants. The following year, Catelyn again joined the trial team for the fourth bellwether trial against J&J and DePuy, resulting in a $247 million plaintiff verdict, marking the third consecutive nine-figure verdict in the multidistrict litigation.
Over the course of her career, Catelyn has worked on several multidistrict litigations (MDL):
- In Re Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair Systems Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2327
- In Re DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implants Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2244
- In Re Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RAS) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 3094
- In Re Juul Labs, Inc. Marketing, Sales Practices & Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2913
- In Re Power Morcellator Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2652
- In Re Proton Pump Inhibitor Litigation, MDL 2789
- In Re Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation (federal and various state court), MDL 2924
- In re Zofran Ondansetron Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2657
- In re Fosamax MCL (New Jersey state court), Case No. 282
Catelyn has worked closely for many years with Anapol Weiss Shareholder, Tracy Finken Magnotta, and had the honor of serving on the Leadership Development Committee of Zantac MDL. She was also an appointed member of the Bellwether, Deposition, and Third-Party Discovery Committees within leadership. Most recently, Catelyn has joined the Preemption Discovery Committee of the GLP-1 MDL.
Catelyn currently works closely with Shareholder Kila Baldwin litigating single-event transvaginal mesh cases for women who have been victimized by various mesh manufacturers, including Ethicon, Bard, Boston Scientific, and Coloplast. Her skillset as a mass-tort attorney gives her a unique perspective to successfully litigate the TVM cases as single injury cases. Catelyn and Kila have successfully settled a number of TVM cases around the country and recovered millions of dollars for their clients.
Catelyn regularly speaks on panels covering a wide range of medical device and pharmaceutical products liability and travels to Mass Tort Conferences around the country.
She has also written the following publications:
- 2024 Anapol Weiss Blog, Understanding Transvaginal Mesh Complications
- 2020 AAJ Trial News, Review of CARES
- 2020 PA Justice News, What does a lawyer look like?
- 2019 The Legal Intelligencer, Increasing Lawsuits Against the Vaping Industry Amid a Cloud of Controversy
- 2018 The Legal Intelligencer, Over-the-Top Promotion of OTC Drugs – Is It a Good Idea?
- 2018 The Legal Intelligencer, Young Lawyers: Try to Find the Right Balance in Your Career Now
- 2017 AAJ Trial Lawyer Magazine, Starting Out Right
- 2017 The Legal Intelligencer, One-Way Ticket to Dallas: Lessons from My First Trial
- 2017 Pennsylvania Bar Association, Never Forget the “Business of Law”
Bar Admissions
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
- Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Middle District of Pennsylvania
- State of New Jersey
Honors and Awards
Catelyn is a nationally recognized trial attorney, who has been consistently recognized by the following publications:
- Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch
- Irish Legal 100, Rising Star
- Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, Rising Star
- The National Trial Lawyers Association, Top 40 under 40
Legal and Community Involvement
She is an active member of various organizations including:
- Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ)
- American Association for Justice (AAJ) (former appointed member of the Publication’s Committee)
- Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, Future Leaders
- Philadelphia Bar Association (previously elected Cabinet Member of the Young Lawyer’s Division)
- Chester County Bar Association
- Brehon Irish Law Society (immediate past President)
Education
Catelyn received her law degree from Delaware Law School-Widener University, cum laude, graduating in the top ten percent of her evening-division class. While in law school, Catelyn excelled in Moot Court and Law Review, received several academic scholarships, and served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Jack A. Panella of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, as well as to the Honorable M. Faith Angell of the United States Magistrate Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Community Involvement
Catelyn has volunteered as a case reviewer for Pennsylvania’s Innocence Project and occasionally takes on pro bono matters for Philly VIP. She also enjoys volunteering at Home of the Sparrow, a non-profit organization helping end homelessness for women and children in Chester County.
In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children, as well as hiking with her dog, reading and traveling.