The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers, and Rogue Doctors Fuel America’s Lawsuit Factory

When: Thursday, February 5, 2026, Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse – Jury Assembly Room

Please join us for an enlightening and educational luncheon featuring award-winning legal scholar, University of Georgia Law School Professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch. Professor Burch will discuss her new book, The Pain Brokers, a non-fiction legal thriller that centers on a scheme to lure women with pelvic mesh to south Florida to have it removed at seedy chiropractors’ offices all in order to inflate the value of their settlement and benefit the plaintiffs’ lawyers, doctors, and medical funders—but not the women. Why might women do such a thing? A data breach in India gave callers their most intimate medical details, and the con men used that stolen information to convince mesh patients they had a ticking time bomb in them, needed to fly to Florida immediately to have it removed, and wouldn’t have to pay a dime. The book is also about two unlikely allies: Barbara Binis, a seasoned Philadelphia defense attorney hired to do financial damage control for a mesh manufacturer, and J.R. Baxter, a newly minted small-town Arkansas lawyer who is trying to achieve justice for the three women at the center of the book—Jerri Plummer, Barb Shepard, and Sharon Gore—along with over 180 others. A catered lunch will be provided at no cost for members and $15 for nonmembers. Please be sure to note any special dietary needs. Registration for this event will open soon!