Seeger negotiated a landmark $4.85 billion settlement with the drug maker Merck in 2007 for heart attacks and strokes linked to the arthritis pill Vioxx. He was the lead negotiator of Volkswagen's $21 billion diesel emissions settlement with car owners. Reuben Guttman, a plaintiffs' lawyer who has represented whistleblowers in lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, told the Boston Globe that the Lacks Estate suit faces several legal hurdles. Since Maryland has a three-year statute of limitations on filing claims of unjust enrichment, Thermo Fisher could ask for the suit to be dismissed because Lacks's family has known for far longer that the company was selling products that use HeLa cells. Guttman, however, told the newspaper that Thermo Fisher should not take the "very, very cold approach" of trying to get the suit dismissed on legal grounds and should negotiate a settlement with the Lacks family. ( With Reuters inputs )