Seeger Weiss LLP named to Plaintiffs' Hot List 2008

Wed, Oct. 29, 2008

Reflecting its stature among the country’s top plaintiffs’ advocates, law firm Seeger Weiss has been named to the National Law Journal’s Plaintiffs’ Hot List for the second year in a row.

The NLJ Hot List is the legal paper of record’s annual reckoning of the country’s leading plaintiffs’ trial law firms. “The firms we recognize…represent the best qualities of the plaintiffs’ bar and demonstrate unusual dedication and creativity,” write the editors in introducing this year’s list of 15 firms published earlier this month.

“Seeger Weiss deserves a party,” the editors propose. “The 30-attorney, New York-based firm turns 10 next year, and has spent the past 12 months outdoing itself in pharmaceutical and securities litigation. It is exploring new fields, having filed some of the first suits in the country for auction-rate securities investors who claim that Wall Street brokers misled them about the risks.”

In particular, the NLJ focused on three of the firm’s litigation successes in the past year, beginning with name partner Christopher Seeger’s role in the record $4.85 billion settlement reached with drug maker Merck & Co. in connection with patient heart troubles linked to the blockbuster pain medication Vioxx.

As co-chair of the plaintiffs’ steering committee and a key member of the negotiating committee, Mr. Seeger was instrumental in achieving more than a 97% enrollment among all eligible Vioxx claimants, a remarkable percentage considering that the settlement tent included several hundred plaintiffs’ lawyers representing nearly 50,000 individual clients nationwide. The NLJ noted that Seeger Weiss had already “helped soften Merck’s resistance by winning a $47.5 million verdict against the drug maker in New Jersey” in a case tried in 2007. In a separate feature article, the newspaper noted that Mr. Seeger was the first attorney to file a Vioxx personal injury case in 2001.
In other pharma litigation, the NLJ cited Seeger Weiss’s winning verdicts on behalf of patients whose use of anti-acne medication Accutane has been linked to severe inflammatory bowel disease. In addition to a $2.6 million verdict in 2007 against manufacturer Hoffman-Laroche, the firm this past April secured a $10.6 million jury win on behalf of a Utah woman who lost a large portion of her colon due to acute ulcerative colitis found to be caused by her longtime use of Accutane. Although Hoffman-Laroche had steadfastly denied any links to the disease, plaintiffs produced internal company memos at trial dating from 1994 in which company scientists acknowledged that the Accutane could indeed cause or exacerbate colitis. Seeger Weiss is liaison counsel in another 500 Accutane cases.

Also noted by the NLJ was Seeger Weiss’s recent success in a class action on behalf of California drivers who had purchased some 50,000 Ford Focus automobiles in 2000 and 2001 found to have brakes that were too small, causing premature wear and replacement. Ford denied any responsibility, claiming its warranty excluded the necessary repairs. During the course of litigation, Seeger Weiss attorneys were able to present internal e-mails in which a Ford brake specialist recommended improvements to the front brake system – evidence that supported the lawsuit’s contention that the brakes were defective. This past July, Ford finally agreed to reimburse Focus owners for replacement and repair of the brakes – including all parts and labor costs – a settlement valued at more than $10 million.

“It’s an honor to be included once again on the Hot List – a testament to the skill and dedication of our attorneys and staff who give so much of themselves for the good of the firm and our wonderful clients,” said Mr. Seeger along with fellow name partner Stephen Weiss.

“In the plaintiffs’ bar, you are judged by your performance at trial, in what kinds of verdicts and settlements you secure for your clients,” the two partners added. “As we approach our tenth anniversary together, our firm continues to demand from ourselves the very highest measures of excellence across a broad spectrum of cases – personal injury, mass tort, consumer class actions, environmental, antitrust, while breaking new ground in securities litigation and other areas. We are pleased that our work has been recognized by the National Law Journal and will continue to aspire to achieve the same levels of success in the years ahead.”

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