Christopher A. Seeger

Co-founder of Seeger Weiss LLP, Christopher A. Seeger is one of the nation’s most versatile, respected and accomplished attorneys in the area of complex and mass tort actions. Mr. Seeger has served as lead attorney and in other significant leadership roles in many of the country’s most newsworthy and groundbreaking federal and state actions involving consumer fraud and negligence. With a particular expertise in pharmaceutical cases including Vioxx, Zyprexa, Rezulin, PPA and Ephedra, Mr. Seeger is regularly quoted in the press discussing these and other topics. In addition to representing large classes of plaintiffs who collectively seek damages from major pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and other corporations for consumer fraud and negligence, Mr. Seeger also represents individuals who have suffered injuries as the result of negligence or malfeasance.

Growing up with a father who was a union carpenter, Mr. Seeger witnessed the struggle between injured individuals and the big businesses that wronged them. Prior to attending college, Chris also worked as a carpenter, where he learned firsthand the value of physical labor and craftsmanship. On the side, Mr. Seeger showed his strategic and athletic abilities as an amateur boxer, where he learned to hone his focus and aggressiveness – skills that serve him well today in the courtroom.

Mr. Seeger approaches each case with compassion: he knows that each plaintiff, whether as an individual or as part of a group, has suffered immensely and needs an effective partner to get through what is inevitably a difficult and emotional time. His successes in the courtroom and settlement room have helped many injured people recover financial awards.

Some of Mr. Seeger's most notable roles:

• Serves as co-lead counsel in Concussion Lawsuit against the National Football League. In December 2011, under the representation of Mr. Seeger, eleven former professional football players filed a lawsuit alleging that the NFL failed to take the necessary precautions to protect its players from long-term brain injuries. Specifically, the lawsuit draws attention to the widespread use of the drug Toradol, which can mask symptoms of serious head injury while inducing dangerous cerebral bleeding. Since the lawsuit was announced, it has gained significant media attention, and several other former players have filed similar actions.

• Appointed to Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Actos Product Liability Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. In June 2011, a European study found that Actos, produced by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., was linked to an increased incidence of bladder cancer. However, the health warnings that accompany the prescription fail to alert users of this risk. The governments of France and Germany have now banned the type-2 diabetes medication, and the FDA has issued warnings to American doctors who prescribe the drug. Takeda, Asia’s largest pharmaceutical company, may face up to as many as 10,000 claims.

• Appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC) in the In Re: Depuy Orthopaedics, Inc. ASR Hip Implant Products Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). In August 2010, DePuy recalled two acetyabular cups hip replacement systems because of their high rate of failures. By the time of the recall, more than 93,000 patients worldwide were fitted with an ASR hip implant. Roughly a third of those were patients in the United States. More than a hundred lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant that is also the parent company of Depuy Orthopaedics, Inc.

• Appointed to Yasmin and Yaz MDL Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC). Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella are three brands of birth control pills that pose a much greater risk of health complications than other oral contraceptives currently on the market. Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella significantly increase the risk of severe health complications. The Food and Drug Administration has issued several warnings to Bayer, the maker of Yaz and Yasmin, for false advertising and below-standard manufacturing plants. As a member of the PSC, Mr. Seeger will help guide the direction of the litigation.

• Appointed to the Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Products Liability MDL, and chairing the Trial Committee. This litigation, which is expected to include thousands of claimants asserting property damage and personal injury claims, concerns approximately 30,000 homes and commercial properties were either repaired or constructed with the Chinese drywall between 2005 and 2006. This product is reported to contain high levels of hydrogen sulfides, compounds that when exposed to prolonged heat or humidity, release sulfur gasses resulting in terrible odors, metal corrosion, and physical injuries. The litigation, which includes thousands of claimants asserting property damage and personal injury claims, was centralized in the Eastern District of Louisiana in June 2009 by order of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Mr. Seeger tried the first defective Chinese-manufactured drywall case in the country, resulting in a $2.6 million verdict for seven Virginia families. Mr. Seeger also tried the second bellwether case, which determined whether manufacturers were responsible for damages the drywall’s toxic fumes cause to plumbing, electronics, and appliances, securing a $164.049.64 judgment for the Hernandez family. Mr. Seeger chairs a second committee of national trial teams pursuing Chinese-manufactured drywall cases.

• Selected to co-lead the WellPoint, Inc. Out-of-Network “UCR” Rates MDL. Several large insurance companies, including WellPoint Inc., Anthem Inc., and Blue Cross of California colluded to lower reimbursement rates for out-of-network heath care services. The insurers were reported to have knowingly created and used a rigged database, created by United Healthcare Group subsidiary Ingenix, to produce reimbursements far below the usual, customary and reasonable rates. His appointment surfeit experience and proven leadership in other large, complex litigations.

• Appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Aetna, Inc., Out-Of-Network “UCR” Rates MDL. Similar to the Wellpoint MDL, this litigation concerns Aetna’s use of the rigged database Ingenix, which was designed to fix the prices of out-of-network reimbursements in Aetna’s favor. As a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, Mr. Seeger will help shape the strategy and direction of these cases.

• Appointed to the Gadolinium-based contrast dyes (GBCAs) MDL Executive Committee and Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. The FDA has identified a link between GBCAs used during Magnetic Resonance Imaging (“MRI”) and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (“MRA”) procedures, and a debilitating and potentially fatal skin disorder known as Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis or Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy (“NSF/NFD”). Mr. Seeger was also appointed Liaison Counsel in connection with the consolidated mass tort litigation against manufacturers of GBCAs in New Jersey.

• Unanimous selection by the Vioxx plaintiffs’ lawyers to co-lead the federal Vioxx MDL. U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon affirmed that choice when he appointed Mr. Seeger to co-lead the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee and to be one of only three members of the Executive Committee. This appointment enables Mr. Seeger to develop the overall litigation strategy for the approximately 27,000 separate cases against Merck & Co., as well as select witnesses, gather evidence, choose expert witnesses, and meet regularly with the judge and opposing counsel. In addition, Mr. Seeger was appointed as Liaison Counsel and Co-lead Counsel for the New Jersey Vioxx Litigation, which involves approximately 16,000 individual cases, and won an award of $47.5 million.

• Representation of Frederick “Mike” Humeston and his wife Mary in a Vioxx related personal injury lawsuit in Atlantic City, New Jersey received national attention during the course of the case, which began in September 2005, and resulted in a 2007 jury verdict of compensatory and punitive damages against Merck & Co. in the amount of $47.5 million. Mr. Humeston, an ex-marine and twice-decorated Vietnam veteran, had suffered a heart attack after using Vioxx for a short period of time. Originally, in October 2005 the jury sided with Merck but after Mr. Seeger uncovered evidence that had been withheld, in August 2006 Judge Carol E. Higbee vacated Merck’s jury win and granted Mr. Humeston a new trial.

• Current representation of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local #68 Welfare Fund and other similarly-situated third-party payors in their suit against Merck to recover money that they paid for Vioxx prescriptions. Mr. Seeger argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court to defend a nationally certified class action on behalf of the plaintiffs, health insurers and union health plans against Merck.

• The first case in New York against the manufacturer of Rezulin in which Mr. Seeger won a $2 million verdict against Pfizer on behalf of a Brooklyn resident who had sustained liver injuries following her Rezulin use. Mr. Seeger was appointed to the Rezulin MDL Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, which is assigned to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the Southern District of New York. He is also a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Rezulin New Jersey state and the New York state litigation; these cases were settled.

• The negotiation of a national $700 million settlement from Eli Lilly & Co. for patients who claimed that they had developed diabetes or gained weight while taking Zyprexa.

• Serving as principal negotiator and Co-Lead Counsel in the nationwide settlement of all PPA (phenylpropanolamine) related injuries resulting from the ingestion of Dexatrim. Mr. Seeger is involved in the litigation against numerous manufacturers of pharmaceutical products containing PPA, and serves on the PPA MDL Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee pending in the Western District of Washington and the PPA New York state court litigation pending before Judge Helen Freedman. In the New York matter Mr. Seeger also serves as Liaison Counsel.

• Membership on the Propulsid Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in both the federal MDL case pending in the Eastern District of Louisiana and the New Jersey state litigation in Middlesex County.

• Representation of children and property owners pursuing serious lead poisoning claims as a result of living within one of the nation’s most notorious hazardous waste sites, known as Tar Creek, in the former Picher Mining Field in Northeast Oklahoma. The children have irreversible brain damage as a result of exposure to the lead left behind by the mining companies, and a prospective class of residents own properties that have been devalued.

• Served as Policyowner Representative for a class of more than 3.2 million New York Life Insurance policyowners who suffered damages as the result of allegedly improper sales practices; negotiated the first settlement on the issue of “vanishing premium” policies; and, as Attorney Representative in the In re Prudential Life Insurance Sales Practices Litigation, settled nearly 53,000 separate claim arbitrations.