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Seeger Weiss was recently recognized as Law360’s 2023 Product Liability Group of the Year, after the firm secured multiple litigation victories, including a groundbreaking $6 billion deal to settle the massive litigation brought by veterans and service members, who claimed that 3M’s combat earplugs caused harm to their hearing.
Between 1999 and 2015, 3M knowingly produced, marketed, and distributed defective Dual-Ended Combat Arms Earplug, Version 2 (CAEv2) to the U.S. Military. As a result, hundreds of thousands of service members and veterans who relied on these earplugs are now grappling with hearing loss and tinnitus.
The firm also helped to reach a $479 million uncapped deal with Philips to resolve economic loss claims on behalf of device users who purchased or rented recalled devices, as well as payers who reimbursed users for the cost of recalled devices. Additionally, they played a role in negotiating a $425 million settlement to resolve allegations in both federal and state courts that AstraZeneca’s acid reflux medications Nexium and Prilosec led to kidney injuries
“What makes the firm stand out is that they take cases with the intention of trying the case to the end,” Seeger said.
“When we file a case, our design is never to settle it or resolve it — it is to try it,” he added. “That’s really how we set the case up.”
“Going back 20 years, the firm has tried just as many or more MDL cases, such as the Chinese drywall cases and the Vioxx litigation, than any other firm,” Seeger said.
“We try and win cases,” he said. “Defense firms know that about us.”
Seeger Weiss’s product liability team consists of approximately 40 attorneys spread across offices in the Northeast.
“We’ve got a pretty good talent base here at the attorney level, but it goes all the way to our support infrastructure and paralegals and broader trial teams,” David Buchanan said. “It takes a village sometimes to take on a 3M or a Phillips.”
One of the nation’s preeminent plaintiffs’ law firms, Seeger Weiss is best known for its leadership in some of the most successful multidistrict mass torts and class actions of the last quarter century. With the resources and dedication to take on the world’s largest corporations, the firm has an impressive track record of victories against companies like Merck, Monsanto, and 3M—and a reputation for sticking with a case from beginning to end. From offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the firm has represented over 20,000 individuals, companies, and governments across the United States who have been injured or defrauded on an individual or mass scale. Since its founding in 1999, it has led many of the most complex and high-profile cases in the country, including the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, which the Washington Post called “the largest federal court case in U.S. history”; the ongoing “Dieselgate” scandal; the sprawling multistate litigation on behalf of survivors of child sexual abuse; and the history-making National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation.
No aspect of this or any advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey or a court or authority of any jurisdiction. For a detailed explanation of the selection methodology of Law360 Practice Groups of the Year, please refer to their official website here.