Career
Seeger's first job out of law school was with a "white-shoe" firm that represented major corporations, which he left in 1993 to work instead on behalf of plaintiffs. [4] In 1999 he co-founded with Stephen A. Weiss the plaintiffs’ law firm Seeger Weiss LLP. As of 2020, the firm maintains offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. [5]
In 2003, Seeger recovered a $2 million verdict following a six-week jury trial against drug maker Pfizer on behalf of a Brooklyn resident who sustained livery injury following her use of the diabetes medication Rezulin. The case was the first Rezulin matter to be tried in New York and represented a watershed result in the nationwide Rezulin litigation. Seeger subsequently reached a global settlement with Pfizer on behalf of his firm's clients. [6]
In 2005, Seeger was appointed co-lead counsel of Vioxx-related MDL against Merck by U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon. [7] In 2007, Seeger won a $47.5 million verdict on behalf of an individual plaintiff, Idaho postal worker Frederick "Mike" Humeston, who suffered a heart attack after taking the drug. [8] In 2008, Seeger was a lead negotiator in the $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement on behalf of plaintiffs. [9] Seeger was one of the first lawyers to file a Vioxx-related injury lawsuit against Merck. [10]
In 2009, Seeger represented homeowners who had defective Chinese-manufactured drywall installed in their homes. The drywall emitted noxious fumes which caused headaches and rashes, made breathing difficult, [11] [12] and damaged household wiring and plumbing. [13] Seeger secured the initial trial victories against the companies that produced and distributed the drywall, paving the way for a subsequent $1 billion nationwide settlement. [14]
In 2011, he was appointed to the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in the multidistrict litigation related to DePuy Orthopaedics' defective hip implants, [15] which resulted in DePuy's parent company Johnson & Johnson agreeing to a global settlement of $2.5 billion. [16]
Since 2012, Seeger served as lead counsel representing retired NFL players in a suit brought against the league for hiding the dangers of concussion injuries. He negotiated a settlement in which the NFL agreed to pay an uncapped amount, estimated to be over $1.5 billion, [17] to address the medical costs of over 20,000 former players who suffered traumatic brain injuries during their professional careers. The settlement was approved by a federal court and upheld by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2016. [18] As of September 2023, more than $1.2 billion in claims have been approved. [19]
In 2016, Seeger was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the “clean diesel” litigation against German automaker Volkswagen in connection to the company's project to game the emissions tests on their cars. He also served on the settlement committee, which negotiated an approximately $14 billion settlement with VW on behalf of plaintiffs. [20] [21] [22]
In 2017, Seeger served as lead negotiator in litigation against agrochemical giant Syngenta regarding Viptera genetically modified corn. [22] The settlement, reached in 2018, totaled $1.5 billion for plaintiffs (primarily U.S. corn farmers). [23] It represents the largest agricultural litigation settlement in U.S. history. [24]
In 2019, Seeger was appointed co-lead counsel in multidistrict litigation against 3M. The litigation includes over 250,000 veterans suffering from hearing loss and tinnitus after using earplugs 3M sold to the U.S. Department of Defense, which the suit claims the company knew to be faulty. [25] In 2023, he negotiated a $6.01 billion settlement to resolve the case. [26]
Since 2019, Seeger has served as interim co-lead counsel for a proposed "negotiation class" of local governments in the pursuit of a nationwide settlement against drug companies in multidistrict opioid litigation. [27] Over 90 percent of litigating local governments participated in global settlements with AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, and Johnson & Johnson totaling $26 billion.
In 2021, it was announced that Seeger, along with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, would be representing the family of Henrietta Lacks in a lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies that have profited from the cell line HeLa, which is based on cervical cancer cells taken from Lacks without her knowledge in 1951. [28] The first lawsuit was filed against ThermoFisher. [29]
In 2022, Seeger was appointed Co-lead Counsel in an MDL prosecuting claims related to the disintegration or outgassing of foam in Philips CPAP sleep apnea machines and other Philips assisted breathing devices. [30] On September 7, 2023, a settlement to resolve economic claims, worth at least $479 million, was announced. [31] The settlement does not cover personal injury or medical monitoring claims, which are still pending. [32]
Rofecoxib is a COX-2-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain conditions, migraine, and dysmenorrhea. Rofecoxib was approved in the US by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 1999, and was marketed under the brand names Vioxx, Ceoxx, and Ceeoxx. Rofecoxib was available by prescription in both tablets and as an oral suspension.
Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC is a US plaintiffs' law firm, established in 1965 and based in New York City. It has mounted many class action cases on behalf of investors, and has been recognized as among the leading firms in its field by the National Law Journal, RiskMetrics Group, Securities Class Action Services, and Law360.
In United States law, multidistrict litigation (MDL) refers to a special federal legal procedure designed to speed the process of handling complex cases, such as air disaster litigation or complex product liability suits.
Robert J. Gordon is an American trial lawyer.
William Mark Lanier is an American trial lawyer and founder and CEO of the Lanier Law Firm. He has led a number of high profile product litigation suits resulting in billions of dollars in damages, including Johnson & Johnson baby powder and Merck & Co.'s Vioxx drug.
Eldon E. Fallon is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Referred as a pioneer in the creative use of multidistrict litigations and bellwether trials, Fallon has overseen several high-profile multidistrict litigation cases in recent years, including the Xarelto, Chinese Drywall, Vioxx, and Propulsid litigations.
Daniel Aaron Polster is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Polster mediated a settlement between the city of Cleveland and the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was killed by a white police officer in 2014. In December 2017, a federal judicial panel selected Polster to preside over more than 3,000 consolidated prescription opioid-related lawsuits in multidistrict litigation known as the National Prescription Opiate Litigation. A trial for the litigation began in October 2021.
David Charles Frederick is an appellate attorney in Washington, D.C., and is a partner with Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C. He has argued over 50 cases before the Supreme Court.
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Thomas R. Kline is an American personal injury attorney. His cases have helped shape Pennsylvania law and resulted in corporate, institutional, and governmental changes throughout the civil justice system. The law schools at Drexel University and Duquesne University are named for Kline. He is a partner in Kline & Specter and a member and past president (2008-2009) of the Inner Circle of Advocates.
Jeffrey L. Kessler is a partner at the international law firm Winston & Strawn, where he also serves as Co-Executive Chairman and co-chair of the firm's antitrust/competition practice and is a member of the firm's executive committee. Until May 2012, he was the global litigation chair at the international law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, where he was also the co-chair of the sports litigation practice group and served on the firm's executive and leadership committees. His major clients include the Panasonic Corporation, National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), William Morris Endeavor, Activision Blizzard, Avanci, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), United States Women's National Team (USWNT) soccer players, NTN Corporation, Relevant Sports, and Actors' Equity Association.
The 2010 DePuy Hip Replacement Recall was instituted when DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a division of Johnson and Johnson, recalled its ASR XL Acetabular metal-on-metal hip replacement system on August 24, 2010.
Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, generally ranking in the global top five by revenue.
Harvey Thomas Strosberg, is a Canadian lawyer. He is a senior partner at the law firm of Strosberg, Sasso, Sutts LLP.
Eric Gibbs is an American attorney at Gibbs Law Group LLP in the United States. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California. As a part of the American Association for Justice, he co-chairs the Consumer Privacy and Data Breach Litigation Group and the Lumber Liquidators Litigation Group, and serves as the secretary for the Qui Tam Litigation Group.
Ervin A. Gonzalez was an American civil trial attorney whose practice focused on wrongful death, personal injury, medical negligence, product liability and class action torts. He was a partner with the law firm Colson Hicks Eidson in the firm's Coral Gables office.
Baron & Budd, P.C. is an American plaintiffs' law firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Opponents of mass tort litigation have criticized the firm for the zealousness with which it represents its clients, and for the political activities of some of its attorneys.
Kaplan Fox, also known as Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, is an American plaintiffs' law firm. Founded in 1955, the firm employees 39 lawyers in offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New Jersey.
Nachawati Law Group is an American plaintiffs' law firm headquartered in Dallas. The law firm was founded in 2006 by Bryan Fears and Majed Nachawati. The firm rebranded in October 2022 following the departure of Bryan Fears, who formed Fears Law. The firm is active in mass tort and multidistrict litigation on behalf of individuals and public entities.
