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Stephen A. Weiss
Stephen A. Weiss co-founded Seeger Weiss LLP with partner Christopher A. Seeger in 1999, after having spent the previous decade at a leading Wall Street defense firm representing numerous Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Weiss specializes in complex litigation, concentrating in the areas of consumer, environmental, insurance, pharmaceutical and securities class action and mass action litigation. He has served as Lead or Co-Lead Counsel in federal and state class actions throughout the United States, including in a variety of multi-district litigations.
In 2001, for example, Mr. Weiss was appointed as Co-Lead Counsel in In re StarLink Corn Products Liability Litigation, 212 F. Supp. 2d 828 (N.D. Ill. 2002)(MDL-1403), a consolidated nationwide class action brought on behalf of U.S. corn farmers for damages resulting from the introduction of the “StarLink” brand of genetically altered corn into the U.S. food cycle. That case resulted in a recovery by Mr. Weiss and his Co-Lead Counsel of more than $110,000,000.
Drawing from almost 15 years of experience in the environmental law field, Mr. Weiss currently serves as Co-Lead Counsel in several different environmental class actions involving nuisance and property damage claims. For example, Mr. Weiss serves as Co-Lead Counsel in Thompson v. Tyson Foods, Inc., a class action brought on behalf of thousands of lakefront property owners situated along the 44,000-acre Grand Lake O'Cherokees in northeastern Oklahoma. The suit seeks damages for environmental impacts caused by the disposal of massive quantities of chicken litter by three poultry-industry defendants migrating into the six million acre Grand Lake watershed. Following a three-day evidentiary hearing in October 2003, the court granted certification of two plaintiffs’ classes, one for injunctive relief and one for property damages.
In addition to his involvement in consumer and environmental class actions, Mr. Weiss is actively involved in securities fraud suits throughout the United States. For example, he currently serves on the Steering Committee in In Re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation, Master File No. 21 MC 92 (SAS), one of the largest securities fraud actions in United States history, and currently serves as Co-Lead Counsel in Krantman v. Adams, et al., in which he represents Sears shareholders contesting alleged proxy disclosure violations in connection with the March 2005 merger between Sears and Kmart.
Mr. Weiss also recently served, along with partner, Chris Seeger, as Lead Counsel in the class action, Park v. Chattem, Inc., et al.; In re PPA Products Liability Litigation, W.D. Wash., 2001 (MDL-1407), which resulted in the nationwide settlement of all PPA-related injuries resulting from the ingestion of Dexatrim.
In addition to his class action practice, Mr. Weiss handles a steady docket of private litigation matters involving a broad range of legal disciplines, including in the areas of employment law, qui tam, and securities arbitration, among others.
Mr. Weiss received a B.A. from Brandeis University in 1986, and earned his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1990, where he served as Business Editor of the Cardozo Law Review. Since 2001, Mr. Weiss has sat on Cardozo Law School’s Board of Directors and currently serves on its Membership Committee. Mr. Weiss is active in many philanthropic activities, and in 2002 was awarded the International Humanitarian Achievement Award by the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Mr. Weiss has also served as a member of the National Council for the National Jewish Democratic Council since 1998.
In addition to lecturing on a variety of legal topics, Mr. Weiss has authored or co-authored the following: "Environmental Liability Disclosure Under the Federal Securities Law," Law Education Institute, Inc., 1998; "Liability Issues and Recent Case Law Developments Under CERCLA, New Environmental Issues of Liabilities of Government Agencies & Government Contractors," Federal Publications, Inc., Chapter 4, 1995; "New York Proposes Legislation to Restrict Shareholder Derivative Suits," Insights, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 24, 1994; "Suretyship as Adequate Protection Under Section 361 of the Bankruptcy Code," Cardozo Law Review, Vol. 12, p. 285, 1990.
Mr. Weiss is admitted to practice in New York, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. |
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