Chris Seeger to speak on Vioxx settlement

  Chris Seeger, a leading plaintiffs’ lawyer and one of the chief architects of the Vioxx settlement, will deliver a lecture entitled “The Vioxx Story: Mass Settlement Without Class Actions” on March 11, 2008, 6:30 p.m. at Cardozo Law School in New York.  The program will be moderated by Cardozo Professor Tony Sebok and will include commentary from Kathleen O’Connor of Dechert and from Howard Erichson (me).

For those who wish to understand mass tort litigation, Vioxx is the most important tale to grapple with since fen-phen.  It’s a story of mass collective representation, parallel state and federal litigation, multiple categories of claims, class cert denials, rejection of large-scale trial consolidation, informal bellwether trials, widely varying trial outcomes, a classic turnabout in defense strategy from vigorous litigaton to comprehensive resolution, and a sophisticated but not problem-free mass aggregate settlement.  It’s pretty much everything that’s right and wrong with mass tort litigation today.  I’m looking forward to the event.

HME