|
Experience and Background
Sean P. Wajert is co-chair of the firm's mass torts and product liability practice group. He has represented companies such as Wyeth, Baxter Healthcare, Philip Morris, Amgen, West Pharmaceutical, Firmenich, and Rhodia Inc. in product liability and toxic tort actions throughout the country.
For Wyeth, Mr. Wajert served as trial counsel in numerous diet drug trials. He served as lead counsel for Rhodia in litigation arising from the explosion and fire at a New England textile mill, and has represented Philip Morris at class action trials in multiple jurisdictions. Mr. Wajert represented Philip Morris at the first tobacco medical monitoring trial ever, a class action involving 250,000 smokers in the state of West Virginia. His team secured a defense jury verdict. He also served as lead counsel for West in toxic tort class action claims arising from the alleged release of chemicals from their North Carolina facility. He currently heads the team defending Firmenich in the diacetyl litigation. His products experience has also included pharmaceuticals, forklifts, asbestos, PCBs, isocyanates, and other chemicals.
Clients retain Mr. Wajert as a trusted advisor on complex product-related issues. A significant part of his practice involves advising clients in the mergers & acquisitions context on the potential litigation risks they may acquire with their purchase, and ways to mitigate those risks. Mr. Wajert also is frequently called upon by clients to monitor ongoing mass torts for them, such as that involving welding rods, as plaintiffs threaten to add new classes of defendants. Clients also frequently reach out to Mr. Wajert for advice and counsel regarding emerging tort issues, such as those involving the chemical BPA in food containers, or the potential liability issues related to a new technology for cord blood storage. Mr. Wajert has advised clients in the adhesives industry on formaldehyde exposure issues, emerging science, and the potential impact of events in In Re FEMA Trailer Formaldehyde Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1873 (E.D. La.).
Since 2003, Mr. Wajert has been ranked annually among the top product liability lawyers by Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States based on the opinions of their peers and clients. Chambers has noted Mr. Wajert's significant role in the firm's rapid ascent to prominence in the products liability market, and has praised him as a "calm and organized" lawyer who "continues to deliver high quality work in the pharmaceutical area."
Mr. Wajert has also been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for product liability and mass tort litigation.
In 2010, Mr. Wajert was elected a member of the American Law Institute, the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. He currently serves as the chair of the Mass Torts & Class Actions subcommittee of the Defense Research Institute. DRI is the voice of the defense bar, a national organization of more than 22,000 defense trial lawyers and corporate counsel. The Products Liability Committee of the DRI includes more than 3,000 members, and offers educational, expert, and informational resources to product liability defense lawyers around the globe.
Mr. Wajert is the author of the widely read blog Mass Tort Defense (www.masstortdefense.com), which focuses on the defense of mass torts and significant products liability matters.
Professional Activities
- Invited Attendee, Working Group on Mass Torts of the Federal Rules Civil Advisory Committee (listed in Final Report Spring, 1999)
- Member, American Law Institute
- Member, Defense Research Institute
Bar and Court Admissions
- Member, Pennsylvania Bar
- Admitted to Practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Education
Harvard University, A.B., magna cum laude, 1981
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1984, Order of the Coif, Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review
Clerkship for the Honorable Arlin M. Adams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Fellow, Salzburg Seminar program "Transnational Legal Institutions" (1994)
Original Barrister, University of Pennsylvania Law School National "Inn of Court" (1995-1997)
Publications and Lectures
For a decade starting in 1990, Mr. Wajert lectured at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on toxic torts and product liability, and served in 1999-2000 as the Thomas O'Boyle Honorary Lecturer-in-Law.
Mr. Wajert also frequently serves as an instructor at continuing legal education courses on toxic torts and product liability. His publications and lectures include:
|
