Christopher M. Placitella

Christopher M. Placitella is a shareholder in the law firm and an accomplished trial lawyer with a nationwide reputation as one of the country’s leading legal authorities on mass tort, class actions, and asbestos-related diseases. He represents individuals injured by defective products and drugs, toxic substances, and environmental damage.

Mr. Placitella is dedicated to working on behalf of victims of corporate misconduct, and this dedication has helped shape the direction of the firm and its values. A problem-solver by nature, he has devoted his career to helping change people’s lives and obtaining justice for his clients.

Mr. Placitella has developed an award-winning reputation for his commitment to those who have been harmed due to the wrongful conduct of others. His professional integrity and personal commitment to his clients and his community have provided him with local, regional and national recognition for his work and service. He is continuously recognized by his peers for his contribution to mass tort litigation.

As a member of the plaintiffs’ bar, Mr. Placitella is known for helping to establish a national asbestos litigation group dedicated to successfully and effectively representing individuals suffering from asbestos-related diseases and their families.

• New Jersey
• New York
• United States District Court, District of New Jersey
• United States District Court, Southern District of New York
• United States Supreme Court

• Syracuse College of Law, J.D. (cum laude; Law Review and Legal Honor Society), 1981
• Fordham University, B.S. (summa cum laude), 1978

• Asbestos Advisory Committee to New Jersey Superior Court
• Member of Steering Committee, Multi-District Trans Vaginal Mesh Litigation
• Liaison Counsel New Jersey Trans Vaginal Mesh Litigation
• Member of Steering Committee, Multi-District Asbestos Litigation;
• Special Counsel to all State Court Litigants, National Diet Drug Litigation;
• Class Counsel, Johns Manville Class Action Litigation;
• Class Counsel, New Jersey Diet Drug Litigation;
• Member of Steering Committee, National 23 Multi-District TMJ litigation;
• Member of Steering Committee, National Rezulin Litigation;
• Lead Counsel, New Jersey Propulsid Litigation;
• Served as key member of the legal team representing the State of New Jersey against the tobacco industry and helped achieve the largest settlement in the history of New Jersey, totaling $7.6 billion dollars;
• Mr. Placitella assisted in negotiating what is believed to be the largest settlement in the nation involving a single company in a product liability case involving the diet drugs Pondimin® and Redux® – a $3.75 billion-dollar settlement;
• Trial counsel in the largest consolidated asbestos trial in New York City history, and also obtained the largest punitive damage verdict against an asbestos company in New Jersey’s history;
• Served as one of the lead trial counsel in the largest environmental tort settlement on behalf of individuals in New Jersey history, totaling $38.5 million dollars;
• As part of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, helped organize national pro bono effort to provide free legal assistance for families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 traged

• Named as a member of ‘The Roundtable: America’s 100 Most Influential Trial Lawyers’;
• From 2005 to Present, included in the list of New Jersey Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters, based on peer review ratings;
• 2001-Present, included in the list of The Best Lawyers in America® in the field(s) of Personal Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs, and Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs (Mass Tort, Occupational Disease, Toxic Tort), based on peer review ratings.;
• National Trial Lawyers Association- Clarence Darrow Award
• National Association of Distinguished Counsel – Top 1 Percent
• Elected by Peers as a member of Trial Masters
• Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review AV®-rated lawyer, and included in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers™ in the United States, published by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell®;
• Included in the list of The National Law Journal’s ‘Top New Jersey Mass Tort Lawyers’;
• Awarded with the ‘Gold Medal for Distinguished Service’ Award; the highest award that can be bestowed on a New Jersey trial attorney by his peers, for his dedication in fighting for the rights of victims of environmental pollution by The New Jersey Association for Justice;
• Received the “Pioneer Award” by Consumers for Civil Justice (New Jersey’s largest consumer advocacy organization) for fighting for the rights of New Jersey consumers and tort victims;
• Presented the “Meritorious Service Award” by the New Jersey White Lung Association for his fight for the rights of asbestos victims;
• Nominated as National ‘Trial Lawyer of the Year’ for his work in representing lead-poisoned children

• The Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice;
• Leaders Forum American Association for Justice;
• Consumers for Civil Justice, Counsel;
• New Jersey Trial Lawyers (now NJAJ), Former President (2001-2002);
• NJAJ PAC, Former Chair.

Mr. Placitella is a frequent speaker on a variety of topics including class action, personal injury, products liability, legal ethics and insurance litigation.

• Co-Chair for Mass Tort Litigation Update for the NJ Institute of Continuing Legal Education 2007 through Present
• Co-Chair for Annual Review and Update of the State of Mass Tort Litigation, New Jersey Association for Justice
• New Jersey Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute, Deposing Corporate Representatives to Help Satisfy the Reptilian Brain, November 2011
• Deposition College, New Jersey Association for Justice
• ATLA Meadowlands Seminar, Federal Court – Trial Advocacy
• ATLA Meadowlands Seminar, Trial Evidence
• ATLA Meadowlands Seminar, Mass Torts Roundtable
• ATLA/NJAJ Educational Foundation Seminar, Mass Torts and Personal Injury
• NJ ICLE seminar – Mass Torts: A New Decade for New Classes
• NJ ICLE seminar – Mastering Medicare Set Aside Trust
• NJ ICLE seminar – The Evolving World of Handling Mass Tort Claims
• PBI Mass Torts Seminar
• Harris Martin’s New Jersey Asbestos Litigation Conference: Mass Torts Made Perfect
• HP Litigation Asbestos Seminar – Outline for Punitive Damages Presentation
• Philadelphia Bar Association: Mass Torts Seminar
• PALS – Las Vegas, Asbestos Litigation Seminar
• AAJ seminar – Litigating Toxic Tort (NJ)
• AAJ Seminar in NYC, Litigating Toxic Tort
• AAJ Asbestos Litigation Group – The Case Against VIOXX

New Jersey Mass Tort & Class Action Treatise- Editor In Chief (This nationally recognized Treatise published by the Bar Association is the product of the work of more than 50 of the most accomplished and distinguished judges and lawyers in the country).

Christopher M. Placitella is the author of a bi-weekly newsletter, ‘The Mass Tort Update’, and has published numerous articles on trial practice, mass tort class action, mesothelioma and asbestos litigation. Mr. Placitella’s career has been commemorated a number of times in written works, including: Poison Pills, The Untold Story of the Vioxx Drug Scandal, Tom Nesi; Dispensing with the Truth: The Victims, the Drug Companies, and the Dramatic Story Behind the Battle over Fen-Phen, Alicia Mundy; Civil Warriors, the Story of the Tobacco Litigation, Dan Zeigart; No Contest, Corporate Lawyers & the Perversion of Justice in America, Ralph Nader.

Christopher M. Placitella, Ron Motley on How to Approach a Case, TRIAL MAGAZINE, July 2014.

Christopher M. Placitella and Justin Placitella, A Closer Look at Asbestos Cases, TRIAL MAGAZINE, Nov. 2011 at 27.

Christopher M. Placitella, Why Are Mesothelioma Cases in New Jersey Still on the Rise, NEW JERSEY LAWYER, Aug. 2011, at 16.

Placitella & Klein, The Civil Justice System Bridges the Great Divide in Consumer Protection, 43 Duq. L. Rev. 219 (2005).

Placitella & Darnell, Beshada v. Johns Manville Products Corp.: Evolution or Revolution in Strict Products Liability, 51 Fordham L. Rev. 801 (1983).

Christopher M. Placitella, 9-11: The Agony and the Aftermath, THE JOURNAL, Sept. 2011.

Christopher M. Placitella, Esq. 2015 New Jersey Mass Torts & Class Action Treatise, NJICLE, (2015).

Mr. Placitella volunteers his time to numerous consumer advocacy groups to fight for the rights of people who suffered because of corporate misconduct, including serving as Counsel for Consumers for Civil Justice. Mr. Placitella is also a founder of the Veterans Transition Initiative, and a Trustee of the Holidays for the Homeless and Underprivileged, Inc. organization.