Samuel Goldblatt

What do you focus on?

I leverage my more than 30 years of experience to help clients manage their complex and high-stakes disputes with other businesses, individuals and governmental agencies. My practice focuses on three main areas.

Products Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions

I’ve represented manufacturers in a wide range of civil cases arising from alleged product defects and failures and have tried more than 25 cases to verdict in courts across the United States. In 2012, my team defended a propane tank manufacturer in wrongful death and personal injury actions arising from separate fires in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania that resulted in the largest settlements in those Commonwealths in 2012. We also recently concluded a class action in the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana involving more than a half million diesel engines.

Business Tort, Fraud, Civil Conspiracy, Breach of Contract and Warranty

I’ve defended several major businesses accused of civil fraud, industry-wide conspiracy and breach of contract. Recently, my team completed the successful defense of more than 50 lawsuits seeking money damages for alleged participation in an industry-wide conspiracy to keep secret the health effects of an alleged chemical carcinogen. The cases were commenced in various courts around the country and the litigation spanned more than a decade. We are currently defending a coatings manufacturer in a breach of contract and fraud action in the District Court of Massachusetts seeking money damages for alleged unlawful termination of a licensing, supply and market development agreement.

Strategic Litigation Counseling

I provide strategic counseling regarding dispute resolution and adaptation of project management discipline to legal cases and projects to maximize results while minimizing costs.

What do you see on the horizon?

Since 2008, I’ve been actively following the impact of the financial and debt crisis on how businesses manage legal matters and the growing pressure on general counsels to achieve equal or better results at less cost. In response, I’ve led Nixon Peabody’s efforts to apply legal project management to re-engineer the way we deliver services and make expanded use of contingent, fixed and other alternative fee arrangements.

Publications and Presentations

• Coauthor and Presenter, “Product Liability: Pitfalls for the Unwary,” Terralex Annual Meeting, October 9, 2004.
• Coauthor, “Early Case Evaluation in Motor Vehicle Product Liability Litigation,” Product Safety & Liability Reporter, July 12, 2004.
• Coauthor (with Joseph Leghorn, A. Damien Puller, Jacob J. Herstek), "The Use of Epidemiology in Tort Litigation: A Survey of Federal and State Jurisdictions (First Circuit)," ABA Section of Litigation (S. Scharf, J.D., Ph.D., ed.), June 2003.
• Coauthor, “Early Evaluation of Toxic Tort Cases,” DRI, For The Defense, September 2000.
• Coauthor (with Clayton M. Peimer, M.D.), “Medical Malpractice: Perspective of the Physicians Team,” Chapter 62 in Orthopedic Surgery, The Essentials, 1999.
• Coauthor (with Eric L. Stone), “Consumer Product Safety Primer: An Industry Guide to the Regulatory System,” LRP Publications, 1998.
• Coauthor, “Making the Argument for Increased Use of In-House Experts to Defend Warnings Cases,” Product Safety & Liability Reporter, Volume 22, No. 1, January 7, 1994.
• Coauthor, “Consumer Product Reporting Requirements: New and Improved!” American Bar Association, The Brief, Vol. 22 No. 2, Winter 1993.
• Coauthor, “Ex Parte Interviews of Enterprise Employees,” DRI, For The Defense, Vol. 35, No. 2, February 1993. Originally presented at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, Ethical Considerations in Product Liability Litigation, August 12, 1992.
• Coauthor, “A Cost-Effective Approach to Defending Products Liability Litigation,” DRI, For The Defense, October 1992.
• Coauthor, “Consumer Product Reporting Requirements: The CPSC’s Final Interpretive Rules for Section 37 and Amended Section 15(b),” BNA, Product Liability & Safety Reporter, Vol. 20 No. 34 (p. 954), August 28, 1992.
• Coauthor and lecturer, “Cost Effectiveness in Product Liability Litigation,” presented at the New York State Bar Association Fall 1991 Complex Product Liability Seminar.
• Commentator and coauthor, “Products Liability: 1990 Survey,” American Bar Association Torts and Insurance Law Journal, Vol XXVI, No. 2, Winter 1991.
• Commentator and coauthor, “Products Liability: 1989 Survey,” American Bar Association Torts and Insurance Law Journal, Vol XXV, No. 2, Winter 1990.
• Coauthor and lecturer, “Recent Developments in the Crashworthiness Action, Litigation Trends for the 1990’s and Beyond,” Practising Law Institute, Crashworthiness Litigation Seminar in New York City and San Francisco, October 1989.
• Coauthor, “Complex Product Liability: Proving and Defending the Product Liability Case in the 1990’s,” presented at the New York State Bar Association 1989 Product Liability Seminar in New York, Syracuse, and Buffalo.
• Commentator and coauthor, “Products Liability: 1988 Survey,” American Bar Association Torts and Insurance Law Journal, Vol. XXIV, No. 2, Winter 1989.
• Coauthor and lecturer, “Tort Reform and Product Liability Statutes of Repose,” presented at the 1988 Midyear Meeting of the American Bar Association, TIPS, Products, General Liability, and Consumer Law Committee.
• Coauthor, “Initial Client Interview—The Defendant,” “Defenses to Product Liability Actions,” and “Punitive Damage Claims,” chapters 2, 15, and 23, respectively, in Matthew Bender, Product Liability Practice Guide, 1988.
• Coauthor, “Litigating the Warning Case in New York: Implications for Defense Strategy,” Complex Product Liability, CLE, 1988.
• Coauthor, “Litigating the ‘Adequacy’ of Product Warnings and Instructions: The Defense Perspective,” Southern Methodist University’s Seventh Annual Symposium on Products Liability, 1986.
• Speaker, Mealey’s Toxic Tort Seminar, 1999, 2000.
• Speaker, American Law Institute-American Bar Association Annual Product Liability Seminar, August 2000.
• Program Co-Chair, “Failure to Warn: Product Warnings, Instructions and User Information,” sponsored by the American Bar Association, September 19–20, 1996, Washington, DC, and January 20–21, 1994, Washington, DC.
• Program Co-Chair, “Consumer Safety and Industry Compliance with the New Reporting Requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Commission: A Blueprint for Cooperation in the 90’s,” co-sponsored by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Bar Association, November 12–13, 1992 (San Diego, CA), January 28-29, 1993 (Washington, D.C.)