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Eric T. Chaffin
Eric T. Chaffin is a first generation lawyer and the son of a steelworker. Originally from West Vriginia, Mr. Chaffin and his wife moved to New York City in 1999 for him to take a position as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York. There, Mr. Chaffin was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Office's Business and Securities Fraud Unit and tried multiple cases and argued various appeals before the Second Circuit. Some of Mr. Chaffin’s more notable white collar cases included the highly publicized Computer Associates International and Symbol Technologies accounting and securities fraud prosecutions (over $1.2 billion and $200 million respectively). As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Chaffin was also lead trial counsel in numerous criminal trials, including a successful securities fraud manipulation trial involving over $20 million in investor losses.
In private practice, Mr. Chaffin now exclusively represents injured plaintiffs in litigation and he focuses on mass torts and securities litigation. On May 5, 2009, Mr. Chaffin was interviewed by ABC's Good Morning America about the denture cream lawsuits, along with one of his clients, Ellen Isaacs.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Chaffin was a litigator with Reed Smith LLP, where he represented Fortune 500 companies in a variety of individual and class actions. There, he also tried various arbitrations and administrative hearings and second chaired the successful defense of an age discrimination case to verdict. Mr. Chaffin was also a lead attorney on a habeas corpus petition that resulted in the reversal of a death sentence for a Pennsylvania death row inmate. In 1997, Mr. Chaffin took leave from Reed Smith to clerk for the Honorable D. Brooks Smith of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who was since appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2003, Mr. Chaffin joined Seeger Weiss LLP, where as a Partner his practice focused on individual and class securities fraud actions, consumer protection litigation and mass torts. Mr. Chaffin joined Bernstein Liebhard LLP as a Partner in 2008, where he heads up the firm's pharmaceutical and health care-related litigation on behalf of the firm’s individual and health and welfare fund clients.
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"Bernstein Liebhard is fortunate to have such a dynamic trial attorney... I know first-hand that Eric is exceptional when it comes to putting together a case and he has the compassion, tenacity and skills as a litigator to battle the largest corporations and win." Graham Handyside, VP of Global Operations, WG Security Products |
In the area of mass torts, Mr. Chaffin represents consumers in various litigations. In particular, for example, Mr. Chaffin represents consumers who have suffered hematological and neurological injuries allegedly caused from denture cream and are pursuing denture cream lawsuits, including Fixodent lawsuits and Poligrip lawsuits. Mr. Chaffin is the court-appointed Co-Liaison Counsel of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Denture Adhesive Cream Mass Tort Program and the court-appointed State-Federal Liaison Counsel and a member of the Plaintiff Steering Committee (PSC) in the federal denture cream MDL litigation. Mr. Chaffin is also working with women who have suffered severe Yaz side effects and Yasmin side effects from the popular birth control pills, helping them pursue Yaz lawsuits and Yasmin lawsuits.
Mr. Chaffin further represents various third-party payor self-insured funds, including the NYPD Detective Endowment Association, Inc. health and welfare funds, in pharmaceutical ligiation.
Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Chaffin has represented a public health advocate, physicians and third-party payor health and welfare funds as amici supporting consumers in Wyeth v. Levine, which is a key Supreme Court case upholding the rights of consumers to sue pharmaceutical companies for injuries caused by dangerous drugs. Mr. Chaffin also represented AARP in the Zyprexa third-party payor class certification appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Chaffin’s past plaintiff representations in the areas of securities, mass torts and consumer protection litigation include, among other matters, the following:
- A personal injury action against asbestos manufacturers on behalf of his father and his father’s estate when his father, who was a union steelworker and carpenter, was diagnosed and subsequently died from lung cancer that was caused from asbestos exposure. The case settled on the eve of trial for a confidential amount.
- Plaintiffs’ counsel committees in the multidistrict litigation pertaining to defective Medtronic and Guidant heart devices in the District of Minnesota, which settled for over $100 million and $240 million respectively.
- Co-lead counsel in a $17.5 million settlement with Dell and Dell Financial Services on behalf of defrauded consumers who were victimized by a “bait and switch" financing scheme.
- Lead counsel for a Para-Olympic skier in an NASD arbitration against her former broker for unsuitable investments. The case was particularly significant because the financial losses were in a trust that was comprised of proceeds from a personal injury lawsuit that were meant to support the client after she lost her legs in an auto accident at a young age. The case settled for a significant confidential amount.
- Lead trial counsel for a California corporation in the Electronic Article Surveillance market in a David-and-Goliath type action for anti-competitive advertisements in violation of the Lanham Act in California federal court, which settled for a confidential amount on the eve of trial.
- Counsel in In re IPO Securities Litigation, which recently settled for $586 million.
Mr. Chaffin received his B.A. from West Virginia University, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and was both an Arts & Sciences Scholar and a University Honors Scholar. He received his J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law, graduating cum laude. At Washington & Lee, Mr. Chaffin was a Staff Writer for the W&L Environmental Law Digest, was Chairman of the Davis Moot Court Board and tried three significant federal criminal cases to verdict with the Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Chaffin served as an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School in 2002, where he taught in the areas of federal prosecutions and trial advocacy. He has also authored various articles, including: “De-Escalate the Expert Discovery Wars," AAJ Trial Magazine (June 2008); “Higher Education Law: The Relationship with the Faculty," The Law of Higher Education, Pa. Bar. Inst. (1997); “Review of Third Circuit Antitrust Cases (May 1993-May 1995)" 1001 Antitrust Challenges in the 90’s: Enforcement Reaches New Heights, Pa. Bar. Inst. (1995). Mr. Chaffin further has lectured on various topics. Most recently in March 2009 he lectured on off-label marketing of pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices at a symposium held by the Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology.
Mr. Chaffin has been interviewed by the national press, including the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, regarding investor fraud lawsuits and mass torts litigation. Mr. Chaffin has also appeared on CNBC's Power Lunch, Lawline.com, ABC's Good Morning America, Court Radio and Fox radio regarding mass torts and securities fraud litigations.
Mr. Chaffin is admitted to the Bars of the States of New York and West Virginia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Southern District of West Virginia. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits.
Mr. Chaffin currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Alexander and Buono Competitions, which are voice and piano competitions designed to help launch the careers of students completing musical studies, as well as emerging artists. Mr. Chaffin further organizes the Edison T. Chaffin, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, which is a scholarship created in the name of his late father that is given annually to a graduating senior from Oak Glen High School in West Virginia. Mr. Chaffin and his family reside in Rye, New York.
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