MICHAEL B. SENA is a member of the firm’s litigation department, specializing in toxic tort defense, products liability, commercial, and medical malpractice litigation. He has tried over forty (40) cases in the state and federal courts in New York and New Jersey.

He served as regional trial counsel for a Fortune 500 company in its mass tort asbestos litigations in New York (both personal injury and property damage), and was involved in the defense of 5,000 personal injury cases and multi-billion dollar property damage cases. He was also involved in large mass asbestos consolidations involving 500 personal injury cases at a time. He is fully familiar with the handling and conduct of mass tort litigation. He instituted a national program to expand the base of asbestos litigation in an effort to minimize the share of liability for the client. He previously successfully defended a major asbestos manufacturer in 22 consolidated asbestos cases and obtained defense verdicts in those cases in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, the largest group of defense verdicts ever returned in asbestos litigation. He has also tried numerous other complex asbestos and toxic tort cases on medical and liability issues.

He has also litigated a wide range of other types of products liability cases, including chemical burns, fires, explosions, mechanical products, and other toxic exposures, such as benzene, lead and other substances. He has developed the law on federal preemption of state warning claims in the State of New York, an important defense in the products field. Because of his expertise on medical causation issues, he has also tried numerous medical malpractice cases, such as cases involving the diagnosis and treatment of breast, colon and prostate cancers. He has also handled complex warranty claims, Labor Law actions, commercial litigation, and premises liability claims.

Published works include:
Lead Paint Litigation in New York, 66 N.Y.S.B.J. 112 (1984)
Sorting Out the Complexities of Lead Paint Poisoning Cases, 4 Journal of Affordable Housing 169 (1995)
Successor Liability Under New York Products Liability Law, N.Y.L.J. 10/31/07

Representative Reported Cases include:
In Re Joint Eastern and Southern District Asbestos Litigation (Cluster 12), 762 F.Supp. 519 (S.D.N.Y. 1991);
Milanese v. Rust-Oleum Corp., 244 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 2001);
State Farm Insurance Company a/s/o James and Amy Klopp v. Kop-Coat, Inc., 2006 U.S. App. Lexis 12977 (2d Cir. 2006);
Grace Willis v. Westin Hotel, Co., et al., 884 F.2d 1556 (2d Cir. 1989);
Freddy Liz v. William Zinsser & Co., 253 A.D.2d 413 (2d Dept. 1998);
Monique Moreau v. RPM, Inc., et al., 20 A.D.3d 456 (2d Dept. 2005);
World Trade Knitting Mills, Inc. v. Honeywell, Inc., 154 A.D.2d 99 (2d Dept. 1990);
Georgia –Pacific Corporation v. Multimark’s Int., Ltd., 265 A.D.2d 109 (1st Dept. 2000);
Elvira Smith v. Temco Services Industries, Inc., 267 A.D.2d 176 (1^st Dept. 1999);
Nitza Turner-Schraeter v. Brighton Travel Bureau, Inc., 258 A.D.2d 393 (1^st Dept. 1999).

Education
Juris Doctor, St. John’s University School of Law, 1980
Cum Laude
American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Evidence

Admissions
State of New York
United Stated District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
State of New Jersey
United States District Court, District of New Jersey
United States Supreme Court

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