Printable FormatAbbie Eliasberg Fuchs
Member
Ms. Fuchs is a member of the firm. She practices in the Mass Torts and Industry-Wide Litigation and the Insurance Litigation and Product Liability Defense Practice Groups and the Medical and Life Sciences Industry Team. Her practice concentrates in the areas of toxic and mass tort litigation matters, product liability, and pharmaceutical defense on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, insurers and their insureds. Ms. Fuchs is national coordinating counsel for asbestos litigation and DES litigation and represents manufacturers and distributors of asbestos containing products and major drug manufacturers and distributors on national defense counsel committees. She has developed innovative methodologies and processes for communication to clients and other stakeholders which convey information in a consistent and reliable manner, facilitating and solidifying relationships between clients, insureds and other stakeholders. This approach has benefitted clients in formulating and carrying out their litigation philosophy, whether it is based upon early dispositive motions, nominal settlement, mediation or trial-readiness.
Ms. Fuchs represents several environmental consultants and construction companies in actions filed by thousands of rescue and recovery workers who allegedly developed respiratory illnesses as a result of exposure to nanoparticles, heavy metals, asbestos, dusts, fuel oil and other toxins at and around Ground Zero. World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation (S.D.N.Y. Dockets 21-MC-100, 102, 103). She serves as a defense counsel representative on several key, select committees in the WTC litigation.
Ms. Fuchs defends personal injury matters involving electrocution and property damage claims on behalf of a nonprofit organization that acts as a communications link between utility companies and individuals planning digging or excavation activity in the five boroughs of New York City and Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island.
Ms. Fuchs defends claims involving chemical and toxic exposures, including indoor air pollution, sick building syndrome, silica, asbestos, personal insect repellants (DEET containing pesticides), and liquid drain cleaners. Specific areas of pharmaceutical experience include pregnancy preservation drugs (DES, Ritodrine), diet drugs (Fen-Phen), and nutritional supplements (LTryptophan). Ms. Fuchs defends complex, high value bodily injury cases involving breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, mesothelioma, respiratory illnesses, multiple chemical sensitivities, and infertility and reproductive health problems. Over the past decade, Ms. Fuchs has successfully mediated hundreds of serious injury and/or wrongful death cases.
Ms. Fuchs represents physician group practices, individual physicians, physical therapists, and other affiliated health care professionals in actions against healthcare insurance carriers.
Professional & Community Activities
Ms. Fuchs frequently lectures and publishes articles on topics of case management, Daubert and Frye, strategy in document-intensive mass tort litigation, causation, and class action. Ms. Fuchs also frequently lectures on all aspects of healthcare insurance law to physician group practices, physicians, and physical therapists, as well as provides HIPAA training. She lectures on the topics of “Workshop on Conflict Resolution: Patients, Providers, and the Managed Care Bureaucracy,” “Experimental Treatments and Managed Care,” and “Case Management and Reporting; Best Practices.” Ms. Fuchs’ recent published articles include “Breathing New Life into an Old, Alternative Causation Defense – Report on the Health Consequences of Smoking” and “The Daubert Dilemma Mushrooms Inconsistencies Between the States on Toxic Mold Claims.”
Ms. Fuchs is AV top-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is named one of New York’s top litigation attorneys by Avenue magazine. She has been selected for the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers 2011 inaugural edition recognizing those who achieved the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee, the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, the American Bar Association, as well as the New York Trial Lawyers Association. Ms. Fuchs serves as a member of the NCAA Women’s Committee on Sports.
