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WHEN IT COMES TO HIGH-STAKES LITIGATION, preeminent trial lawyer Benedict Morelli has a proven track record of success�including a history of precedent-setting verdicts�across a wide array of practice areas.
�WE REALLY TRY TO STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE in terms of handling new cases and helping people in different areas,� Morelli says. �The diversity in our practice is unique for a firm of our size, but it’s possible because we have a level of experience in the courtroom that many other law firms just don’t have�it’s a major advantage, and the reason we can litigate important cases against substantial opponents and win.�
OVER ITS HISTORY, MORELLI LAW FIRM HAS handled many high-profile cases, representing victims of negligence, discrimination, and harassment against some of the largest law firms and corporations in the world. The firm’s matters have ranged from cases of workplace sexual harassment to catastrophic personal injury to defective drugs and medical devices, and the firm is constantly expanding into new fields.
�THIS FIRM WAS FOUNDED TO REPRESENT people in need of a voice, and instead of just staying the same and handling one type of case, we’ve made a point of moving into new areas where we can deliver on our original mission,� Morelli says.
MOST RECENTLY, THE FIRM REPRESENTED actor and comedian Tracy Morgan and five others in their lawsuit against Wal-Mart over a New Jersey highway crash that killed one man and left Morgan and two others seriously injured. The case resolved in a confidential settlement in May 2015, just ten months after the initial filling, and Morelli notes that the result has since brought a measure of closure to the tragedy.
�THIS WAS A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT WHERE a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer rear-ended Tracy and his group’s limousine van, flipping the van and leaving Tracy close to death. He fought hard to recover though, and it helps that with this settlement, Wal-Mart has taken responsibility for the crash.�
AMONG ITS OTHER RECENT VICTORIES, MORELLI Law Firm has secured a number of significant verdicts, including an award of $62 million in December 2014 for a 26-year-old Chinese construction worker, who was injured on the job after falling 20 feet from a roof while installing metal siding. The result, which followed a six-month trial, is believed to be the largest personal injury verdict for a single plaintiff in the history of the Queens County Supreme Court.
IN ANOTHER HIGH-PROFILE CASE, the firm obtained an $18 million jury verdict in June 2015 for a young woman against her boss, a Wall Street CEO, in a sexual harassment, retaliation, and defamation lawsuit. As part of the verdict, the jury awarded the firm’s client $2 million in compensatory damages to account for her emotional injuries and the damage to her reputation, and $16 million in punitive damages.
�TRYING CASES HAS BECOME a lost art because our world is based more on mediation and arbitration than litigation,� Morelli notes. �But our firm was established to handle cases from start to finish, and as these results prove, our trial experience has allowed us to help many victims of corporate America’s negligence, misfeasance, and malfeasance.�
THE FIRM, WHICH HANDLES MASS TORTS, class actions, and individual cases in jurisdictions across the country, is currently serving in a leadership role in a number of large-scale pharmaceutical cases, including litigation against the manufacturers of testosterone replacement therapy medication and the drug Propecia, which the FDA approved to treat male pattern hair loss. Morelli Law Firm is also representing numerous catastrophically injured clients in the multidistrict litigation over the May 2015 Amtrak crash, where eight people died and more than 200 suffered injuries after a train derailed during its route from Washington, D.C. to New York.
�THE AMTRAK CASE PRESENTS UNIQUE issues because in 1997 Congress imposed a statutory ceiling that caps damages at $200 million, and with more than 200 people affected by the crash, that amount will not fully compensate every single one of the plaintiffs,� Morelli says. �So we’ve been leading the charge to get that case resolved and help raise the arbitrary and unjust cap.�
BEYOND ITS MASS TORTS PRACTICE, Morelli Law Firm continues to represent individuals in high-profile personal injury cases: The firm is currently representing women’s professional tennis player Eugenie Bouchard�who was ranked top five in the world in 2014� in her lawsuit against the United States Tennis Association and National Tennis Center over a head injury she sustained from a fall during the 2015 U.S. Open, which occurred in the center’s physiotherapy room. Bouchard was forced to withdraw from the tournament following the injury, and has been unable to play in the numerous subsequent tournaments. The Defendants’ negligence has put her in jeopardy of losing significant earnings, including earnings from her various endorsements such as Nike, Rolex and Coca Cola.
�WE’RE NOT A RUN-OF-THE-MILL FIRM where we do the same medical malpractice cases and the same personal injury cases,� Morelli observes. �Many of the matters that come to us are high-value, prominent cases, and that’s because we offer the expertise and experience of a larger law firm in a smaller environment that ensures each case receives our full attention.�