Lisa Ann T. Ruggiero

Lisa acts as lead counsel in complex litigations across multiple jurisdictions. She has extensive experience representing clients in consumer fraud and putative class actions, as well as managing the defense of mass tort actions and personal injury cases involving catastrophic injuries and deaths. Lisa’s clients span various industries, including telecommunications, chemical, pharmaceutical, industrial, financial services, health care, and consumer products.

Lisa routinely serves as national coordinating counsel for clients facing high-stakes litigation in parallel cases and multi-district litigation. She defends cases involving commercial disputes, as well as state consumer fraud statutes, professional negligence, product liability, and toxic exposures, including high-profile substances like benzene, DES, PCBs, Agent Orange, and asbestos. Her role often involves addressing issues of state and federal immunities, emergent conditions, causation, and managing negative press during public crises.

Lisa has extensive motion practice, including class certification and Daubert motions, coupled with experience in settlement negotiations, arbitrations, and mediations. She brings a comprehensive approach to litigation, including managing large-scale document collections and preparing experts for trial.

• National COVID-19 counsel for a nationwide insurance company providing advice and coordinating and managing litigation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the company and its insureds.
• National counsel for a consumer product company providing counsel, coordination, and management of litigation arising from benzene exposure.
• National GranuFlo/NaturaLyte Dialysis Litigation: Served as national coordinating counsel for DaVita Healthcare Partners, one of the nation’s largest dialysis providers, for more than five years, defending the company in a federal putative class action involving patients and family members of deceased patients alleging numerous claims, including violations of various consumer fraud acts under laws of various states and professional negligence, with regard to the dialysis that the patients received. In addition, she managed the company’s defense in various state court actions filed throughout the U.S. by coordinating and overseeing local counsel in those cases and working to ensure uniform positions were taken with regard to pleadings, defense strategy, discovery responses, deposition testimony, motion practice, settlement, and trial strategy. She assisted the company in managing related federal multi-district litigation. Class certification of a class of as many of 300,000 members was defeated. Claims and plaintiffs were also trimmed during the course of the litigation by motion practice and settlement.
• WTC Debris Removal Litigation: Defense of the city of New York and more than 150 contractors in state and federal court against more than 10,000 personal injury claims arising from the rescue, recovery, debris removal, and cleanup operations following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Krajina Class Action Litigation: Defense of a private military contractor against claims of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity brought via the Alien Tort Statute in federal court.
• Y2K Class Action Litigation: Served as counsel to AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Avaya in actions filed in New York, New Jersey, California, and West Virginia alleging consumer fraud in the sale of business communications systems.
• The Hertz Corporation: Served as counsel defending putative consumer fraud class actions brought in New York and New Jersey, alleging, inter alia, consumer fraud relating to fees, service charges, and terms of rental agreements. Dismissals without class certification was achieved.
• DES Litigation: Defended a pharmaceutical company in numerous product liability actions involving the manufacture of DES in New York, Ohio, Washington, and Kentucky.
• Renewed Agent Orange Class Action Litigation: Represented a biotechnology company against a class of Vietnamese citizens alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity brought via the Alien Tort Statute in connection with the manufacture and use of military herbicides used during the Vietnam War.
• Defense of several securitized student loan trusts in class action litigation.
• Defended chemical and other manufacturers against numerous toxic tort actions alleging damages for personal injuries and death and seeking medical monitoring in cases involving PCBs, asbestos, acrylonitrile, benzene, and benzidene in various state and federal courts.
• Served as health and science counsel for a major sports entertainment corporation in connection with respiratory claims allegedly incurred during the renovation of its landmark sporting arena.
• Defended a manufacturer of consumer products, children’s toys, and playground equipment in product liability actions in various jurisdictions.
• Defended a company in a federal action brought by individuals seeking class certification based on alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

• New Jersey Law Journal, Top Women in Law (2016)
• New Jersey Law Journal, Liability Litigation Department of the Year (2015)
• Super Lawyers® New Jersey Rising Star, Personal Injury Defense: Products (2008)
• New Jersey Law Journal, 40 under 40 (2007)