Eric Chaffin

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About Eric Chaffin

Eric T. Chaffin is a Co-Founder and the Managing Partner of Chaffin Luhana. Mr. Chaffin comes from humble roots as the son of a steelworker and the first person in his family to attend college. Since 2003, he has focused his career on exclusively representing plaintiffs.

In 2010, Mr. Chaffin co-founded Chaffin Luhana with Roopal Luhana as a national, plaintiffs-only product liability and catastrophic personal injury firm with offices in New York City, Pittsburgh, Pa., and West Virginia.

In traditional product liability litigation, Mr. Chaffin has handled a wide array of cases against various types of manufacturers, with dozens of multimillion-dollar recoveries. In mass tort pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, Mr. Chaffin has been appointed by federal and state courts to various leadership positions in national plaintiffs’ litigation, including the Denture Cream Product Liability Litigation in the Southern District of Florida that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.

Mr. Chaffin also has extensive appellate experience in both civil and criminal cases. Mr. Chaffin has represented the government, organizations, and individuals before various state and federal appellate courts, including the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Prior to focusing exclusively on representing plaintiffs, Mr. Chaffin was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York. In that role, Mr. Chaffin prosecuted a wide variety of cases, including narcotics trafficking, organized crime, murder, racketeering, money laundering, immigration fraud, terrorism, arms trafficking, securities fraud, perjury, mail fraud, and wire fraud.

Before being a federal prosecutor, Mr. Chaffin was a federal district court law clerk, and was a corporate defense attorney with Reed Smith LLP in Pittsburgh—a large international corporate defense firm. There, he represented Fortune 500 companies in criminal investigations, defended a number of class actions, and tried an age discrimination case to a successful defense verdict. While Mr. Chaffin values the perspective his defense work at Reed Smith provided him, the more extensive work he does these days—for survivors—is in keeping with his humble roots and personal values.

Mr. Chaffin maintains residences with his family in Connecticut and the Greater Pittsburgh area, splitting time between the firm’s offices. When Mr. Chaffin is not managing the firm or working with his clients, he enjoys time with his family, endurance sports, hiking, fishing, skiing, and traveling. Mr. Chaffin is an avid cyclist, runner and swimmer. He is currently an Ironman All World Athlete (top 10% points ranking in the world for the 140.6-mile and individual 70.3-mile triathlon distances in his age group), a former Ironman 70.3 All World Athlete (top 10% points ranking in the world for the 70.3-mile triathlon in his age group), a New York City Marathon finisher and has competed in RAIN (a 161-mile bike race across Indiana).

Select Successes

• Co-Lead Counsel and Co-Liaison Counsel In Re: Denture Cream Litigation, which resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for individual plaintiffs
• Served on the plaintiff’s counsel committees in the multidistrict litigation involving defective Medtronic and Guidant heart devices in the District of Minnesota, which resulted in over $100 million and $240 million in settlements respectively
• 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, resulting in a confidential settlement
• $17.5 million class settlement against Dell and Dell Financial on behalf of defrauded consumers who were victimized by a “bait-and-switch” financing scheme
• $9 million single product liability settlement against a product manufacturer
• $3.8 million settlement for wrongful death caused by automobile defect against an auto manufacturer
• $2.5 million settlement for workplace wrongful death
• $2 million settlement for child burned by gel fuel
• $1.5 million settlement for two investors against a broker for losses from unsuitable investments
• $1 million settlement for two individuals injured in an ATV accident
• $800,000 settlement for foot fractures from an auto accident
• $750,000 settlement for a concussion from an auto accident
• $435,000 settlement for a cervical fracture from a single-car auto crash
• $300,000 settlement for a shoulder tear from a trucking accident

Areas of Practice

• Automobile Accidents
• Trucking Accidents
• Product Liability
• Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Mass Torts
• Premises Liability
• Whistleblower
• Workplace Injuries

Bar Admissions

• State of New York
• State of Ohio
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• State of West Virginia
• State of Connecticut
• United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
• United States District Court, Northern District of New York
• United States District Court, Southern District of New York
• United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court, Southern District of West Virginia
• United States District Court, Northern District of West Virginia
• United States District Court, Southern Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• United States District Court, Southern Court of Appeals, Third Circuit