John P. Freedenberg

John P. Freedenberg

Partner

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John Freedenberg concentrates his practice in the areas of products liability, catastrophic personal injury, and intellectual property litigation as a partner of the firm. He has handled over 150 trials, 100 of them to verdict, and has had many summary judgments granted making trial unnecessary.

Jack serves as national coordinating counsel for two major manufacturers, and he has handled the defense of numerous products liability actions around the United States. These have included catastrophic personal injury cases and major fire damage cases, and they have involved appliances, household products, controls, power generating and other heavy equipment, high-end products, lift trucks, electrical systems, and aircraft engines.

As a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI), Jack provides Goldberg Segalla clients with a strong competitive advantage in litigation involving damage and injury from fires. He is actively and deeply involved in the investigation phase of each fire case, and in the courtroom, he brings the weight of fire investigation credentials that often match or exceed those of opposing expert witnesses. He has participated in dozens of fire scene inspections and more than 100 laboratory inspections of fire scene artifacts, and he has conducted hundreds of depositions and dozens of trials in fire-related cases. Administered by the National Association of Fire Investigators through its National Certification Board, CFEI is the largest fire investigator certification program in the world. 

Jack has also had the unique opportunity to depose plaintiffs' experts in a wide range of specialties, and he has developed proven techniques for disqualifying "junk science" purveyors under applicable rules of evidence. He utilizes cutting-edge technology and unique strategies in order to, for example, enter into high/low agreements, and achieve the best possible outcome for clients.  

Honors
  • AV Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
  • Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition
  • Selected for inclusion in  New York Super Lawyers  
  • Named to Business First's Who's Who in Law
Professional Affiliations
  • National Association of Fire Investigators: Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI)
  • Defense Research Institute: Products Liability Committee (Immediate Past National Chair, Steering Committee) 
  • New York State Bar Association
  • Erie County Bar Association: Special Service Award, 1998; Bar Revue
Admitted to Practice
  • New York
  • U.S. District Courts for the Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of New York
Education
  • State University of New York at Buffalo, B.S., magna cum laude, 1981
  • State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Law, J.D., 1984 (Robert J. Connelly Trial Technique Award)
Publications/Presentations
  • Quoted in “Have a Cow: Lessons Learned as a Litigator,” Buffalo Law Journal, July 18, 2011
  • Presenter and Author, "Optional Features for the Safely-Designed Product - Defeating Claims Against the Manufacturer and Dealer," Defense Research Institute, 2010
  • Co-Author, "Frye 'Em: Jury Psychology Can Undermine Plaintiffs' Expert Witnesses," For the Defense, Defense Research Institute, December 2007
  • Presenter and Author, "Using Combustion Toxicology in the Defense of Fire Cases," Defense Research Institute, 2006
  • Presenter, "Daubert v. Merrell Dow: A Decade of Developments in the Admissibility of Expert Testimony," Defense Research Institute, 2004
  • Presenter, The Rhode Island Nightclub Fire: Mass Tort and Federal Jurisdiction Implications, Defense Research Institute, 2004
  • Co-Author, "Expert Discovery, Depositions and Motions to Exclude Experts," Chapter 6, Preparing For and Trying the Civil Lawsuit, second edition, New York State Bar Association, 2004
  • Presenter, "Effective Strategies for Excluding Plaintiffs' Experts," Defense Research Institute, 2003
  • Co-Author, "Expert Depositions and Motions to Exclude Experts," For the Defense, Defense Research Institute, 2003
  • Chair and Co-Author, "Defending the Catastrophic Burn Injury Case," Defense Research Institute, 2002
  • Chair and Co-Author, "Products Liability Post-Kuhmo Tire: Strategy and Practice," New York State Bar Association Seminar, 1999
  • Chair and Author, "Products Liability in New York: Strategy and Practice," New York State Bar Association Seminar, 1997
  • Co-Author, "Defense Counsel's Approach to Cross-Examination in the Post-Daubert Era," For The Defense, Defense Research Institute, 1996
  • Co-Author, "Finding the Facts in Products Liability Litigation," For The Defense, Defense Research Institute, 1996
View Publications/Presentations