Goldberg Segalla LLP is pleased to announce that attorney Anita Hotchkiss, a partner in the firm’s Product Liability Practice Group, has received the prestigious William A. Dreier Award for Excellence in Product Liability Law (The Dreier Award) from the New Jersey State Bar Association. The award was presented by the Product Liability & Toxic Tort Section on February 19. It is given to an attorney noted for advancing the case of litigants in complex products liability cases.

Ms. Hotchkiss received The Dreier Award in recognition of her more than 35 years of experience defending companies and individuals in state and federal trial and appellate courts. She has represented clients in complex pharmaceutical, medical device, and other products liability cases, as well as mass torts, class actions, and medical and legal professional liability matters. She is one of the few attorneys in the country who has tried a medical monitoring class action, and is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney.

“Anita is a most deserving recipient of The Dreier Award,” said David S. Osterman, lead partner in Goldberg Segalla’s Princeton office. “She has been a role model throughout her career, achieving exceptional results for clients and blazing new paths in the complex practice of pharmaceutical products liability.”

Ms. Hotchkiss secured one of the first “junk science” dismissals in the country on the basis of Daubert v. Merrell Dow. She has been involved in other “cutting edge” cases involving recognition of the learned intermediary doctrine and the privilege of self-critical evaluation, as well as rejection of the theory of enterprise liability and the over-extension of consumer fraud acts to skirt the established tenets of liability. She has written several amicus briefs on behalf of the Product Liability Advisory Council in these and other cases of interest and importance to corporate defendants.

Ms. Hotchkiss is a graduate of Bates College, Rutgers Graduate School of Library Service, and Rutgers University School of Law.