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svangelder@goldbergsegalla.com
716.566.5463
Buffalo
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Susan E. Van Gelder

Partner

svangelder@goldbergsegalla.com
716.566.5463
Buffalo

Susan E. Van Gelder concentrates her practice on toxic tort, product liability, and general litigation, maintaining a primary focus on defending clients in complex asbestos cases. With 20 years of experience representing manufacturers of asbestos-containing equipment and component parts in lawsuits spanning the Northeast, Susan uses her deep well of practical knowledge of asbestos litigation to develop tailored defense strategies, ensure consistency in representation, and find expedited paths to resolution. In addition, Susan represents clients involved in exposure to silica, lead paint, and other toxic materials and substances. She also handles matters involving municipal law, general negligence, and premises liability. She has extensive appellate experience, having successfully argued appeals before New York’s intermediate Appellate Courts and the New York Court of Appeals. She has also successfully tried cases to verdict.

Susan writes about asbestos litigation for Goldberg Segalla’s award-winning Asbestos Case Tracker, which was recently named to the ABA Journal‘s prestigious Blawg 100 and named the Best Litigation Blog for 2016 by the Expert Institute.

 

Related Areas

Toxic TortProduct Liability

Experience Highlights

Susan has handled thousands of asbestos cases over the course of her career—hands-on experience that translates into relationships with the country’s foremost experts and a proven ability to find the right witnesses (oftentimes, decades after the initial exposure) to best defend her clients’ interests. One of the hallmarks of Susan’s proactive approach to asbestos litigation is her ability to isolate what works—or what doesn’t work—in a given matter and apply it, where appropriate, over time. Susan builds cumulative defense strategies that ultimately help clients better anticipate legal costs and, where possible, avoid protracted litigation.

Honors & Awards

Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: AV Preeminent

Upstate New York Super Lawyers, 2013–20

Top 25: Women Upstate New York Super Lawyers, 2016–18

Business First‘s Legal Elite of Western New York, 2017

Business First Who’s Who in Law (Civil Litigation)

Admissions

  • New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York

Education

  • State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, J.D., 1997
  • State University of New York at Oswego, B.S., cum laude, 1994

Professional Affiliations

  • Defense Research Institute (DRI)
    • Women in the Law Committee
    • Professional Liability Expert Witness Steering Committee: Chair
    • Lawyers’ Professionalism and Ethics Committee
    • Planning and Marketing Committees, Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Seminar
    • Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee: Past Member
    • Annual Meeting: Co-Chair, 2007–08
    • Seminar Planning Committee, 2007–08
    • Publications and Newsletter: Chair, 2008-2010

Publications & Events

  • Co-Author, “Defense Strategies for Alternative Causation Arguments in Asbestos Cases,” Mealey’s, August 29, 2018
  • Co-Author, “Asbestos Litigation: Alive and Strong,” DRI Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Compendium, Spring 2017
  • Co-Author, “NYS Court of Appeals Makes Significant Duty-To-Warn Decision,” Business First, August 17, 2016
  • Co-Author, “Non-Traditional Asbestos Litigation: New Products and Industries in the Crosshairs,” Mealey’s Litigation Report: Asbestos, November 19, 2014
  • Co-Author, “Asbestos Litigation: Alive and Strong in 2014,” For the Defense, Defense Research Institute, April 2014
  • Co-Author, “Lung Disease From Microwave Popcorn Flavoring? Searching for Kernels of Truth in the Litigation ‘Maize,’” For the Defense, Defense Research Institute, November 2008
  • Co-Author, “Causation in Mold Cases: Pointers for Defending Exposure Claims,” Defense Research Institute’s Library Series Publication, Exploring Toxic Tort and Environmental Liability Claims, 2007
  • Co-Author, ”The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Decision in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York on Sovereign Immunity,” New York State Bar Association, Torts, Insurance & Compensation Law Section Journal, Summer 2006
  • “New Approaches to Alternative Causation: Radiation and Environmental Exposures,” DALS Conference, New Orleans, LA, June 26, 2019-June 28, 2019
  • Presenter, “Alternative Causes of Mesothelioma: Erionite and Other Minerals (Part 3 of 3),” GS Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Webinar, November 29, 2018

Recent Insights

Super Lawyers Honors 68 of Goldberg Segalla’s Upstate New York Attorneys in 2020

August 24, 2020

Super Lawyers Honors Nearly Two-Thirds of Goldberg Segalla’s Upstate New York Attorneys

August 13, 2019

Sixty-One Goldberg Segalla Attorneys Featured in 2018 Upstate New York Super Lawyers

August 13, 2018

"Defense Strategies for Alternative Causation Arguments in Asbestos Cases," Mealey's

August 29, 2018

Goldberg Segalla Attorneys Honored in 2017 Legal Elite

September 2017

Goldberg Segalla Attorneys Listed in 2017 Upstate New York Super Lawyers

August 2017

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