Chris Carton has a national trial practice with deep roots in New Jersey. Chris, a third generation New Jersey lawyer, served as law clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Daniel O’Hern in the final year of the Court under legendary Chief Justice Robert Wilentz. For more than 25 years, companies have turned to Chris in New Jersey, New York and nationally with pressing matters of often unusual complexity in the areas of product liability, catastrophic personal injury and commercial litigation.
Chris is a first chair trial attorney with deep trial experience in a wide range of matters. Chris has appeared as lead counsel in 27 trials and has obtained 18 verdicts, 10 of which were jury verdicts. He has taken jury verdicts in a range of catastrophic personal injury matters, including matters involving permanently disabling spinal disc injuries and permanent traumatic brain injuries (TBI). His commercial verdicts have involved “Bet the Company” litigations, including obtaining a $220 million judgment and over $3 million in legal fees in the Delaware Court of Chancery based on a counter-party’s breach of a covenant to negotiate in good faith a license agreement for a biodefense drug.
Chris routinely defends pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products manufacturers in consolidated proceedings, mass torts and MDL proceedings and as lead counsel in class actions. He has been lead trial counsel in consolidated litigations involving an osteoporosis drug, recalled birth control pills, urinalysis analyzers, drug testing assays and Zantac. His mass tort experience extends to matters involving alleged exposure to a variety of toxins, including mold, asbestos and talc claims.
Since 2009, Chris has been designated by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, a designation presently held by less than 3% of all licensed New Jersey attorneys and reserved for those who have demonstrated an “unblemished reputation” for “character and ability” in civil trial practice.