Wilfred P. Coronato | McCarter & English, LLP

Wilfred Coronato is a first-chair trial lawyer and a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates. He focuses on civil litigation, with an emphasis on product liability and commercial litigation.

Will has extensive experience successfully trying cases and winning appeals in both state and federal courts. He has led the defense for numerous Fortune 500 companies and other sophisticated clients who trust him to consistently deliver favorable outcomes to their most challenging and high-stakes disputes.

Will’s notable achievements as lead trial counsel include securing a complete defense jury verdict victory on behalf of Pfizer and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in a Massachusetts federal action alleging that Wyeth’s diet drug caused the plaintiff to develop primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), a potentially fatal lung disease. As the first ever defense verdict in a fen-phen PPH case where a jury considered both liability and causation issues simultaneously, the victory was named 2015 Product Liability Impact Case of the Year by Legal Media Group Science Awards.

Will’s well-established record of securing positive outcomes in these high-stakes litigations also includes favorable jury verdicts for Lorillard Tobacco Company in high-value actions alleging addiction to nicotine caused smoking-related deaths, and jury verdicts in favor of healthcare providers in actions alleging significant personal injuries and wrongful death.

In addition to his trial and appellate work, Will has managed mass tort litigation in various state and federal courts. He led the national affirmative discovery effort on behalf of a major pharmaceutical company in litigation involving one of the company’s drugs. In doing so, Will developed and implemented efficient procedures relating to the discovery of over 60,000 claimants, saving the client millions of dollars in the process.

Over the course of his career, Will’s defense work has contributed to many precedent-setting published decisions, ranging from a New Jersey Supreme Court decision which upheld that excerpts of settling defendants’ interrogatory answers and their corporate representatives’ depositions were admissible into evidence to an appellate court decision holding that a blood center had no duty in January 1982 to implement high-risk screening procedures or testing for potentially HIV-infected donors based on the state of scientific knowledge at that time.

In recognition of his exceptional trial experience and achievements, Will was elected to the membership of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a nationwide organization of skilled practicing trial lawyers. Membership in this invitation-only organization requires significant jury trial experience and achievements, and carries considerable prestige among members of the bench and bar.

Will is a partner in McCarter’s nationally recognized Products Liability, Mass Torts and Consumer Class Actions practice group; Chambers USA has ranked McCarter as the sole Band 1 Product Liability Practice in New Jersey each year since 2015.

Rowe v. Bell & Gossett Company, et al., 239 N.J. 531 (2019) (upheld trial court’s admission in evidence of excerpts of settling defendants’ interrogatory answers and their corporate representatives’ depositions, resulting in reversal of Appellate Division decision and reinstatement of jury verdict apportioning fault to settling defendants)
Pop Test Cortisol LLC v. Merck & Co. Inc., 2014 WL 1660605 (NJ Super. Ct. App. Div. Apr. 28, 2014) (order compelling arbitration of all claims by the licensee of a cortisol-blocking drug against the licensor affirmed)
Heindel v. Pfizer Inc., 381 F.Supp.2d 364 (D.N.J. 2004) (summary judgment granted to pharmaceutical manufacturers in a putative class action in which plaintiffs claimed they paid inflated prices for prescription drugs due to the concealment of cardiac problems allegedly associated with the drugs)
Doe v. Greater New York Blood Program, 304 NJ Super. 287 (App. Div. 1997) (based on state of scientific knowledge blood center had no duty in January 1982 to implement high-risk screening procedures or testing for potentially HIV-infected donors)
Vitrano v. Schiffman, 305 NJ Super. 572 (App. Div. 1997) (dismissal of physicians affirmed where the plaintiff’s expert was unable to establish causation within medical probability)

Obtained jury verdict in favor of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in a fen-phen case alleging failure to warn of primary pulmonary hypertension.

Obtained favorable jury verdicts for Lorillard Tobacco Co. in two wrongful death actions alleging nicotine addiction resulting in lung cancer.

Obtained injunctive relief for a high net-worth client requiring the removal of all defamatory statements from an internet website.

Obtained jury verdict in favor of gynecologist in a wrongful death action alleging the failure to diagnose gynecological cancer.

Obtained jury verdict in favor of urologist in an action alleging battery in the performance of a vasectomy.

Obtained jury verdict in favor of oral surgeons in an action alleging failure to properly treat multiple jaw fractures resulting in permanent limited ability to open the mouth.

Obtained jury verdict in favor of anesthesiologist in an action alleging failure to properly position and monitor a surgical patient resulting in permanent bilateral ulnar neuropathy.

Obtained jury verdict in favor of psychiatrist in a wrongful death action alleging failure to commit a patient to prevent suicide.

Obtained jury verdict in favor of obstetrician in an action alleging wrongful termination of pregnancy.

Obtained summary judgment in favor of a major consumer electronics manufacturer in a putative class action alleging defective DVD players based on the class representative’s failure to establish an ascertainable loss under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.

Obtained summary judgment in favor of a major pharmaceutical company based on the inability to establish a failure to warn.

Obtained summary judgment in favor of a major pharmaceutical company in a putative consumer class action.

Obtained summary judgment in favor of a major United States blood supplier in a precedent-setting decision establishing the blood bank had no duty to implement HIV-screening in January 1982.

Obtained summary judgment in favor of a major United States blood supplier based on inability to establish causation.

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