Brian Weinstein returns to the practice of law as “Senior Counsel” to Bergman, Draper and Frockt after having served in the Washington State Senate. Brian got his start in asbestos litigation straight out of law school in 1981, when he became one of the early pioneers in the field. He eventually served as senior partner to the predecessor of this firm before entering politics.

Brian graduated with honors in 1976 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a B.A. in Economics. He graduated from the University of Texas Law School with honors in 1981. During the last 30 years, Brian has achieved numerous significant verdicts, favorable appellate results and advantageous settlements on behalf of working men and women suffering from mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and other asbestos related diseases. Brian has long been recognized as one of the nation’s leading trial attorneys and a Super Lawyer by Washington Law and Politics.

“A lot of the guys I went to school with just wanted to work on mergers and acquisitions or make a killing in real estate,” Brian recalls. “But I had no interest in joining the corporate world. In fact, just the opposite; I knew I wanted to use my law degree to hold corporations accountable when they make dangerous products, or pollute the environment or take advantage of working men and women just trying to support their families. Trying cases for people injured by asbestos exposure has allowed me to do that.”

Brian has amassed an impressive record as a trial lawyer working for asbestos victims, achieving many multi-million dollar verdicts on behalf of his clients. The National Law Journal recognized Brian in 1991 for his participation in that year’s largest jury award in the United States, a $91.3 million verdict for 45 plaintiffs in the New York Asbestos Powerhouse Litigation. In federal court in Texas, Brian was one of the first lawyers to win a verdict on behalf of a worker whose exposure to asbestos had caused his colon cancer, a disease which many manufacturers have claimed is not caused by asbestos. Brian also won a successful verdict in Texas on behalf of the wife of an insulator who developed asbestosis as a result of her exposure to the asbestos brought home on her husband’s clothing. Brian’s many other successes include important published decisions by trial and appellate courts across the nation. His impressive record includes the following:

Trial Verdicts

• $6,500,000 verdict in Illinois state court for six plaintiffs suffering from non-malignant asbestos disease; verdict affirmed on appeal.
• $3,450,000 verdict in single asbestosis case tried in federal court in New York, with 45% of the verdict was assessed against the lone trial defendant, a asbestos insulation manufacturer; verdict affirmed on appeal.
• $3,000,000 and $1,500,000 verdicts in Texas state court on behalf of one plaintiff suffering with mesothelioma and one widow whose husband had died of the disease before trial.
• $2,199,000 verdict in state court in St. Louis Missouri against an asbestos insulation manufacturer for a widow whose husband died of lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure.
• $2,000,000+ verdict for five plaintiffs with asbestosis and one with lung cancer in New York Asbestos Powerhouse Litigation in which the cases of 47 plaintiffs were consolidated in a year long trial in federal court with an aggregate jury verdict of $91,000,000.
• $2,500,000 verdict in federal case in Georgia on behalf of four plaintiffs with mild asbestosis; verdict reduced by the trial court to $1,250,000, which was affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit.
• $1.6 million verdict in Texas state case for a mesothelioma victim who was exposed to asbestos as a sheet metal worker.
• $1, 074,000 verdict for a single plaintiff with asbestosis in New York federal court; case settled shortly after verdict.
• $965,000 verdict in Texas federal court on behalf of four Spanish speaking plaintiffs with mild asbestosis who testified through an interpreter at trial.

Appellate Victories

• Aguirre v. Armstrong World industries, Inc., 901 F.2d 1156 (5th Cir. 1990) (affirmed award of punitive damages against a successor corporation).
• Foster v. Johns Manville Sales Corp., 787 F.2d 390 (8th Cir. 1986) (reversed trial court’s grant of summary judgment on statute of limitations).
• Meehan v. Celotex Corp., 466 So.2d 1100 (Fla. 3d D.C.A. 1985) (reversed trial court’s grant of summary judgment applying Florida borrowing statute to bar a New York plaintiff from maintaining action in Florida courts).
• Copeland v. Armstrong Cork Corp., 447 So.2d 908, reh. den. 447 So.2d 922 (Fla. 3d D.C.A. 1984) (granted right to plead under theory of market share liability).
• Brown v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 441 So. 2d 1098 (Fla. 3d D.C.A. 1983) (reversed trial court’s grant of summary judgment on statute of limitations).

In 2004, Brian decided it was time to try his hand at politics, in which he has held a life-long interest. That year, he was elected to the Washington State Senate to represent the 41st legislative district, which includes several communities near Seattle, including Mercer Island and Bellevue. While in the Senate, Brian continued to advocate for the benefit of working families, focusing on consumer rights issues and pubic education. Brian was the chairman of the Consumer Protection and Housing Committee and a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. He was instrumental in passing laws that have led to several successful reforms in Washington’s schools. Brian authored legislation to punish insurance companies that unreasonably deny coverage claims or benefits. He also worked to pass a new law imposing a fiduciary duty on mortgage brokers toward borrowers – quite timely in the current sub-prime crisis.

After one four-year term, Brian decided not to run for re-election and to return to his law practice, representing families affected tragically by asbestos and mesothelioma. Still, he continues his commitment to public service in the Seattle area. He is the former Director of the Pike Place Market Foundation Board. And in February of 2009, he was appointed by Governor Gregoire to the Public Stadium Authority.

Brian lives on Mercer Island with his wife, Gaylene Vaden, and daughter Madeleine, who attends Lakeside School in Seattle. His son, Trevor, lives in Florida and his daughter, Arielle, attends Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. Now that his children are older, he spends less time at local soccer matches and more time playing tennis.