Stewart M. Weltman has been a complex litigator for over forty years, leading and trying complex litigation matters in both Federal and State courts throughout the United States.
He approaches litigation with the belief that the only way for a trial lawyer to achieve success for their clients is to roll up their sleeves and do the things that opponents delegate to less experienced attorneys. So, Mr. Weltman thinks nothing of diving into the review of thousands upon thousands of documents or doing the grunt work to learn the case from bottom up - rather than having this key - case critical - information spoon-fed to him by others with less experience. It leads to success because when he stands up in court he knows the facts and law of a case better than anyone else in the room.
He believes that cases are best served by fewer rather than more lawyers and that the best route to success either at trial or settlement is for the other side to know that he is preparing the case to win at trial. He takes no case unless he believes that it can be won at trial. He is proactive in that he believes the best path to a settlement or victory at trial is to prepare for trial rather to wait around and hope for a settlement, like so many lawyers do.
As a result when he commits to a case, his clients can attest that he is intimately involved in their case from beginning to the end. It might mean that he takes on fewer cases but it means that his clients are getting 100%.
Mr. Weltman was formerly a partner with a mid-sized firm in Chicago and an Antitrust and Securities litigation partner with a Washington D.C. based litigation boutique.
Mr. Weltman has been a lead and trial counsel in numerous complex litigation matters for both plaintiffs and defendants, ranging consumer fraud, to antitrust, accounting malpractice, legal malpractice, securities fraud, patent issues, and toxic tort.
Mr. Weltman has also acted as lead attorney or lead counsel in several major securities fraud matters and was the lead attorney for his client Pacific Life Insurance Company in its individual action brought against various underwriter defendants arising out of the WorldCom frauds.
Mr. Weltman has argued before the Illinois Appellate Court, the Ninth, Seventh, Fifth and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, and has appeared before the United States Supreme Court as both counsel of record and as amicus counsel.
- Roosevelt University, B.S., 1975
- The John Marshall Law School, J.D., 1978, High Distinction
- Illinois, 1978
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Trial Bar, 1985
- United States Supreme Court, 1993
Below are just some of the results that Mr. Weltman has achieved for his clients.
Antitrust Results
- One of the lead trial counsel in In re Carbon Black Antitrust Litigation (D.C. Mass.), which settled for $20 million.
- One of the lead counsel and one of the members of the trial preparation team In Re EPDM Antitrust Litigation (D.C. Conn.), in which three defendants settled claims for a total of $81 million.
- One of the lead counsel In re PCP Antitrust Litigation (D.C. Conn.), which settled for $80 million.
- One of the lead counsel in In Re Pressure Sensitive Labelstock Antitrust Litigation (M.D. Pa.).
- A member of the trial team in In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation (D.D.C.), which resulted in a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs and the class of $148.5 million after trebling.
Securities and Derivative Litigation Results
- Derivative Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in a securities fraud and derivative/breach of fiduciary duty case in which a $33 million settlement was reached with the former directors and officers of the Public Service Company of New Mexico.
- Co-lead counsel in the Sunderman Securities Fraud Litigation, a class action that resulted in a combined settlement of $31 million.
- Co-lead counsel in Benfield v. Steindler and General Electric Co. (S.D. Ohio), a derivative action in which a settlement of $21 million was reached.
- Counsel for Pacific Life with regard to its securities fraud claims arising out of the Republic Bank failure, settling the matter for $14 million.
- Counsel for Pacific Life in the WorldCom Securities Fraud litigation, settling his client’s claims in an amount that is required to be confidential.
Consumer Fraud Litigation Results
- Co-lead counsel in numerous consumer fraud class actions over the past 30 years and, in particular, has become a leader in prosecuting consumer fraud claims against dietary supplement manufacturers.
- Co-lead counsel in a consumer fraud class action brought against Schiff Nutrition, Lerma v. Schiff Nutrition, (S.D. CA.) for its sale of glucosamine/chondroitin, in which a settlement was reached in the amount of $12 million along with labeling changes.
- Co-lead counsel in a consumer fraud class action brought against NBTY/Rexall Sundown, Pearson v. Target (N.D. Ill.) for their sale of glucosamine/chondroitin, in which a settlement was reached in the amount of $12 million along with labeling changes.
- Co-lead counsel in a consumer fraud class action brought against Walgreen Co. Guilen v. Walgreen (S.D. N.Y.) for its sale of glucosamine/chondroitin, in which a settlement was reached in the amount of $15 million along with labeling changes.
- Co-lead counsel in a consumer fraud class action brought against Pharmavite LLC, Barrera v. Pharmavite LLC Â (C.D. CA.) for their sale of glucosamine/chondroitin, in which a settlement was reached in the amount of $12 million along with labeling changes.
- Co-lead counsel in a consumer fraud class action brought against Direct Digital, Mullins v Direct Digital (N.D. Ill.) for their sale of glucosamine/chondroitin, in which a settlement was reached in the amount of $7.5 million along with labeling changes. In the course of this litigation Mr. Weltman successfully persuaded the Seventh Circuit to reject a restrictive ascertainability doctrine in class actions that had been adopted by the Third Circuit. The Seventh Circuit’s ruling led the way for other circuits to reject this doctrine and has resulted in the Third Circuit slowly rolling back its ruling.
Construction Defect Litigation
- Co-lead counsel for a class of 1500 homeowners in South Florida and obtained a $15 million settlement arising out of defective construction claims.
Civil Rights
- Lead trial counsel in a two year long major civil rights trial that resulted in a finding of intentional discrimination against the second largest school district in Illinois arising out of its discriminatory practices in denying African American and Latino grade school children access to gifted learning. The matter settled with the school district agreeing to stop its discriminatory practices and as result it has developed a non-discriminatory and diverse approach to gifted learning.
