Scott R. Jennette, Partner

Practice Focus & Experience

Mr. Jennette’s defense litigation practice concentrates in the areas of complex products liability, hazardous substance litigation, catastrophic personal injury, and professional malpractice.

Mr. Jennette has represented a number of mechanical and chemical product manufacturers and suppliers in personal injury and property damage (fire) matters, involving petroleum solvents (benzene), products containing hazardous substances (chromium VI), microelectronic chemical products (photoresist), pharmaceuticals, industrial labeling machines, food and beverage packaging, pavement profilers, construction equipment, chemical cleaning equipment, lawnmowers, shredders, storage systems, school bus equipment, pneumatic saws, water pumps, vertical drilling tools, gas clothes dryers, consumer paints, printing and photographic development products, and consumer electronic products, among others.

Representative engagements include:

• Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of a Fortune 500 company sued for products liability by an x-ray technician alleging that his lung cancer was caused by long term use of a cleaning product containing sodium dichromate. The court ruled that plaintiff’s experts’ opinions on general and specific causation were unreliable. [Barbaro v. Eastman Kodak Co., 26 Misc.3d 1224(A), 2010 WL 597204 (Nassau Co. N.Y.Sup. Ct. January 28, 2010 (NO. 13400/07)].
• Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of a Fortune 500 chemical company sued for products liability by a worker alleging that his leukemia was caused by his use of pure benzene. The federal district court ruled that plaintiff’s evidence of product identification was legally insufficient.
• Defending several chemical manufacturers and suppliers in the first mass tort litigation arising from alleged chemical exposures to clean room workers in the manufacture of computer chips and related products. These cases, which achieved attention in the national print and television media, involved claims of multiple forms of cancer and birth defects and alleged exposures to numerous chemicals, including solvents, alcohols and acids. On behalf of all defendants, Mr. Jennette briefed and argued the appeal that caused the dismissal of the claims of 76 plaintiffs in 12 related actions on the basis of New York’s novel statute of limitations provisions for toxic exposure actions. [Bass, et al. v. Union Carbide Corp., et al., 22 A.D.3d 618 (2d Dept. 2005)].

Mr. Jennette has worked with experts in a variety of technical fields. He is experienced with issues that arise in the introduction of expert evidence, and has successfully excluded expert testimony under the Daubert and Frye doctrines. Mr. Jennette has extensive experience in defending catastrophic personal injury cases having high verdict potential, such as severe traumatic brain damage, hypoxic birth injuries, and quadriplegia, which require an extensive work-up of a damage defense. Mr. Jennette handles these cases by attacking the pecuniary losses with the assistance of leading experts in the areas of forensic economics, life care planning, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, vocational rehabilitation, neuropsychology, and life expectancy. Mr. Jennette serves as monitoring counsel protecting the interests of an excess insurer in matters against several hospitals in the Buffalo, New York area.

Education

• University of Dayton, J.D., 1988
  - Research Editor, University of Dayton Law Review
• Allegheny College, B.A., 1985
  - Alden Scholar with Distinction; National Dean’s List

Bar Admissions

• New York and Massachusetts, 1990
• Ohio, 1988

Court Admissions

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. District Courts of New York (Western, Southern, Northern)

Professional Activities and Memberships

• Monroe County and New York State Bar Associations
• Defense Research Institute (DRI)
• National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Southeast Region May 1993

Professional Recognition & Awards

• Selected to New York Super Lawyers – Upstate Edition 2010

Selected Publications & Recognition

• Evidentiary Issues Unique to New York Products Liability Litigation, New York State Bar Association, Products Liability Handbook, 2d Ed., 2010 (publication pending)
• “Choosing Daubert-Friendly Experts in the Context of Hazardous Substance Litigation,” The Testify Expert, Vol. 8, Issue #2 (Feb. 2000)
• “Attacking the Plaintiff’s Hazardous Substance Expert in the Post-Kuhmo Era,” In the Defense (D.R.I. May 1999)
• Attacking Plaintiff’s Expert After Daubert, speaker, New York State Bar Association, 1997
• Evidentiary Issues Unique to Products Liability Litigation, co-author, New York State Bar Association, Products Liability Handbook, 1997
• Product Liability—Post-Daubert, speaker, New York State Bar Association, 1994
• Forfeiture of Attorney’s Fees Under RICO; An Affront to a Defendant’s Right to Counsel and to a Fair Trial, author, Univ. of Dayton L. Rev., 1987

Community Activities

• Legal Aid Society of Rochester, Past Board Member
• Main West Attorneys at Law, Past Vice-President of the Board
• Pittsford Mustangs Soccer Club, Coach