Russell L. Hewit, founding partner, of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, is an accomplished trial lawyer who focuses on complex litigation, trial practice and strategy, and business, environmental, and insurance disputes.
As the firm’s leading legal advisor and strategist, Mr. Hewit counsels and represents pharmaceutical companies, product manufacturers, policyholders, potentially responsible parties (PRPs), and businesses on a wide range of complex matters. While he works closely with clients to avoid litigation whenever possible, Mr. Hewit is an aggressive trial lawyer who is known for developing brilliant legal strategies that achieve the outstanding outcomes for his clients. He also counsels clients in certain aspects of government affairs as they relate to his areas of practice.
Examples of Mr. Hewit’s success over the last four decades include the following:
• Mr. Hewit has represented Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. since 2011. He was the lead-trial counsel in the Accutane Mass Tort litigation before Judge Nelson Johnson in Atlantic County. In 2011, Mr. Hewit was part of the defense-trial team that secured favorable verdicts in two of three plaintiff cases that were tried together. In addition, he secured a favorable verdict as part of the trial team in a second trial, which resulted in a hung jury and another no verdict for plaintiff result.
• Mr. Hewit successfully argued the case of Strumph v. Schering Corporation, 133 N.J. 33 (1993), on behalf of Schering Corporation, upholding the learned-intermediary doctrine principle in New Jersey.
• Mr. Hewit served as one of lead-trial counsel in environmental-insurance-coverage trials for Warner Lambert Company and Pfizer concerning coverage disputes involving over 60 Warner Lambert environmental sites. Ultimately, Mr. Hewit secured a successful settlement on his clients’ behalves. Mr. Hewit also was a lead-trial counsel in the Congoleum Corporation asbestos-insurance coverage trial as part of the Congoleum-asbestos-bankruptcy proceedings. As a result of Mr. Hewit’s team’s work, many hundreds of millions of dollars of claims were resolved with over 75 primary and excess carriers.
• Mr. Hewit represents many PRPs in environmental disputes and litigation concerning claims related to the Federal Superfund Act and New Jersey Spill Fund Act, under which government plaintiffs are seeking remediation, cost recovery, and natural-resource damages. Mr. Hewit serves on the steering, litigation, negotiation, and allocation committees in many PRP groups and has been instrumental in designing and negotiating PRP-group settlements with the EPA and DEP as well as primary, de minimis, and allocation settlements among PRPs.
• Mr. Hewit represents public entities in complex litigation concerning development, contractual, and real-estate disputes that hundreds of millions of dollars in claims.
Mr. Hewit has been awarded the prestigious AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™, the gold standard in attorney ratings, which have recognized lawyers for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards for more than a century. The AV Preeminent rating, the highest peer rating standard, signifies that a large number of the lawyer’s peers rank Mr. Hewit at the highest level of professional excellence for his legal knowledge, communication skills, and ethical standards.
Mr. Hewit has been a frequent lecturer at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education and leading industry, business, and professional groups. He is a former member of the board of trustees of Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield and was a former member of the parents committee at Princeton University, former member of the board of trustees of the Fathers and Friends of Delbarton School, a former member of the board of trustees of the Wardlaw-Hartridge School and past president of the New Jersey Alumni Association of Washington & Lee University. In addition, Mr. Hewit has been active in fundraising for St. Patrick’s Church in Chatham, Kent Place School, and Delbarton School.
