Donald C. Arbitblit

Donald C. Arbitblit


Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Recognized since 2012

San Francisco, California

Practice Areas

Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs

Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs

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Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2022 - Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs
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Donald C. Arbitblit is a leader among plaintiffs’ attorneys in assessing the legal, medical, and scientific aspects of personal injury, mass torts, and environmental and toxic exposure litigation. Don has served on Plaintiffs’ Science/Expert Committees in several national cases and served on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Actos bladder cancer injuries federal multidistrict litigation that settled in 2015 for $2.4 billion.

Don was a member of the trial team that won the first Actos bellwether trial in April 2014, including a $9 billion punitive damage award. Don was also Chair of the Epidemiology/Causation Subcommittee of the federal Vioxx litigation from 2005-2010, and he was a member of the trial team that won a plaintiffs’ verdict in that litigation in 2006. Between 1998 and 2014, Don has served on science and expert witness committees in the Actos, Yaz, Fen-Phen Diet Drug, Rezulin, Baycol, Vioxx, and Sulzer hip implant cases.

Since 2018, Don has served as a leader of the Plaintiffs’ Expert Witness Committee in the national Opioids Litigation MDL, working with experts in the fields of addiction medicine, psychiatry, pain management and epidemiology. Don was listed in the 2021 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers guide, based on “submissions, journalistic research and editorial vetting from a board” of his peers.

Location
  • 275 Battery Street, 29th Floor
    San Francisco, CA 94111
Education
  • University of California Berkeley, J.D., graduated 1979
  • Tufts University, B.S. (Magna Cum Laude), graduated 1974
Bar Admissions
  • California, The State Bar of California, 1986
  • Vermont, Vermont Bar Association, 1979
Affiliations
  • ACTOS MDL Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee - Member
  • Bar Association of San Francisco - Member
  • California JCCP Yaz Science Committee - Co-Chair, 2010-Present
  • Federal Science and Expert Witness Committees (Diet Drugs MDL; Baycol MDL; Rezulin MDL) - Member
  • State Bar of California - Member
  • VIOXX MDL Chair of the Epidemiology/Clinical Trials Subcommittee - Member
  • YAZ MDL Federal Court-appointed Science Executive Committee - Member
Court Admissions
  • California Supreme Court, 1986
  • U.S. Court Of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1986
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 1986

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2022 - Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs
Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers® for:
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs, San Francisco (2022)
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2025 for work in:
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs
  • Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs
Awards:
  • AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
  • Selected for inclusion by peers in The Best Lawyers in America in fields of “Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs” and “Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs,” Best Lawyers, 2012 – 2025
  • "Super Lawyer for Northern California," Super Lawyers, 2004, 2006 - 2008, 2014-2023
  • “Lawyer of the Year for Mass Tort & Class Action Litigation,” Northern California, Best Lawyers, 2022
  • “Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon, 2021, 2022
  • Legal 500 recommended lawyer, 2013
  • Lawdragon Finalist, Lawdragon, 2009 - 2011

Publications

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