Judge Charles Weiner: Record Matched by Few

Vol. 35, Number 7—July 2003

Judge Charles Weiner:
Record Matched by Few

The statistics are beyond impressive. Simply put, they are eye-popping.

Since 1991, Judge Charles Weiner has presided over 105,000 asbestos-related lawsuits. He has closed out 78,000 of them. Because one lawsuit can represent many plaintiffs' claims against an even larger number of defendants, the lawsuits represent more than 10 million individual claims. About 60 percent of those claims — six million — have been resolved.

"I knew this litigation was going to run a long while," Weiner says of the assignment he accepted from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation a dozen years ago — two years after he took senior status as a member of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. "It has been both interesting and challenging."

Robert Cahn, executive attorney for the Judicial Panel, says Weiner is "universally acclaimed" by the panel's judges for his work in the asbestos cases. "He has saved the entire Judiciary an enormous amount of work, and has greatly reduced the costs of the federal litigation," Cahn says.

Asbestos, a fire-retardant mineral, routinely was used in the construction of buildings, ships, automobiles, and in many other products before the 1970s. Asbestos since has been identified as a cause of certain cancers.

To date, more than 600,000 persons nationwide have filed claims in state and federal courts against companies allegedly linked in any way to their exposure to asbestos. Litigation costs so far top $54 billion in what the RAND Institute for Civil Justice calls the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history. About 80 percent of all pending asbestos cases today are in state courts.

"Judge Weiner is truly an unsung hero of the federal Judiciary," says Leonidas Ralph Mecham, director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. "His work on asbestos litigation is an incredible accomplishment."

Judge Edward R. Becker (3rd Cir.) says, "Given the absolutely fantastic number of settlements that Judge Weiner has produced every year for decades, I think he is the single most effective federal trial judge in the whole system."

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist also has praised Weiner, saying his "record of achievement over the years... demonstrates both unwavering dedication to the administration of justice and high standards as a public servant — a record matched by few."

Weiner, a soft-spoken man whose humor is largely self-deprecating, seems embarrassed by such praise. "I knew what this job was about when I took it in 1967," he says. "People don't come into court unless they have a problem. While seeking common ground, I should have sympathy for the person who brings the suit and understanding for the person on the other side who is resisting it for some reason."

Senior status can mean semi-retirement for a federal judge, but while handling the overwhelming majority of federal asbestos lawsuits, Weiner has maintained a full caseload — carrying an average of 350 non-asbestos cases as well. One of his two career law clerks assists him in handling asbestos cases only; the other assists him in the rest of his caseload. His secretary also is a longtime employee. "The three of them know all my idiosyncracies," he explains with a chuckle.

Now 80, the judge sees no reason to slow down. After all, he earned his Ph.D. in political science while in his 50s and already a federal judge. "Politics was always a fascination, the conjunction of politics and the law," he says. For years, he taught the subject as an adjunct instructor for the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University.

Weiner served in the Pennsylvania State Senate for 15 years before being named to the federal bench by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Has he ever missed the rough-and-tumble of the legislative branch? "No. Everyone goes through stages in their lives, doing one thing for awhile and then moving on. I've been fortunate to have thoroughly enjoyed each of my phases," he says.

The son of working-class parents, Weiner did not attend college until returning home to Philadelphia after a four-year hitch in the Navy. He served as a combatant in the South Pacific during World War II. Other "phases" included stints as a stevedore and a truck driver. He also practiced law.

"Charlie Weiner exemplifies public service and everything it should be," says an Eastern District of Pennsylvania colleague, Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen.

"A man with his legal knowledge and people skills could have become very wealthy in the practice of law, but he chose the path of public service. We in this court, and in this nation, are forever in his debt for quietly and efficiently doing so."

Early on in the asbestos litigation, Weiner gave priority to the very sick and to victims with malignancies. The practice has its critics, but Van Antwerpen praises Weiner for "making certain that those who are sick and dying were the beneficiaries, rather than exhausting the funds available to them by paying them to persons who are asymptomatic."

Weiner says he does the best he can each day. After driving from the apartment he shares with his wife of 55 years, most days he walks the stairs to his sixth-floor office in the federal courthouse. "I enjoy the exercise," he says, adding that he tries to play tennis two or three times a week.

"I'm a very lucky man," the judge says.

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