Michael Fanelli

Michael Fanelli handles cases as a member of our Asbestos Litigation group and carries the designation of associate attorney. In 2011, as co-chair of a lawsuit against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Goodyear Canada, he helped hold those two defendants responsible for causing a steamfitter and a heavy-equipment engine mechanic to suffer harm from asbestos exposure (the jury decided the companies should pay the two plaintiffs a combined total of $22 million, making theirs the year’s 86th highest damage award in the U.S.).

More recently, in 2014, Mr. Fanelli played a direct role in securing a hard-won $12.5-million verdict for the deserving families of three New York area workers stricken by mesothelioma - an electrician, a steamfitter, and an insulator who each were exposed to asbestos on the job. The defendants tried every trick in the book to sway the jury to their side, but to no avail against the powerful, well-organized case Mr. Fanelli helped deliver.

Mr. Fanelli has been listed by Super Lawyers magazine as a “Rising Star” among New York’s cadre of elite attorneys. He was listed as a New York Metro Rising Star from 2012 - 2019. Beginning in 2019, to date, he was listed as a New York Metro Super Lawyer.

Mr. Fanelli began the practice of law in 2004 with his admission to the bars of two states - New York and New Jersey - and spent the next five years as a Bronx County, N.Y., assistant district attorney. In that capacity, Mr. Fanelli handled over 500 felony cases.

Mr. Fanelli’s legal skills first took shape at New York Law School, which conferred upon him in 2004 a juris doctor degree, summa cum laude. During his time there, Mr. Fanelli academically distinguished himself by winning the Dean’s Scholarship, being named a John Marshall Harlan Scholar, repeatedly making it onto the Dean’s List (including the special subset list of high honors achievers), and serving on the New York Law School Law Review (first as a staff member and, later, as an associate editor). Entrance to New York Law School followed his 2001 graduation from Fordham University, where he received a bachelor degree in political science along with the recognition of having been named to the dean’s list.

Key Verdicts:

•$22 million (Koczur/McCarthy v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co./Goodyear Canada)
•$12.5 million (2014; Estates of Brown, McCloskey, and Terry - Index #190441-12, #190415-12, #190403-12, NY Sup. Court)
•$25 Million (2014; Sweberg/Hackshaw v. Crane Co.)