Charles J. LaDuca

Charles J. LaDuca’s tenure at the firm began over thirty-one years ago as a messenger working his way through college. Mr. LaDuca rose from messenger to paralegal to law clerk to attorney, ultimately being named partner within just four years of graduating from law school. As of January 1, 2017, Mr. LaDuca assumed the role of Firm Chairman.

Mr. LaDuca focuses his practice on consumer protection, defective building products and class action litigation. Over the past twenty-six years as an attorney at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, Mr. LaDuca has served as Lead Counsel, or in the leadership structure, in dozens of defective building products and consumer cases. To date, Mr LaDuca’s cases have recovered over $4.1 billion dollars for his clients.

Mr. LaDuca’s most noted achievement has been to help millions of homeowners obtain compensation to fix their homes after suffering from flawed, leaky roofs, faulty plumbing, and defective siding. In addition, most recently helping over 3,700 Hospital clients recover monies in the Opioids litigation. Specific examples of Mr. LaDuca’s accomplishments include: 

• Most recently, Mr. LaDuca served as Co-Lead Counsel in four nationwide class actions on behalf of acute care hospitals against major opioid manufacturers and distributors. His leadership over nearly eight years of litigation helped secure a historic $700 million settlement with defendants including Cardinal Health, McKesson, Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen), Janssen, Teva, and Allergan. The agreement provides both financial relief and critical supplies of opioid-reversal medication to hospitals that have shouldered the front-line burden of the opioid crisis. Notably, the settlement received zero objections and achieved a record-breaking 75% claims rate. Litigation continues against several non-settling defendants.
   
• Mr. LaDuca was co-lead counsel in the efforts of approximately 4,000 Hospitals across America who brought a lawsuit against Opioids manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and advertisers. His efforts over the past seven years litigating this case helped achieve a settlement with some of the defendants of $651 million dollars. Final Approval of this Settlement was granted on March 4, 2025. Several defendants remain in the case, whom did not settle, and this is scheduled to go to Trial in November 2025.
   
• Mr. LaDuca was co-lead counsel in the efforts of homeowners with heating systems outfitted with “Entran II” piping, which the homeowners believed was defective. After a fifteen month investigation, and having overcome motions to dismiss, Mr. LaDuca forged a North American settlement under which homeowners on average each received $60,000 to fix their homes. This over $340 million settlement came about as a result of aggressive litigation by Mr. LaDuca’s team against the defendant and other homeowner lawyers that involved two “All Writs” injunctions.

• Serving as co-lead counsel, Mr. LaDuca represented homeowners who purchased Ipex brass fittings that turned out to be defective. The case has allowed thousands of home owners to recover thousands of dollars each in compensation for their losses. The total fund for homeowners’ compensation is $125 million, and the claims period is still pending for another five years.

• In his largest case, Mr. LaDuca was co-lead counsel representing owners of over 1.8 million homes who purchased CertainTeed roofing shingles that the homeowners believed were defective. And thanks to Mr. LaDuca’s legal work, more than 75,000 homeowners to date have recovered up to thousands of dollars each. As a result of Mr. LaDuca’s efforts, the claims period will continue for another twenty-three years. The estimated value of the settlement exceeds $700 million.
   
• Mr. LaDuca was the Chair of the Executive Committee in the Zurn defective brass fitting litigation. After the plaintiff’s team certified the national class, the defendants appealed unsuccessfully all the way to the Supreme Court. The case settled for roughly $30 million. The Final Approval was granted in March, 2013.
   
• Mr. LaDuca served as co-lead counsel in the GAF roof shingles litigation which was consolidated before Judge Childs in South Carolina. He represented homeowners who believe their roof shingles were defective. The plaintiffs successfully beat back 14 Motions to Dismiss and certified a class. The case then settled for over $200 million. The settlement claims period is ongoing.

A few examples of Mr. LaDuca’s current cases include:

• Jones, et al. v. Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company and Lubrizol Advanced Materials, Inc., Case No. 20-cv-00511 (N.D. Ohio) (concerning alleged defective chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (“CPVC”) pipe and fitting plumbing systems sold under the brand name FlowGuard Gold®).
• Klaehn, et al. v. Cali Bamboo, LLC, Case No. 3:19-cv-01498 (S.D. Cal.) (concerning alleged defective bamboo flooring systems).
• Tice v. Amazon, Case 5:19-cv 01311 (C.D. Cal.) (concerning wrongful profiting and unjust enrichment by Amazon through its allegedly improper taping and recording of conversations in households which use Amazon’s popular “Alexa”).
• Hawes, et al. v. Macy’s Retails Holding, Inc. and Macy’s West Stores, Inc., Case. No. 1:17-cv-00754 (S.D. Ohio) (concerning alleged false thread counts (as counted under industry standard ASTM 3775) in sheets and pillowcases).
• Segebarth v. Certainteed Fiberglass, Case No. 2:19-cv-05500 PD (E.D. Pennsylvania) (concerning alleged defective Certainteed Horizon fiberglass shingles).
• Orshan v. Apple, No. 5:14-cv—05659 EJD (N.D. Cal.) (concerning Apple’s alleged misrepresentations and omissions as to the storage capacities of its devices by as much as 21%.)

Mr. LaDuca and his family are active in the community, especially in helping to repair, rebuild and raise money for better homes for the disadvantaged. Mr. LaDuca’s charitable contributions have included his support for education programs for under-resourced children in developing countries such as Ethiopia and Sierra Leone. Mr. LaDuca currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Kid Museum and is actively involved in the New York State Society of Washington, D.C.

Education

• J.D., Catholic University of America
• B.S., George Washington University

Substantive Practice Areas

• Defective Building Product Litgation
• Consumer Protection
• Civil Rights

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• New York

Court Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals (DC, Second, Third, Sixth and Ninth Circuits)
• U.S. District Court, Colorado
• U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court, C.D. Illinois
• U.S. District Court, W.D. Michigan
• U.S. District Court, N.D.N.Y.
• U.S. District Court, W.D.N.Y.
• U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y.

Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America
• District of Columbia Bar Association
• New York State Society
• New York State Bar Association