Eric D. Katz Partner E-Mail: ekatz@mskf.net

Eric is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney, a professional distinction held by less than 2% of New Jersey attorneys.  He has obtained significant jury verdicts and settlements in favor of his clients and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

He practices in the areas of health care, ERISA, class action and plaintiffs’ personal injury litigation, including product liability and toxic torts. Eric represents many physician groups and has represented the American Medical Association and counseled the American Academy of Pediatrics in matters involving prompt and appropriate reimbursement of claims submitted to HMOs, insurers, other payors and third-party administrators.  He regularly advocates on behalf of providers and against the HMO industry on issues involving, among many other things, improper bundling, downcoding and rejection of modifiers.  He also represents both participating and non-participating providers and health care practices in matters involving the determination of usual and customary fees, reimbursement negotiations and HMO audits.

Eric is lead class counsel in several significant certified health care class actions, including:  Sutter, M.D. v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Sutter, M.D. v. Oxford Health Plans and Kirsch, D.D.S. v. Horizon.  In the aggregate, these actions seek money damages in excess of $1 billion against the HMO defendants for their failure to timely and properly reimburse medical and dental claims submitted by tens of thousands of New Jersey physicians and dental providers.  The Oxford case is one of the first in the country to be certified as a class action in arbitration.

He was the first attorney in the state to successfully argue that the New Jersey HINT Act and Prompt Payment Act provide physicians and dentists a private right of action to pursue money damages for non-payment of claims and statutory interest for late paid claims from both payors and third-party administrators.  Eric regularly appears as a speaker at CME seminars and other symposia to address HMO payment issues and ways for providers to maximize HMO reimbursement.  He also appears regularly in the media as a commentator on these same matters.

Eric is the co-author of the leading product liability treatise in the state, entitled New Jersey Products Liability and Toxic Torts Law, published by Gann Law Books.  Since its initial publication in 1995, the Appellate Division and Supreme Court of New Jersey have cited the treatise repeatedly.  The treatise has also been selected by the Administrative Office of the Courts as a bench guide and distributed to the entire state judiciary.  He has also co-written a chapter on federal practice and has authored law review articles on product liability and jury selection issues.

Eric graduated from Brooklyn’s Polytechnic University in 1988 with a degree in industrial engineering and then worked in private industry in the areas of bar coding automation and robotics.  In 1991 he graduated Pace University School of Law where he served as an editor of the Pace Law Review.

A dedicated bodybuilding and fitness trainer, when not engaged in those pursuits, you can find Eric involved in community programs including coaching his daughter’s fast pitch traveling softball team cheered on by his son.

Law Clerk, Hon. Lawrence Weiss, Superior Court of New Jersey, Union County, 1991-1992.  Co-Author:  New Jersey Products Liability and Toxic Tort Law, with Hon. William A. Dreier, P.J.A.D. (Retired) and Hon. John E. Keefe, P.J.A.D. (Retired), published by Gann Law Books Publishing, 1995 and annually thereafter.  Co-Author:  Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial:  Third Circuit Pleadings, with Robert M. Leonard, pub. By Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, 1996.  Author:  “Removing the Fungibility Requirement from the Market Share Liability Rule – Why it Can Work in Non-DES Cases,” 3 Prod. Liab. L.J. 32, 1991; “Striking the Peremptory Challenge from Civil Litigation:  ‘Hey, Batson, Stay Where You Belong!’” 11 Pace L. Rev. 356, 1991.

Polytechnic University of New York (B.S., Industrial Engineering, 1988); Pace University (J.D., 1991).  Research and Writing Editor, Pace Law Review, 1990-1991.

Union County Planning Board, 1993-1996; Board of Trustees Berkeley Heights Community Pool Corporation, 1999-2005; New Jersey State (Products Liability and Toxic Tort Committee, 1992-1993); American (Tort and Insurance Practice Section, 1991-) Bar Associations; American Trial Lawyers Association; Million Dollar Advocates Forum; Certified Civil Trial Attorney, Supreme Court of New Jersey, Board on Trial Attorney Certification.

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