William J. Beausoleil

William J. Beausoleil is a litigation partner in Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s New York office with extensive trial experience in product liability, insurance coverage and general commercial litigation matters. Bill has taken on significant roles defending the firm’s clients in some of the largest and most high-profile personal injury litigations, including in the Fosamax cases for Merck, where he has played a major advocacy role in the 11 cases to proceed to trial thus far. Bill has also defended his client New York Blood Center in personal injury cases arising from its operations for over 15 years, and had significant involvement in the defense of that organization in the HIV and hepatitis C cases that arose in the late 1990s. He has also played important roles in other litigations, including the Vioxx® cases. 

In addition, Bill has significant insurance coverage experience, including involvement in breast implant, tobacco and fiber-optic cable cases, and in cases involving complex captive and reinsurance issues. He is currently serving as a federal mediator for numerous Superstorm Sandy cases pending in the district court for the Eastern District of New York.

• Appointed by the federal court sitting of the Eastern District of New York as a mediator for insurance coverage disputes arising out of October 2012 Superstorm Sandy damages
• Representation of European insurance company clients (e.g., Royal Sun, AIG) in coverage matters
• Representation of captive insurers in reinsurance disputes
• Representation of Merck & Co. Inc. in federal and state court litigation involving two of its drugs, Vioxx® and Fosamax®
• Representation of New York Blood Center Inc. in numerous cases involving alleged transfusion-related and other injuries
• Representation of The Hartford in various insurance coverage matters, including silicone-gel breast implants, pesticides and various other coverage cases
• Representation of various clients in arbitrations