Biography | Suna Lee

Suna Lee focuses her practice on the defense of general liability and product liability litigation, including benzene matters and other toxic torts, consumer fraud claims and class actions. Suna handles a variety of commercial litigation matters involving breach of contract and breach of warranty claims. In addition, she defends professional and premises liability matters; workers’ compensation claims; and environmental actions under the Spill Act. Her goal in all matters is to reach a cost-effective resolution for the client. Suna has achieved certification in the firm’s rigorous National Mock Trial Program, through which our most successful trial lawyers impart their knowledge to those destined to join their ranks.

For more than 15 years, Suna has represented national and international product manufacturers and distributors in federal and state trial and appellate courts. She served as national coordinating counsel for a leading global energy company in connection with benzene litigation, coordinating discovery, developing and implementing defense and resolution strategies, and directly litigating cases filed in New Jersey. Suna was able to resolve half of the docket through voluntary dismissals and has settled many of the remaining claims well below estimated values.

Prior to law school, Suna worked in the insurance industry.

Areas of Focus

General Liability
Suna has extensive experience defending corporate premises owners and operators in a wide variety of general liability matters involving commercial offices, industrial workplaces, restaurants, recreational facilities and apartment complexes. Matters have included multimillion-dollar wrongful death actions.

Product Liability
Suna’s product liability experience includes the defense of benzene, asbestos, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, recreational motor vehicles, industrial and commercial equipment, and consumer goods. She wrote the winning appellate briefs in two seminal product liability cases addressing the standard of admissibility of scientific expert testimony for medical causation, resulting in the dismissal of multimillion-dollar claims.

Education

Rutgers School of Law (J.D., 1996)
Rutgers University (B.A., 1990)

Bar Admissions

New Jersey

Court Admissions

U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey

Professional Affiliations

New Jersey State Bar Association, Product Liability and Toxic Tort Section
Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey

News Briefs

Perez and Lee Secure Pre-Answer Motion to Dismiss for Baseball Bat Manufacturer

April 14, 2022

News Briefs

Lee and Tatarka Obtain Summary Judgment in Product Liability Suit

June 4, 2019

Tatarka, Lee and Marrelli Secure Forum Non Conveniens Dismissal in Cross-Border Product Liability Dispute

Gregg Tatarka (Partner-White Plains, NY) Suna Lee (Of Counsel-Madison, NJ) and Samantha Marrelli (Associate-White Plains, NY) prevailed on a motion to dismiss in Bergen County Superior Court, New Jersey, on behalf of Wilson Elser’s global consumer electronics company client. In this product liability case, the plaintiff, a North Carolina corporation, filed a lawsuit in New Jersey against our client and a national lease-to-own retailer. The plaintiff alleged that its insureds, Missouri residents, sustained damage to their Missouri property from a 2024 fire caused by an allegedly defective product supplied by our client and the codefendant retailer.

Although the alleged incident, property damage, insureds, and all fact witnesses – including those involved in the fire investigation and subsequent inspection and repair – were located in Missouri, the plaintiff filed suit in New Jersey, relying primarily on the state being our client’s principal place of business. However, the plaintiff’s causes of action were based in Missouri case law. In lieu of filing an answer, Suna and Samantha moved to dismiss under forum non conveniens, demonstrating that New Jersey had no meaningful connection to the dispute and that Missouri was the appropriate forum.

In their reply to the plaintiff and codefendant’s opposition to the motion, which proved paramount to winning the case by distinguishing between the facts and the claimed case law, Suna and Samantha underscored that the plaintiff is a North Carolina corporation, the plaintiff’s insureds are Missouri residents, and Wilson Elser’s client is a New York corporation with a principal place of business in New Jersey. Additionally, they emphasized the absence of any reported decision, permitting a non-resident plaintiff to pursue out-of-state claims under that state's law, surviving a forum non conveniens challenge.

The court agreed and dismissed the action with prejudice, sparing our client from litigating a Missouri-based loss in an improper forum.

Gregg A. Tatarka, Suna Lee and Samantha M. Marrelli

Lee Garners Dismissal for Manufacturer Client on Lack of Jurisdiction

Suna Lee (Of Counsel-Madison, NJ) was granted a Motion to Dismiss this case in its entirety for lack of personal jurisdiction without the need for jurisdictional discovery following extensive briefing and oral argument in Union County Superior Court. Suna represented a valve manufacturer. The third-party plaintiff, a plumbing company that installed a toilet with a valve alleged to have caused extensive property damage in a commercial building located in New Jersey, filed a Third-Party Complaint against our client, who supplied the valve, alleging the valve was defective. Our client, incorporated under the laws of Delaware and headquartered in Illinois, sold the valve to the toilet manufacturer – a Wisconsin company – and shipped it to its warehouse in Texas. Accordingly, in lieu of an Answer, Suna moved for dismissal of all claims based on our client’s lack of minimum contacts. The court agreed with Suna that recent Supreme Court jurisprudence limited general jurisdiction and rejected the stream of commerce theory argued by the plaintiff’s counsel and further agreed that jurisdictional discovery was not warranted given the absence of a prima facie case of jurisdiction. The alleged property damage to the commercial building totaled approximately $500,000 and the action involved numerous defendants engaging in extensive litigation and motion practice.

Suna Lee