MONIQUE M. WEINER is a shareholder and trial lawyer with the law firm of Abbott, Simses & Kuchler.  She has tried diverse bench and jury trials to verdict.  Her litigation specialties are Toxic Tort, Product Liability, Employment Discrimination, Personal Injury and Construction Law trials. 

Ms. Weiner is trial counsel for a chemical manufacturing company which has been sued in approximately 1800 cases.  Those cases are pending in Mississippi and arise out of alleged community exposure and contamination as a result of dioxins and heavy metals.  In June 2007, Ms. Weiner tried the claims arising from the death of an 8 year-old girl who suffered from congenital heart defects and a rare form of liver cancer, hepatoblastoma.  The jury returned a defense verdict after very short deliberations.  In that case, the plaintiffs sought compensatory damages from the jury of up to $30 million dollars.

In 2006, Ms. Weiner was lead trial counsel defending a class action arising as a result of an explosion at a chemical facility.  After a full trial, the court rendered judgment in favor of Ms. Weiner’s client.  Later in that year, Ms. Weiner obtained summary judgment and voluntary dismissal in cases involving claims of employment discrimination.

Ms. Weiner’s diverse trial experience includes:

• trying to verdict and judgment toxic tort cases including the claims of a plaintiff suffering from the cancer, multiple myeloma and, in another case, acute mylogenous leukemia as a result of alleged benzene exposure     
• successfully recovering property damage and loss of natural gas reserves after a month-long bench trial as a result of an explosion of a natural gas production platform for the plaintiff platform owners and natural gas leaseholders whom Abbott, Simses & Kuchler represented
• defending a railroad from wrongful death and personal injury claims during jury trials in both federal and state court in Louisiana. 
• obtaining favorable results for plaintiffs in jury trials in federal court in New Orleans against a national insurance company and Bank One
• defending the interests of a prominent publication in a construction-related trial in Mississippi

In addition to managing her diverse litigation practice, Ms. Weiner is chair of the Firm’s Harassment and Discrimination Committee.  She assists employers in drafting employment agreements and policies, as well as defending complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She has participated in EEOC mediations, and prefers to become involved in the EEOC process for an employer before a lawsuit is filed. She has also assisted employers in unemployment compensation benefits hearings. She is involved in a Fortune 100 Company's Labor and Employment Law Practice group and attends annual meetings of that group in connection with a yearly seminar on Multi-State Labor and Employment Law issues.

Ms. Weiner has been employed continuously with the Firm since her graduation from the Paul M. Hebert School of Law at Louisiana State University in 1994. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Baylor University in Waco, Texas in 1991, after only three years of college enrollment.  She is admitted to the state bars in Louisiana and Texas.