Partner
Douglas V. Sanchez is a founding partner of Sanchez Maselli Trial Attorneys, resident in its New Jersey and Boca Raton, Florida offices. He is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney, and his practice focuses on complex civil litigation. He represents self-insured corporations, business entities, public entities, insurance carriers, and individuals in state and federal court in claims involving technology platforms, premises liability, dram shop claims, employment practices, professional liability (legal malpractice and architects & engineers claims), director and officer liability, non-compete and restrictive covenant disputes, commercial litigation, partnership and shareholder disputes, insurance coverage disputes, gig economy liability, construction defect, products liability, and trucking liability.
Doug has tried, mediated, and arbitrated hundreds of cases in state and federal courts in New Jersey, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, and is admitted to practice in New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois. He holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV rating — the highest available — and has been recognized by Super Lawyers for more than fifteen years.
He has been appointed by a national insurance carrier as its designated catastrophic-loss attorney for New Jersey and has served as counsel to a national rideshare company, outside counsel to one of the nation's largest bus, train, and rail transit providers, national counsel to an international cosmetics manufacturer, and counsel to a Fortune 500 retailer, a national transportation company, and a national sports organization.
A board member of Trial Attorneys of New Jersey and a trustee of the Bergen County Bar Association, Doug serves as co-chair of the Bergen County Civil Practice and Federal Practice Committees, and has served on the District II-A Ethics Committee, as chairperson and panelist on the Bergen County Fee Arbitration Panel, and as an adjunct professor. He is fluent in Spanish.
Certified Civil Trial Attorney, Supreme Court of New Jersey (2004; recertified 2009, 2014, 2019)
Languages: Spanish (fluent)
Trial Experience
Successfully tried to defense verdict a wrongful-death action in which the plaintiff’s five-year-old daughter witnessed her mother’s death in a horrific accident. The pre-trial demand was $7 million, and the trial judge had recommended a settlement in excess of $2 million.
Defense verdict in a head-on collision involving a commercial truck on a roadway under construction, where the plaintiff was airlifted to a trauma center and underwent four surgical procedures.
Defense verdicts in claims that an orthopedic surgeon should have re-implanted the plaintiff’s four severed digits; that a pediatrician and nurses left an intravenous needle in an infant’s arm too long, causing permanent neurological damage; and that a resident physician and nurses should have foreseen a patient’s subsequent criminal conduct and used appropriate restraints.
Tried a product liability action involving bilateral knee surgeries to a $41,000 verdict — the plaintiff’s medical bills — against a $500,000 demand; a product/premises claim involving a traumatic finger amputation to a $50,000 verdict against a $400,000 demand; and a premises action involving internal and external fixation devices and a workers’ compensation lien in excess of $100,000 to a defense verdict.
Representative Results
Summary judgment for a police officer in an excessive-force case arising from the fatal shooting of a knife-wielding decedent. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed, finding the officer’s conduct objectively reasonable and constitutional; certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Summary judgment dismissing a matter alleging product liability, strict liability, and breach of warranty, where the pre-trial demand was $5 million and trial was estimated at ten weeks — and summary judgment with prejudice for a trailer manufacturer after successfully arguing the plaintiff’s liability expert report was an inadmissible net opinion.
Prevailed on a pre-answer motion dismissing a class-action complaint against a supermarket chain alleging TCCWNA, Consumer Fraud Act, and Sales & Use Tax Act violations — avoiding potential exposure well into the seven-figure range.
Prevailed on a declaratory-judgment action obtaining coverage from an S&P 500 company, with the court declaring that an employee was entitled to coverage subject to a $1 million self-insured retention.
Twice prevailed in defending orders to show cause seeking to bar the solicitation and recruitment of employees — while obtaining an order prohibiting solicitation of the client’s own employees — and separately won temporary and permanent injunctive relief preventing a former employee from soliciting customers or using confidential information, including customer lists.
Achieved a settlement at binding arbitration of more than four times the pre-arbitration offer in a shareholder dispute involving a multi-million-dollar German multinational company.
Summary judgment dismissing a whistleblower/wrongful-discharge claim against a public entity; summary judgment in a race discrimination case against a corporation; a pre-answer dismissal of an age discrimination claim venued in Western Pennsylvania; and summary judgment for a municipality on a former municipal attorney’s claim to lifetime retirement health benefits.
Pre-answer dismissal in federal court of an entire complaint brought by a student against her former college, including claims under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, the Law Against Discrimination, and state common law.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every matter turns on its own facts. More firm results →
Methodologies. The Best Lawyers list is issued by BL Rankings, LLC; a description of the selection methodology can be found at bestlawyers.com/About/MethodologyBasic.aspx. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters; a description of the selection methodology can be found at superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html. The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings list is issued by Martindale-Hubbell; a description of the selection methodology can be found at martindale.com/ratings-and-reviews. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
