Susan Chana Lask, Esq.
Susan Chana Lask is a New York licensed attorney with over 20 years experience nationwide
in State and Federal Courts and Appellate Courts. In 2005, she was admitted to the United States
Supreme Court by invitation of New York Law School. She was appointed in a quasi-judicial
position by the State of New York as a surrogate judge for the mentally handicapped. She
conducted trials and made judgments in New York City’s Civil Court as an arbitrator in cases
ranging from airline negligence to attorney malpractice. She is a major media commentator named
in the media as New York’s “High-Powered attorney”. In the late ‘80’s, she organized, digested and
prepared for trial complex litigation class action cases at the prestigious Rivkin, Radler, Dunne &
Bayh’s hazardous waste insurance defense department, including the Agent Orange and Morton
Thiokol cases. In 2001, her class action Paul v. New York State Dept. Of Motor Vehicles, et. al.
resulted in the City of New York agreeing to remove an unjust traffic violation law. On March 20,
2008, she was the first attorney to argue and win class certification against two New Jersey county
prisons for violating constitutional rights of non-criminal arresstees by blanket strip searching them.
Personally, her prized class action achievement was her single handedly taking on the drug
manufacturer Sanofi- Aventis to change their warnings on the sleep medication Ambien. When no
other attorney would help because they did not see money at the end of the case, Ms. Lask stepped
up and filed the class action in March, 2006 with plaintiff Janet Maikenen for the rights of tens of
thousands of people claiming injuries. Ms. Lask appeared on major media outlets nationwide
vowing that she would not stop until the warnings were corrected. NewsWeek, The New York
Times, CNN and more covered Ms. Lask’s case. By December, 2006 the FDA investigated the
claims and on March 14, 2007 the FDA ordered 13 sleep medication manufacturers, including
Sanofi-Aventis, to post proper warnings that sleep-walking, sleep-eating and other reactions could
occur; the exact warnings Ms. Lask advocated for. Although not a dime was won, Ms. Lask is proud
to have made the public aware of the issue and obtain the very warnings she demanded in the
complaint not just against the defendant, but resulting against many manufacturers. Subsequently,
people have been helped from Ms. Lask’s Ambien action, including her consulting pro bono in a
California case where criminal charges were dismissed against a young man because her work
proved a sleep medication caused his behavior.
