Class Actions

We also pride ourselves on offering proactive advice to our clients, recommending and implementing programs designed to deter these cases or limit their potential to be certified.

Our class actions lawyers regularly advise on an array of issues, including securities, consumer protection and fraud, privacy & cybersecurity, antitrust, employment law, insurance and product liability.

We also have deep experience defending against simultaneous and overlapping class actions and regulatory or criminal investigations. We employ a multidisciplinary approach in tandem with our best-in-class regulatory team composed of former top officials from the DOJ, FTC and other critical federal and state agencies.

Services In-Depth

Antitrust/Competition

We combine global antitrust & competition experience with the ability to manage large, complex class actions, including defending unfair competition and unfair and fraudulent business practices class action claims. Our team also advises clients on cases involving mergers & acquisitions (M&A), predatory pricing and price discrimination. We defend a panoply of civil class action lawsuits and other private suits (including multidistrict litigation, direct and indirect purchaser class actions and cases that follow government civil and criminal prosecutions) alleging the various state and federal antitrust claims such as joint conduct, monopolization, intellectual property and vertical distribution issues. Learn more about our antitrust practice.

Consumer Protection

A recognized leader in defeating putative consumer class actions alleging a range of deceptive, unfair and fraudulent business practices, our team has obtained early, definitive and favorable resolutions using a host of innovative strategies. We regularly defend companies in class actions alleging claims under common law theories and federal and state consumer protection statutes, including emerging state privacy statutes, federal and state wiretapping statutes, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act and False Advertising Laws, and other consumer protection laws nationwide. Learn more about our consumer protection practice.

Employment

Our litigators have served as lead counsel in nationwide collective and class actions alleging “off the clock” violations or misclassification of employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). We have also handled class action challenges under numerous equal employment opportunity laws, including the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Equal Pay Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and various discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Learn more about our labor & employment practice.

Insurance

We defend national class actions that expose insurance clients to risk of substantial loss. In recent years, the loss exposures in cases we handled ranged from several million dollars to $5 billion. Learn more about our insurance practice.

Privacy

Our litigators routinely defend putative class actions arising from allegations concerning improper use of consumer data. We have extensive experience with a wide range of matters, including those related to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and other developing state statutes, EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We regularly handle data breaches and defend against high-profile class actions arising from breaches. Learn more about our privacy practice.

Securities

Our lawyers have defended numerous public companies, as well as officers and directors, in securities class actions. Our team has faced all types of securities claims—from accounting fraud and restatements to aggressive projections and missed forecasts. Learn more about our securities litigation practice.

Representative Matters

• Defeated certification of a California class seeking billions in refunds against a national telecommunications provider after a contested and closely watched class certification hearing.
• Represented a prominent trucking company in a bet-the-company case, replacing lead counsel after the court had already certified a nationwide class of 17,000 individuals who were allegedly defrauded into serving as independent contractor drivers. After obtaining a string of precedent-setting victories, we negotiated a highly favorable class-wide settlement.
• Negotiated a highly favorable settlement on behalf of a major global television brand in a high-stakes, first-of-its-kind privacy class action involving cutting-edge issues and statutes that are frequently being cited in the rapid growth of privacy class actions across the nation.
• Defended a manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in direct and indirect purchaser antitrust class actions alleging conspiracy. We obtained the dismissal of the direct purchaser case and a denial of class certification in the indirect purchaser suit, which were affirmed on appeal.
• Achieved an appellate win on behalf of a multinational telecommunications conglomerate in a 15-year putative consumer class action seeking billions of dollars in alleged damages. The court’s opinion addressed two issues of first impression as to prosecution of class actions in California state court.
• Represented an energy company and its directors in three securities class actions. Each of the cases alleged violations of sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 14a-9. We successfully convinced the plaintiffs of all three cases to dismiss their cases voluntarily with no payment to the plaintiffs.
• Defended an insurance company in a nationwide class action alleging discrimination and retaliation in the context of a corporate reorganization of the company’s agency force.