Class Action Litigation

We’ve successfully defended clients against nearly every antitrust claim consumers and competitors make, including claims of monopolization, price fixing, predatory pricing, and other anti-competitive behavior, as well as antitrust violations in labor and employment practices.

Representative Experience

• Defended a national pipe manufacturer in multi-district antitrust class action seeking more than $150 million for alleged price fixing, resulting in a favorable settlement of all claims
• Successfully litigated private antitrust consumer class actions against a major software manufacturer, resulting in nearly $1.3 billion in settlements for businesses and individuals in California and Minnesota
• Obtained favorable class settlement for three hospital defendants in an antitrust and price-fixing federal class action

California has implemented several nuanced state laws to protect consumers, including the California Invasion Of Privacy Act, California Penal Code §§ 502, 630-638, et seq. (“CIPA”), California's False Advertising Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17500, et seq., California's Customer Records Act, §§ 1798.80, et seq., California's Consumer Privacy Rights Act, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 1798, et seq. (“CCPA”), the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, Cal. Penal Code § 502 (“CDAFA”), the California Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, Cal. Civ. Code §1747.08, the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Civ. Code § 1770, et seq. (“CLRA”), the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act, Civ. Code 1785 et seq. (“CCRAA”) and Section 17200 of the California Business & Professions Code (“UCL”). The substantial statutory damages available under these statutes has increased the likelihood that companies doing business in California will face high-stakes class action lawsuits.

Our class action defense group includes highly knowledgeable attorneys with decades of experience defending financial institutions and other businesses against such claims under California's consumer protection laws.

Representative Experience

• Represented a consumer services company in multistate consumer protection actions. Our engagement involved investigations by 20 state attorneys general
• Defended consumer financial services companies in dozens of state-wide and nationwide class actions involving the FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA, TILA, and state-law corollaries
• Won summary judgment and denial of class certification in RICO/UDAP class action alleging that social media sweepstakes constituted illegal gambling. The victory was affirmed on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

A large portion of our clients' class action lawsuits involve alleged violations of state and federal consumer protection laws. Our typical clients are retailers, manufacturers, financial services companies, and healthcare and education systems facing alleged claims of fraud, privacy violations, and unfair business practices. Our team also provides counsel on regulatory and compliance issues, so you can avoid facing consumer claims.

Representative Experience

• Won summary judgment and denial of class certification in consumer class action against financial services company in Ohio. The victory was affirmed on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Represented a consumer services company in multistate consumer protection actions. Our engagement involved investigations by 20 state attorneys general
• Sustained on appeal dismissal of unfair trade practices class action involving a claim exceeding $13 million dollars against a car dealership
• Defended consumer financial services companies in dozens of state-wide and nationwide class actions involving the FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA, TILA, and state-law corollaries. 
• Defended consumer financial services companies in regulatory enforcement matters brought by State, County, and City civil enforcement divisions. 
• Won summary judgment and denial of class certification in RICO/UDAP class action alleging that social media sweepstakes constituted illegal gambling. The victory was affirmed on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 

Our class action team includes litigators who understand the nuances of privacy-related claims and stay informed about state and federal privacy laws impacting class action exposure. When a client experiences a data breach, our privacy and cybersecurity team assists with an incident response strategy. If that data breach results in a class action, we can help you resolve it quickly and reach a favorable settlement on your behalf.

Representative Experience

• Defended digital marketing company in putative class actions alleging that it engaged in unlawful web tracking activity in violation of state wiretapping statutes 
• Defended an online entertainment company in putative class action alleging violations of the Video Protection Privacy Act
• Secured the first federal decision in California finding in a nationwide data breach class action that the data breach fell within the scope of an arbitration clause in an automobile retail installment sales contract and that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts the California Consumer Privacy Act’s statutory grant of the right to pursue a class action

As counsel to some of the nation's most prominent educational institutions, we're familiar with the challenges of operating in higher education. Our experience includes investigating and challenging putative class actions, a growing legal risk for colleges and universities. Other class actions typically involve current and past students claiming breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and fraud. We also defend schools against business practice claims from their employees and competing universities.

Representative Experience

• Represented an educational institution in simultaneous state regulatory investigation, civil putative class actions, and business dispute. Global settlement was reached for all claims
• Lead counsel to a university in connection with multidistrict putative class action litigation alleging that collegiate institutions, athletic conferences, and the NCAA failed to warn football players of the adverse effects of concussions
• Represented a university, its investment advisory committee, and individual committee members in defense of putative class action. ERISA claims included breach of fiduciary duty related to unreasonable recordkeeping expenses, failure to prudently monitor plan investment options, and prohibited transactions with plan record keepers

Since complex litigation is a significant part of our environmental practice, we frequently manage toxic tort and class action lawsuits for large manufacturers and other corporate clients. 

We defend our clients in claims ranging from environmental emergencies to climate change issues. Our team's considerable knowledge base and legal experience in this area includes chemicals, environmental agents, toxicology, epidemiology, and chemical fate transport and modeling.

Representative Experience

• Achieved favorable settlement in defense of three mass action lawsuits alleging property damage and personal injury stemming from former mining activity in South Carolina 
• Represented three of the world's largest petroleum producers and refiners in a products liability class action brought by over 900,000 private drinking water well owners in the state of North Carolina. Obtained a complete dismissal
• As lead counsel, defended class action involving claims against a major refiner/distributor of gasoline for wrongful death, personal injury, property damage and medical monitoring based on alleged exposure to benzene through air emissions and groundwater

We represent employers in employment class actions and other multi-plaintiff litigation involving state and federal employment laws such as claims targeting hiring practices, executive compensation, discrimination, and employees' hours, wages, benefits as well as antitrust claims that are also sometimes asserted in employment cases. Our employment litigators benefit from having a large talent pool of lawyers with different legal backgrounds and industry experience to call on.

Representative Experience

• Represented an educational institution in resolution of antitrust class action litigation involving labor claims
• Defended an insurance company against wage and hour class action claims
• Represented a major U.S. clothing company in a workplace health and safety class action involving foreign manufacturers and a building collapse in Bangladesh

We represent most participants in the consumer finance industry, including national and regional banks, debt buyers, consumer finance companies, mortgage companies, and alternative lenders, as well as collection agencies and law firms.

Because of their considerable experience in this area, our defense attorneys can efficiently handle class actions involving the "alphabet soup" of federal regulations: 

• The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
• The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• The Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
• The Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA)
• Related state laws, such as, California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (California Civil Code § 1788), California Fair Debt Buying Practices Act, California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California Unruh Act, California Karnette Act, and California Unfair Competition Act (California Business & Professions Code § 17200)

Representative Experience

• Obtained order denying class certification in California federal district court action alleging that our client, a finance company, charged improper fees in violation of California’s Karnette Act
• Defended “buy now pay later” provider in putative class action filed in Florida state court alleging that client sent emails in violation of Florida statutes
• Served as lead counsel for the defense in a series of class actions, related to subprime mortgages, alleging violations of state and federal consumer lending statutes and regulations in both North Carolina state courts and federal courts
• Served as lead counsel for the defense of a series of TCPA class actions. Litigated cases either through summary judgment or through settlement, class administration, and final class approval. 

Many of our healthcare, pharma, and medical device clients routinely face class actions and multi-plaintiff litigation. They rely on the experience of our litigation support team members and lawyers with medical and scientific backgrounds to craft effective defense strategies in these cases. Our attorneys also have years of large-scale and multi-district litigation experience, much of it product-related, to help them resolve class actions quickly and reach favorable settlements for our healthcare clients.

Representative Experience

• Served as National Counsel of Record for an international pharmaceutical company involved in multi-district product liability litigation. This litigation involved thousands of individual cases nationwide involving billions of dollars in cumulative claims
• Regional and local counsel in a series of mass tort cases involving pharmaceutical and medical device product liability issues. Our engagement involved managing thousands of cases and millions of dollars in liability
• Served as national case management counsel and counsel of record for Merck & Co., Inc. in the Vioxx MDL and New Jersey Coordinated Proceedings. We played a key role in positioning Merck to resolve tens of thousands of claims/suits through the highly publicized and successful Vioxx Resolution Program

Several of our firm's litigators work extensively with clients in the insurance sector. These attorneys are veteran trial lawyers with deep industry, policy, and product knowledge. As such, some of the most prominent U.S. and UK-based insurance companies have trusted Womble Bond Dickinson to resolve their most complex and challenging disputes, including class action claims.

Representative Experience

• Represented an investment management company in putative class action under ERISA alleging it breached fiduciary duties and engaged in prohibited transactions
• Achieved successful resolution of putative class action against an insurance company for failing to provide statutorily mandated disclosures
• Represented an insurance company in two class actions involving customers who alleged negligence in the sale of insurance products

Our litigators have represented the manufacturers of some of the world's most recognizable consumer brands before state and federal courts in class action, multidistrict, and mass tort litigation. Unsurprisingly, these matters are a significant and routine legal challenge for many manufacturers. Because of our firm's size, experience, and ability to control costs, we have longstanding relationships with many of our clients in this sector – a testament to the quality of our work.

Representative Experience

• Served as national class action counsel to an international construction product manufacturer
• Represented an automobile manufacturer in defense of a class action in federal court
• Achieved denial of class certification in consumer class actions against a leading building product manufacturer in cases filed in numerous states and consolidated in multidistrict litigation

Our attorneys have decades of experience successfully defending clients in product liability class actions and multi-district litigation. Having considerable experience in this area, we've handled product-related cases in almost every state and several international forums. We’ve defended a broad range of clients in consumer-facing industries, including:

• Construction and building performance
• Transportation (Automotive, Aviation, Trucking, and Industrial and Heavy Equipment)
• Pharmaceuticals and medical devices
• Electronics and appliances
• Propane and natural gas
• Food, chemicals, and agriculture 
• Tobacco

We manage complex litigation so frequently that we've created in-house litigation support teams to assist with case management, medical record analysis, document review, e-discovery, alternative dispute resolution, and trial graphics. These teams are integral to helping us control costs and reach favorable outcomes in our clients' product liability class actions.

Representative Experience

• Acted as national, class action, complex case, and strategic planning counsel to defend the nation’s leading manufacturers of synthetic stucco in over 1,000 lawsuits across the United States
• Defended a global industrial equipment manufacturer in class actions, mass torts, and environmental litigation
• Lead defense counsel to a building products manufacturer in multi-district litigation class action suits for property damages. Our engagement included a 10-state MDL construction products matter where the court denied class certification in the Northern District of Georgia

We've successfully defended some of the nation's largest publicly traded companies and their officers in federal securities litigation, derivative actions, and other investor claims. Several of our attorneys are former government employees, which helps us guide clients in investigations by the S.E.C. and the Department of Labor. These regulatory investigations often last many years and are accompanied by additional civil and criminal actions, which we also have the resources to handle.

Representative Experience

• Achieved denial of class certification and dismissal of all claims in securities fraud litigation alleging fraud and conspiracy claims under Ohio Blue Sky laws against trust company custodian of individual retirement accounts in the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
• Represented a publicly traded home health care company and its officers in securities class action case to achieve dismissal of all claims. The plaintiffs alleged accounting fraud and other misstatements in the prospectus
• Achieved dismissal of securities class action case based on accounting fraud after national flooring company required to restate its financial statements.

Our class action defense group includes experienced attorneys dedicated to TCPA defense. Though we are equipped to handle a broad scope of defense strategies through trials and appeals if necessary, the TCPA Team regularly defeats class actions through dispositive motion practice and early individual resolutions. Our diverse TCPA client base includes consumer finance and marketing companies, telecommunications platform providers, and some of the largest financial institutions in the United States.

Representative Experience

• Defended retail food chain in putative class action alleging that it sent promotional text messages in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
• Defended medical corporation in putative class action alleging that it engaged in unlawful telemarketing in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
• Obtained motion to dismiss in putative class action brought against text messaging platform provider
• Defended an automobile finance company against a class action filed under the TCPA through settlement and class administration involving a complex data set