We are seasoned trial lawyers with extensive backgrounds in class action litigation in jurisdictions throughout the United States.  We resolve class action disputes that corporate clients face with their customers, competitors, suppliers, investors, shareholders, and regulators.  Our class action practice reaches across the major substantive areas of the law, including antitrust, securities, business tort, consumer finance, consumer fraud, contract, insurance, product liability, RICO, and other fields.  We represent clients in the financial services, retail, manufacturing and other businesses.  We often serve as national counsel for clients facing “bet the company” litigation and coordinate the defense of competing or parallel class cases across the country.  For any type of high-stakes class action dispute, corporate clients and their in-house counsel can be assured that we have lawyers with the right skills and experience to defend their case the right way. 

We and our clients are at the forefront of the effort to challenge the abuses rampant in class action cases.  Because we have litigated so many purported class action cases, in so many forums across the country, we understand the determinative legal and factual issues, and we have refined defense strategies to present those issues in the best possible light.  Through creative preliminary motion practice, focused discovery, and compelling written and oral advocacy, we have achieved many outright victories or dime-store settlements in alleged class cases with enormous stakes.

Our class action practice group is cohesive, cooperative and committed.  We enjoy practicing law together, and we bring our collective enthusiasm and talents to bear on solving our clients’ problems.  Recognizing that law is a personal service business, we make every effort to understand a class action lawsuit in the broader context of a client’s current and future business plans.  We stress the need for regular and free-wheeling communication with our clients, so that we can recommend the best possible choices on litigation strategies and tactics from the client’s point of view.  We vigilantly monitor the costs of litigation, and, critically, the cost/benefit ratio of discovery and trial versus mediation, arbitration or settlement. 

We are a leader in integrating modern technology and litigation management techniques into our class action practice.  While we do not advocate a "one-size-fits-all" approach, in appropriate cases we can, for example, integrate our word processing and billing systems with those of our clients, or employ computerized document and data retrieval systems in discovery.  We also have a state of the art graphics facility in house, to assure high quality and save time and cost in the preparation of exhibits and other presentation materials.  We continue to experiment to find new and better ways to deliver our services.

Representative Class Actions

Examples of our extensive class action experience include the following matters in which we:

• Defended putative class action claims in Madison County, Illinois, attacking a substantive review by insurance companies of invoices and services of health care providers.
• Defeated class certification of racketeering, fraud, breach of contract and other claims on behalf of one of the nation’s largest casualty insurance providers in a number of related class actions alleging a fifteen year, industry-wide conspiracy to evade regulation.
• Obtained dismissals and/or defeated class certification motions for banking, consumer finance and retail clients, in dozens of class actions alleging violations of the Truth In Lending Act and state consumer fraud laws.
• Achieved summary judgment for an automobile insurance carrier in state and federal class actions alleging unfair claim practices and consumer fraud in the use of non-OEM parts to repair automobiles.
• Achieved dismissals or summary judgment in nationwide class actions alleging fraud, mislabeling and failure to warn for one of the nation’s largest consumer products manufacturers.
• Obtained dismissals for a title company in several federal and state class actions asserting violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Consumer Fraud Act, common-law fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
• Are defending several national marketing companies against class actions alleging violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), and have challenged the constitutionality of that statute.
• Are representing individual directors and officers of a mutual insurer in a class and derivative claims for their alleged de facto “demutualization” of the mutual and conversion of its surplus.
• Obtained dismissal of several purported national class actions against a manufacturer of personal watercraft, alleging product handling defects and seeking recovery under breach of warranty and consumer fraud theories.
• Won dismissals for a national furniture retailer in three related class-action lawsuits alleging that it violated customer’s constitutional rights to due process and committed wrongful replevin without notice.
• Defeated several class action claims filed against a large furniture retailer alleging violation of the federal Bankruptcy Code arising out of debt collection practices.
• Obtained dismissal for a truck engine manufacturer in a class action brought on behalf of purchasers of extended engine warranties, alleging breach of warranty, fraud and deceptive trade practices.
• Served as national counsel for a major retailer in an number of class actions filed throughout the country, and consolidated by the Panel for Multidistrict Litigation in Alabama federal court, alleging federal and state-law claims regarding installment sales contracts, and negotiated a global settlement after winning dismissals of several of the cases.
• Act as national counsel for an insurance company in class actions relating to force-placed single interest insurance policies, obtaining one dismissal, and continuing our representation in several states.
• Defeated shareholder class action claims filed against a telephone company arising out of a “merger squeezeout.”
• Defeated class certification in a securities fraud case that arose out of a Ponzi scheme.
• Obtained dismissals of companies, directors and financial advisers in securities class action suits alleging misrepresentations in prospectuses and periodic reports.
• Won summary judgment for a furniture retailer in a class action alleging violations of the truth-in-lending and consumer fraud acts relating to the disclosure of credit application fees in consumer credit sales.
• Defeated the motion for class certification for a travel insurance carrier in a class action arising out of 9/11-related travel restrictions.
• Negotiated a nuisance settlement for an insurance carrier in a class action involving the rating of teenage drivers.
• Obtained dismissal of a nationwide class action against an insurer involving forced-placed single interest insurance policies, which enabled us to negotiate individual settlements on a reasonable basis.
• Won dismissal of an insurance carrier in a class action alleging violation of the Consumer Fraud Act for selling life insurance to Spanish-speaking consumers without an English-to-Spanish translation of the terms.
• Successfully defended, at trial, a paper manufacturer against claims of industry-wide price-fixing brought by a consortium of state attorneys general.
• Successfully represented companies and their management in proxy contest litigation.
• Successfully represented management personnel in derivative suits asserting breaches of fiduciary duty in corporate transactions.
• Won dismissals for consumer finance companies in state and federal class actions alleging consumer fraud and TILA violations arising out of the sale of credit insurance policies.
• Are engaged in continuing representation of insurance carriers and airlines in mass tort litigation arising out of airline crashes in the United States, the Philippines and other countries.
• Are engaged in continuing representation of insurance carriers in mass tort litigation involving breast implants, tobacco, thimerosal, PPA, Baycol and other products.
• Are engaged in continuing representation of insurance carriers in asbestos, environmental and health hazard claims.
• Obtained summary judgment for an international consumer products company in a number of copycat nationwide class action lawsuits alleging violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act in connection with the labeling of liquid soap products.
• Negotiated a favorable nationwide class settlement on behalf of a leading manufacturer of pickup truck bedliners in a series of class actions brought against the bedliner industry in state and federal courts across the United States, resolving the suits in exchange for funding a modest education campaign and through standardized warning labels.
• Won dismissal for an international consumer products company in a nationwide class action lawsuit alleging violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act in connection with the labeling and marketing of its toothbrushes.
• Obtained dismissal of our clients in an antitrust class action suit alleging a conspiracy to boycott.
• Defeated class certification in several cases against an international pharmaceutical company in state and federal actions involving DES, and managed to decertify the only plaintiffs’ class that was ever certified in DES litigation.
• Continue to represent an international supplier of specialty minerals, to oversee and coordinate silicosis claims made by hundreds of claimants.
• Negotiated a favorable settlement for a restaurant chain in a class action alleging misrepresentations as to the quantity of beer in glasses distributed through its restaurants.

More Information on our Class Actions Practice

We have successfully represented many clients in a wide variety of complex and challenging class action lawsuits nationwide. We look forward to an opportunity to serve you. For more details on our experience, our class action practice, and the attorneys in our class actions core group, please contact our practice group leader, Thomas J. Cunningham, at (312) 443-1731 or tcunningham@lordbissell.com.