Class Action

Lathrop & Gage is recognized as one of the most respected class action defense firms in the country. We have defended class actions in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Our class action practice group is supported by more than 170 litigators, which allows us to successfully deal with all aspects of class action litigation, including precertification dismissals and summary judgments, class discovery, class certification and de-certification, and claims administration. The depth and breadth of our experience allows us to handle any type of class action. Recent experience includes:

• Antitrust/trade regulation
• Breach of fiduciary duty
• Civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act 
• Employee benefits
• Consumer fraud and merchandising practices acts
• Unauthorized practice of law 
• Driver Privacy Protection Act 
• Employment practices
• Insurance 
• Securities 
• Toxic Tort

Representative Experience:

• Defended a multibillion-dollar matter for multiple defendant oil companies nationwide in multi-district litigation and more than 30 class actions on retail motor fuel sales. The matter included more than 100 defendants. Obtained successful dismissal for 10 defendants.
• Successfully defeated a class certification motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in a proposed 18-state class action involving residential real estate closing fees on behalf of a large title company. Plaintiffs alleged they were injured by the defendant over-collecting estimated recording fees and failing to refund alleged excessive fees. Class was not certified and the case was dismissed.
• Defended a major financial services firm in a class-action lawsuit asserting claims involving leasing fees and charges involving all leased vehicles in the State of Missouri which was ultimately settled to the client’s satisfaction.
• Successfully defended a major financial services firm in litigation taken to the Missouri Supreme Court in a potential class-action lawsuit. We defeated class certification and the plaintiff’s efforts to open discovery to tens of thousands of the client’s records requiring potentially hundreds of hours of the client’s employees’ time that led to the ultimate settlement of the case for an amount far less than the subject of the proposed class action.
• Represented internet gaming company in a class action on claims of violations of the Florida Consumer Protection Act. The matter was brought by a player of the internet game World of Warcraft, a massive multiplayer online role playing game. The class was denied and the plaintiff later dismissed the case.