Practice Strengths

BakerHostetler has one of the most experienced National Consumer Class Action Defense teams of any firm in the country. This team is complemented by the Employment Class Action Defense team and the Wage and Hour Class and Collective Action Defense team.

These three teams have risen to elite national status, having defended over 200 national and state class actions for major corporations in over 25 states in the last five years. Together, these teams typically defend 30 to 40 class actions at any one time and regularly defend companies in plaintiff-friendly “magnet” jurisdiction state courts, as well as major federal jurisdictions.

The Class Action teams defend clients in every facet of class action proceedings, including class certification, motions to dismiss, summary judgment, standing issues, juridical link issues, unfair trade practice act issues, remedial action issues, trials, opt-out and objector issues, and all facets of parallel administrative proceedings, related criminal proceedings and derivative actions.

Creative Settlements and Resolutions
The reality of consumer class action litigation is the vast majority of cases are settled. Our National Consumer Class Action Defense team has extensive experience in creatively resolving cases and supervising the administration of class action settlements, including settlements with settlement classes of over 6 million members. The team's experience includes creative methods for dealing with objectors, “opt-outs” and collateral regulatory actions.

Class Action Fairness Act: New Challenges
Passage of the Class Action Fairness Act in 2005 changed the class action defense landscape. However, as is true with all “reform” legislation, new issues and challenges arose, including:
 

• New removal and class demographic issues.
• Stringent settlement fairness hearings.
• Ramifications of mandatory notice to state regulatory and enforcement agencies.

Our National Consumer Class Action Defense team is uniquely positioned to build upon its deep experience to creatively defend these reform age cases. We have successfully removed cases under the Act, and we are uniquely prepared to defend transition cases and “eleventh hour cases” filed in plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions on the eve of passage of the Act.

Seamless and Efficient National Representation
Our in-depth experience gives us the ability to assemble a seamless national team to handle any case, be it national, regional or state. We maintain case and brief banks accessible to all team members and have developed technology that allows us to maintain, retrieve and collate vast detailed class information for purposes of assaulting class certification, as well as for analyzing potential settlement parameters and administering large settlements.

Represented Industries and Practice Areas
While the team has a depth of experience in representation of major financial services providers, we also have extensive experience in the following industries and practice areas:
 

• Motor Vehicle Insurance
• Title insurance
• Life Insurance
• Collateral Protection Insurance
• Airlines
• Mortgage banking
• Products liability
• Time share
• Heavy equipment and automobile dealers
• ERISA
• Securities
• Telecommunications
• Antitrust
• Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Banking
• Taxpayer's suit

An Interdisciplinary Approach
The broad national general litigation practice of BakerHostetler allows the National Consumer Class Action Defense team to use an interdisciplinary approach to its defense strategies. Many of its members are members of other litigation practice teams such as the White Collar Defense, Appellate, Products Liability & Toxic Tort, and Antitrust, which are called upon to bring additional experience to our client's defense.

Relationships
We have forged successful relationships with local counsel throughout the country to appropriately assist in our defense. We have also forged strong relationships with expert witnesses throughout the nation as well as with class action administrators and due process testimonial experts.

The Team
The BakerHostetler Class Action team's experience runs from the most seasoned trial partners to junior associates. We strive to staff in a streamlined and seamless way to expeditiously and successfully defend all cases, from the most massive national class actions to the smaller statewide only class actions, as well as individual “opt-out” cases. Our presence in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver; The District of Columbia; New York City; Houston; Los Angeles and Costa Mesa, California; and Orlando assures experience in all major as well as “magnet” jurisdictions.

Class Action Defense Experience

Financial Services Class Action Experience/Auto Insurance - Claims Adjusting and Rate Practices

• Defended auto insurance company regarding the specification of non-OEM or aftermarket parts in repair estimates. Class certification defeated. Affirmed on appeal.
• Defended auto insurers in multiple class actions seeking interest on all settlement agreements entered into over the last 15 years; summary judgment for the defendant and class certification denied. Affirmed on appeal by the Ohio Supreme Court.
• Defended auto insurance company in multiple class actions regarding the taking of depreciation or “betterment” deductions in paying for collision repairs. Case settled.
• Defended auto insurance company regarding diminution of value claims made by insured during the collision repair process. Motion to dismiss granted in favor of client.
• Defended auto insurers in multiple class actions regarding the provision of collateral protection insurance to lender. Summary judgment granted in favor of client and upheld on appeal.
• Defended auto insurer in class action based on the Ohio Valued Policy Statute for fire damage to a mobile home. Class certification defeated.
• Represented defendant insurance company in class action alleging improper titling of total loss vehicles. Summary judgment granted in favor of client. Class certification defeated.
• Defense of putative state class action involving PIP benefits. Settled and dismissed.
• Defense of national class action involving alternative commission program. Settled and dismissed.
• Defense of putative national class action challenging renewal premiums in the renewal of auto insurance. Case voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff.
• Defended in a class action alleging that insurers overcharged policyholders for car insurance. Motion for summary judgment filed. Case voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff.
• Assumed defense of case upon appeal from decision granting class certification against the nation's largest personal lines property and casualty insurer, for claims relating to sale of uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance coverage. Obtained reversal of class certification by court of appeals, subsequently reversed by Ohio Supreme Court. Obtained summary judgment for client against claims of over one million policyholders.
• Represented largest personal lines property and casualty insurer against class claims involving the calculation of motor vehicle property damage. Class certification defeated.
• Represented homeowners' insurer against class claims involving payment of general contractor's overhead and profit. Settled and dismissed.
• Defended largest personal lines property and casualty insurer against alleged violations of the Ohio Uninsured Motorists Property Damage Statute. Case dismissed prior to certification.

Title Insurance and Mortgage Lending

• Defended title insurer in multiple class actions regarding alleged overcharging of premiums in refinancing transactions. Class settlement tentatively approved by court.
• Defense of putative national class action alleging improper and duplicative recording fees. Client voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff.
• Defended mortgage lender against class claims regarding appraisal calculations. Case voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff.
• Defense of bank against class allegations of overcharging fees related to mortgage cancelations. Settled and dismissed.
• Represented the defendant in class action involving allegations of untimely recordation of mortgage payoffs. Settled and dismissed.
• Represented mortgage lender against claims of breach of contract and misrepresentation relating to fees charged to customers selling residential real estate.
• Defended mortgage lender in national class action challenging yield spread premium. Motion to dismiss granted in favor of client.
• Defended mortgage lender in class action involving allegedly unauthorized lending practices. Case dismissed.
• Defended Arkansas class action involving alleged violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act in connection with alleged overcharges related to mortgage loan servicing. Class allegations dismissed.

Commercial Insurance

• Defended insurer in class action challenging the provision of forced-order hazard insurance to mortgage company. Motion to dismiss in favor of insurer granted by court.
• Defended insurer in class action challenging the provision of credit life insurance to borrowers of lender. Motion to dismiss granted by court in favor of insurer.

Other

• Represented the defendant in case challenging finance charges assessed in conjunction with retail credit sales. Settled and dismissed.
• Defended client against class allegations that it had violated the Texas Debt Collection Act in connection with its collection letters.
• Represented insurance broker and Bermuda insurance company in class actions challenging calculation of shippers' insurance premiums. Consolidated for pretrial purposes before S.D.N.Y. by the MDL Panel.
• Defended life insurance company in class action challenging vanishing premium policies. Class certification denied and upheld on appeal.
• Defended class action involving securities fraud and civil RICO issues. Judgment for client by U.S. Supreme Court.
• Represented brokerage firm regarding entitlement to interest in futures trading. Case dismissed with prejudice by plaintiff.
• Represented the defendant in case involving allegations of aiding and abetting state securities fraud in connection with purchase of notes.

Employment Class Action Experience

• Represented national insurer in the resolution of a set of nationwide class and collective actions alleging unpaid overtime and misclassification of employees.
• After obtaining denial of class certification involving several hundred female employees, we secured summary judgment on behalf of our FORTUNE 100 client on the individual claims.
• Provided oversight for insurance carriers in numerous employment discrimination class actions filed against utilities.
• Negotiated a zero dollar settlement of a federal class action lawsuit brought against our client, a large hospital, by the Service Employees International Union.
• Represented large petroleum company in ADA class action litigation involving all of its nearly 5,000 gas stations and convenience stores nationwide.
• Defended breach of fiduciary obligation claims against employer trustees of Taft-Hartley plans.
• Defended numerous manufacturers in class action challenges to changes in retiree medical benefits and claims for alleged unpaid retiree health insurance benefits, including those
  involving spin-off operations.  
• Removed class action threat against FORTUNE 100 manufacturer through creative case management.
• Resolved nationwide claim of sex discrimination in lending against financial institution.
• Won class action for employer accused of violating WARN Act in connection with major plant closing.
• Obtained dismissal for national hotel chain accused of race discrimination in public accommodations.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of retailer in nationwide collective action alleging misclassification of store managers.
• Helped manufacturers and others with evaluation and pre-suit mediation of class actions.
• Prevented certification of a company-wide race discrimination case against FORTUNE 500 company and then successfully tried or obtained summary judgment on the named plaintiffs’ claims.

About BakerHostetler's Litigation Team
When the stakes are bet-the-company monetary damages, potential criminal sentences and intense scrutiny in the court of public opinion, the more than 325 litigators of BakerHostetler are a team to depend on. We have the kind of credentials you expect from a leading national litigation firm and a client base we have protected in and out of court for decades.

What really sets us apart is our practical experience as trial lawyers. The BakerHostetler team includes former top prosecutors of the U.S. Justice Department (four of whom received the Attorney General's Distinguished Services Award), former prosecutors for major municipalities, veteran civil trial attorneys and enforcement officials from various federal agencies, from the Department of Energy to the SEC and NASD (now FINRA).