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Paul G. Karlsgodt

Paul Karlsgodt's practice emphasizes class action defense and other complex commercial litigation. Mr. Karlsgodt has represented insurance companies and other FORTUNE 500 companies in numerous nationwide and statewide consumer class action lawsuits and related litigation. He has represented clients in class action lawsuits involving sales and marketing practices, insurance coverage, claims adjustment practices, corporate securities, retailer/dealer disputes, employment and taxation.

Mr. Karlsgodt is editor and primary contributor to the legal blog, www.ClassActionBlawg.com, which covers a variety of class action-related issues, including decisions, trends, best practices, news and reform, both in the U.S. and throughout the world. He also founded and served as the first Chair of the Class Actions, Derivative Suits and Mass Torts Subsection of the Litigation Section of the Colorado Bar Association. He remains an active member of the Subsection.

In addition to his class action experience, Mr. Karlsgodt has represented clients in litigation involving construction defects, mechanic’s liens, unfair competition, corporate shareholder and partnership disputes, trade secrets and restrictive covenants, insurance subrogation and indemnification, commercial representation, contracts, sales, commercial paper, wrongful death, oil and gas, intellectual property, probate, domestic and employment discrimination.

Mr. Karlsgodt also represents several clients pro bono in civil rights cases.

Drawing on his background as an electrical engineer, Mr. Karlsgodt has extensive experience with the management of electronic data in complex litigation. Examples of projects that he has supervised include exposure analysis, electronic data preservation and e-discovery compliance, class action membership identification and settlement award calculations. This work has involved collaboration with clients’ internal technical personnel, Baker Hostetler IT resources and outside consultants.

Prior to joining Baker Hostetler, Mr. Karlsgodt clerked for the Honorable D. Brook Bartlett, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Before receiving his law degree, he served as Articles Editor for the Denver University Law Review, was a member of the University of Denver mock trial team and was inducted into the Order of St. Ives.

In 2011, Mr. Karlsgodt was named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation—an honor bestowed on one third of one percent of the lawyers in America. He was named a 2011 and 2012 Colorado “Super Lawyer” in the area of Class Action/Mass Torts and he was recognized as a “Rising Star” in 2009 and 2010. Mr. Karlsgodt has served as a guest lecturer in the University of Denver College of Law writing program for the past five years, in addition to volunteering as a mentor for first year writing students.

Mr. Karlsgodt is the Hiring Partner and serves on the Executive Committee in the firm’s Denver office. He formerly served as the office Pro Bono Coordinator. He is a member of the American, Colorado, Washington and Denver Bar Associations and the Rhone-Brackett Inn of Court.

Recent Representative Engagements:

• Lead counsel for insurer in multiple putative class actions in California involving auto body shop labor rate surveys and direct repair programs.
• Lead counsel for insurer in multiple putative statewide class actions in Colorado and Ohio involving the sale of uninsured motorist (UM) insurance coverage.
• Lead counsel for insurer in putative statewide class action in New Mexico involving UM insurance coverage.
• Along with attorneys from several other law firms, defended telecommunications company in a nationwide class action filed by retailers seeking unpaid commissions.
• Lead counsel for plaintiff in breach of contract action brought by Brazilian company against a U.S. manufacturer in Washington state court.
• Cooperating counsel with the ACLU of Colorado in a civil rights class action brought on behalf of prisoners at the Garfield County, Colorado jail.
• Cooperating counsel with the ACLU of Colorado in a wrongful death civil rights action brought against officials in Colorado State Highway Patrol.

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• Panelist: “Class Certification After Dukes, Bayer and Halliburton” Strafford Publications CLE Teleconference (August 2011)
• Panelist: “Class Action Filings in Federal Court After Shady Grove,” Strafford Publications CLE Teleconference (July 2011)
• Speaker: “Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Reshaping Class Certification,” CBA-CLE Colorado Inc. (July 2011)
• Speaker: “Statistics in the Courtroom” Colorado Bar Association, Litigation Section, Class Actions, Mass Torts, and Derivative Suits Subsection CLE Luncheon (June 2011)
• Panelist: “CAFA Removal and Remand: Latest Developments: Navigating Class Action Jurisdictional Ambiguities Amid Evolving Circuit Court Standards,” Strafford Publications CLE Teleconference (March 2011)
• Speaker: “The Ethics of Using Social Media in Law Firm Marketing,” part of program entitled “Legal and Ethical Implications of Social Media,” CLE Colorado Inc. (December 2010)
• Program Chair: “Economic Crisis Litigation Update,” CLE Colorado Inc., CLE program discussing trends in class action and other litigation in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis and the economic downturn (July 2009)
• Panelist: “Rule 23(f) Class Certification Appeals—Strategies for Pursuing or Opposing Appellate Review in the Absence of Clear Standards,” Strafford Publications, CLE teleconference discussing how various appellate courts are responding to Rule 23(f) appeals and offering strategies for counsel for pursuing and opposing appellate review of a class certification decision (January 2009 and June 2010)

 Recent publications:

• Editor: World Class Actions: A Practitioner's Guide to Representative and Multi-Party Actions Around the World (Oxford University Press) (forthcoming, publication expected in 2012)
• Co-Author: "Class Action Settlement Objectors: Minor Nuisance or Serious Threat to Final Approval?" BNA Class Action Litigation Report (August 12, 2011)
• Author: “The October 2010 Supreme Court Term in review: For defendants, life returns to normal after the celebration ends,” contribution to SCOTUSBlog Class Action Symposium (August 31, 2011)