Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration
Steve Berman represented 20 million class members against Toyota for its sudden unintended acceleration defect and subsequent economic loss to vehicle owners, achieving the largest settlement at the time against an automotive company – $1.6 billion. more »
Big Tobacco
Steve Berman served as special assistant attorney general for the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Alaska, Idaho, Ohio, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Vermont and Rhode Island in prosecuting major actions against the tobacco industry. In November 1998, the initial proposed settlement led to a multi-state settlement requiring the tobacco companies to pay the states $260 billion and to submit to broad advertising and marketing restrictions – the largest civil settlement in history. more »
Apple E-Books
Fought against Apple and five of the nation’s top publishers for colluding to raise the price of e-books, securing a settlement of at least $400 million, with the potential to repay class members twice the amount of damages suffered. more »
NCAA Scholarship Cap Antitrust
The firm was lead counsel in a class-action lawsuit representing current and former NCAA student-athletes arguing that the NCAA illegally capped the value of their scholarships. The damages portion of the lawsuit settled for $208 million, and the injunctive portion was decided when the Supreme Court agreed 9-0 that NCAA college athletes should legally be able to receive compensation from schools or conferences for athletic services other than cash compensation untethered to education-related expenses, prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing rules limiting those payments. more »
Volkswagen Dealers Litigation
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit brought by a franchise dealer, three family-owned Volkswagen dealers filed a class action against VW stating that it intentionally defrauded dealers by installing so-called “defeat devices” in its diesel cars, and separately carried out a systematic, illegal pricing and allocation scheme that favored some dealers over others and illegally channeled financing business to VW affiliate, Volkswagen Credit, Inc. The firm achieved a settlement bringing $1.67 billion in benefits to Volkswagen dealers. The settlement garnered nearly unanimous approval of dealers, with 99 percent participation in the settlement. more »
Volkswagen Emissions Litigation
Hagens Berman was the first firm in the nation to file a lawsuit against Volkswagen for its emissions fraud and was named to the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee leading the national fight against VW, Porsche and Audi on behalf of owners and lessors of affected vehicles. more »
NCAA Concussions
Achieved a monumental settlement that will provide a 50-year medical-monitoring program for an estimated 4.4 million current and former student-athletes to screen for and track head injuries; make sweeping changes to the NCAA’s approach to concussion treatment and prevention and establish a $5 million fund for concussion research. more »
MCKESSON DRUG LITIGATION
Hagens Berman was lead counsel in these racketeering cases against McKesson for drug pricing fraud that settled on the eve of trials and culminated in settlements totaling $444 million. McKesson’s scheme meant that consumers throughout the nation paid artificially inflated prices for drug regimens prescribed by their doctors, including more than 400 prescription drugs by manipulating drug-pricing benchmarks. More than 315,000 reimbursement checks were distributed by mail to eligible cash-payor consumer class members and “pharmacy” class members. more »
NEURONTIN MARKETING AND SALES PRACTICES LITIGATION
The firm brought suit against Pfizer and its subsidiary, Parke-Davis, accusing the companies of a fraudulent scheme to market and sell the drug Neurontin for a variety of "off-label" uses for which it is not approved or medically efficacious. More than 80 percent of the sales of Neurontin are for uses for which the drug has never been proven safe or effective. The case settled for $325 million. more »
Washington Public Power Supply System
Hagens Berman’s Steve Berman represented bondholders and the bondholder trustee in a class-action lawsuit stemming from the failure of two Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) nuclear projects. The case was one of the most complex and lengthy securities fraud cases ever filed. The default was one of the largest municipal bond defaults in history. After years of litigation, plaintiffs were awarded a $700 million settlement agreement brought against more than 200 defendants. more »
Exxon Mobil
Represented clients against Exxon Mobil affected by the nearly 11 million gallons of oil spilled off the coast of Alaska by the Exxon Valdez (multi-million dollar award). more »
Youth Soccer Concussions
Steve Berman pioneered this first-of-its-kind lawsuit that ended heading for US Soccer’s youngest players and diminish risk of concussions and traumatic brain injuries. more »
Big Pharma
Represented clients against Big Pharma in various actions ranging from price-fixing schemes to antitrust activities (more than $1 billion in aggregate settlements) more »
Charles Schwab
Class-action securities case against Charles Schwab ($235 million settlement) more »
NCAA Name and Likeness Litigation
Groundbreaking case that marked the first time in the history of the NCAA that the organization is paying student-athletes for rights related to their play on the field, compensating them for their contribution to the profit-making nature of college sports. The settlements were reached in 2014, and more than 24,000 student-athletes were found eligible to receive payment under the settlements. Checks were issued to about 15,000 players, some for up to $7,600, with a median amount of $1,100. more »
Enron
Represented Enron employees who had their retirement accounts wiped out by Enron’s fraud (largest ERISA settlement in U.S. history) more »
Bernard L. Madoff
Represented Bernard L. Madoff investors in a suit filed against JPMorgan Chase Bank, one of the largest banks in the world (approved $218 million settlement) more »
