SEATTLE – Hagens Berman’s co-founder and managing partner, Steve Berman, has been selected as one of Law360's Class Action MVPs of the Year for 2017, highlighting his dedication to making significant changes to corporate reform and bettering classes of tens of thousands of plaintiffs through class actions.

The award showcases attorneys who had the biggest wins and made the most significant contributions to their practice groups in the past year, and winners were selected from more than 1,000 submissions.

“The past year has been one of victories for consumers, student-athletes and others through the class-action cases brought by our firm,” Berman said. “We’re pleased that Law360 has recognized Hagens Berman for its outstanding accomplishments, and we intend to continue to bring bigger and better results for those we represent.”

This year, the firm settled the NCAA GIAs case, which put real money back into the hands of tens of thousands of D1 student-athletes. We argued that the NCAA illegally capped the value of their scholarships. The suit settled for $208 million, bringing an average payment of $6,000 to student-athletes who played for 4 years. In September Hagens Berman finalized a $42 million settlement bringing aid to thousands of military customers who were defrauded by Bank of America. Steve Berman led the firm’s team to secure a $50 million settlement with Panasonic, Toshiba and Hitachi in a class-action lawsuit alleging that several of the largest producers of lithium-ion batteries fixed prices. Berman led the firm to additional wins in 2017 and also filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against drug manufacturers, Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, for committing fraud and illegally raising the price of insulin for many of the 29 million people in the U.S. living with diabetes.

Berman highlighted the firm’s focus on making class actions work better for class members, as well as ensuring lasting benefits through long-term settlement benefits and reforming corporations.

“We’re motivated by knowing that we stand to make a real difference in people’s lives and impact corporate reform,” Berman said. “When most people think of class actions, they imagine a check in the mail for a few pennies. Our firm works to make class actions work. Whenever possible, we push for electronic payment to claimants and streamline the notice process to make sure the settlement gets where it should.”

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About Hagens Berman
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law firm with 11 offices across the country. The firm has been named to the National Law Journal’s Plaintiffs’ Hot List eight times. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at https://www.hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.

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