O’Melveny has unparalleled experience helping a wide range of businesses facing class actions and other aggregated litigation advance their goals and protect their interests. Over the past 30 years, we have defended companies in hundreds of class actions, state attorney general actions, and individual personal injury suits in federal and state courts across the United States.
As one of the only firms in the country that has successfully tried multiple class actions, our trial experience provides an important strategic benefit at every stage of the case—from effectively conducting discovery and factual development to fielding experienced teams that understand how to win in front of juries.
O’Melveny has pioneered the area that has come to be known as “class action law." We have been instrumental in persuading the DC Circuit to adopt the critical defense concept of “classwide proof,” convincing the Seventh Circuit to issue an injunction prohibiting relitigation in state court of a federal-court order denying class certification, and advocating for the expanded use and application of the “no injury” doctrine.
Clients benefit from our experience defending companies against class actions brought under state consumer protection laws, particularly allegations concerning the marketing and labeling of consumer products. We have represented some of the largest consumer product companies in the world against cases brought under California’s Unfair Competition Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and False Advertising Law, the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, and other state consumer protection statutes.
The class-action plaintiffs’ bar has responded to defense-friendly developments in class action law by using non-class devices such as mass joinder actions, class arbitrations, state attorney general and private attorney general actions. These and other tactics are designed to avoid the due-process protections of class action procedure. We have met the plaintiffs’ bar at every turn, often establishing new precedents along the way.
We bring our experience and skills to bear in defending mass torts in “bet the company” litigation involving hundreds or even thousands of individual suits.
Case Study: Johnson & Johnson
In what The New York Times calls “one of the most complicated and gargantuan legal battles in American history,” O’Melveny is lead litigation counsel for Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals as the companies confront thousands of claims seeking to hold them liable for the country’s opioid-abuse epidemic. Read
Ford Motor Company
Our team has served as national class action counsel for Ford Motor Company for many years. In that capacity, we have successfully defended Ford against dozens of putative class actions. Read
General Mills
We successfully defended General Mills against a class action alleging that the packaging of the company’s “Total Blueberry Pomegranate” flavored cereal could lead consumers to believe the product contains real blueberries and pomegranates, even though the cereal in fact is naturally and artificially flavored. Read
Kia Motors America
O’Melveny secured dismissal of a proposed class action alleging that certain Kia vehicles were defective because the placement of the fuel tank under the rear passenger seat purportedly increases the likelihood of a catastrophic fire in a collision. Read
Major Consumer Electronics Company
We have represented a Major Consumer Electronics Company in scores of cases involving its famous consumer products. Our client’s great success with these products has led to significant litigation, involving companies seeking to trade on its goodwill to parties threatening to stop the successful marketing of its innovations. Read
Major Pharmaceutical Company
O’Melveny obtained several important rulings defending claims brought against a Fortune 50 pharmaceutical company involving its sunscreen products, opioid painkillers, and pelvic mesh devices. Read
Skechers
We defended Skechers in litigation involving claims that the company’s advertising for its popular Shape-ups rocker bottom shoes is deceptive because the shoes allegedly do not work as advertised. Read
US Airways, Inc.
Since advising US Airways regarding labor and antitrust issues in its historic merger with American Airlines, O'Melveny has continued to advise the newly combined company on some of its most important matters, including a putative nationwide class action. Read
US Airways, Inc.
Since advising US Airways regarding labor and antitrust issues in its historic merger with American Airlines, O'Melveny has continued to advise the newly combined company on some of its most important matters, including a putative nationwide class action. Read
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