The class action litigation practice group at Morris, Manning & Martin defends national and international corporations against nationwide, multi-state and single-state putative class actions.

Key Services:

• Complex scientific issues
• Federal & state consumer fraud
• Mass tort
• Nationwide, multi-state & single-state breach of warranty
• Products liability

Handling Complex Cases

Attorneys in the Class Action Litigation practice have handled class-action cases in the areas of mass tort, products liability, the Fair Business Practices Act, consumer lending and securities fraud. We often tackle multiple situations within a single case. For instance, a Fortune 50 corporation engaged our team to handle three separate multi-state and nationwide putative class actions involving product liability and toxic tort claims. These proposed suits involved the full spectrum of claims, including breach of contract, breach of warranty, breach of state and federal consumer fraud statutes, strict liability and negligence, as well as complex scientific issues. We are veterans at handling the many legal and technical issues arising in such cases, and employ all litigation tools at our disposal, such as utilizing expert testimony, to successfully represent our client.

Defending Multi-State Actions

Gaining the proper legal venue and case status is key to an appropriate defense. Our class-action team has experience across multiple jurisdictions. In the case referenced above, we successfully petitioned for removal from a plaintiff-friendly Louisiana state court to a federal court, where we then obtained a ruling denying class certification. On the second related case, which involved a multi-state class, we received an order and memorandum opinion from a federal district court judge denying class certification under Rule 23(a)(3) (typicality), as well as under Rule 23(b)(3) (predominance and superiority). The third case, a proposed 50-state nationwide class action, has been successfully removed from a Louisiana state court to federal court. The issue of class certification has yet to be briefed and decided.

Dismissing Unwarranted Cases

Some situations simply do not warrant a class action, and we work hard to present the reality of each situation before the courts, then argue for a fair and objective ruling. For a Fortune 500 forest products corporation being sued over a residential siding product, we not only defeated certification of a statewide Georgia class but also obtained a grant of summary judgment in favor of the client that ended virtually all of the cases. In the case of a Fortune 500 medical software company, we obtained a summary judgment for our client in a federal securities fraud class action arising from allegations of various accounting violations and misstatements of earnings; the dismissal was upheld on appeal. With experienced representation on your side, class action cases are put into perspective, and serious allegations reach disposition in as reasonable a manner as possible. Let Morris, Manning & Martin’s Class Action Litigation group provide our counseling excellence for your most difficult litigation needs.