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Class Action Williams Kastner represents a wide-range of clients in class action lawsuits. Our experience and record of success in class action defense is extensive and includes a variety of matters ranging from consumer fraud and consumer protection to securities fraud. Our labor and employment team of attorneys has represented numerous employers in class action suits. Our trial lawyers have demonstrated creativity, tenacity, skill and success in the courtroom. Our Hands-On Experience Includes: • Obtaining dismissals prior to certification Our Class Action Trial Experience: Consumer Fraud and Consumer Issues Northern Life Insurance Co./Fixed Annuity Class Action Williams Kastner represents Northern Life Insurance Co. in an 18,000 person statewide class action. Plaintiffs sought a nationwide class of over 400,000 members, but the trial court denied certification of a nationwide class. In March 2007, after 5 ½ years of litigation and extensive discovery, the trial court dismissed all of the plaintiff’s claims at summary judgment. The case is on appeal. Jeff Johnson of Williams Kastner served as local counsel. National counsel for Northern Life was Joseph Hamilton of Stites & Harbison in Louisville, Kentucky. General Motors Corporation Williams Kastner represented General Motors as local counsel in Washington in class action litigation related to alleged defective speedometers in light trucks, and included claims of Consumer Protection Act violations, consumer fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of warranty. Similar cases against General Motors were filed in Oregon, California and South Carolina and the cases were consolidated for discovery in multidistrict litigation before Judge Coughenour in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. John Knox and Jeff Johnson were local counsel for General Motors. National Counsel for General Motors was Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold. Additional Consumer Fraud Highlights Pharmaceutical/Medical Device Bayer Corporation/PPA Williams Kastner represented Bayer Corporation in a PPA economic damages class action and personal injury class action. Class certification was denied in these cases and the cases were dismissed. Doug Hofmann and Jeff Johnson were the lead lawyers for Williams Kastner. National counsel for Bayer was Terry Tottenham of Fulbright & Jaworski. Sofamor-Danek/Bone Screw Litigation Williams Kastner represented Sofamor-Danek in a number of bone screw cases asserting fraud on the FDA, and other consumer and fraud claims in connection with the marketing of bone screws for use in spinal surgery, which FDA approval only existed for their use in long bones. The cases were either dismissed or settled for nominal amounts following rulings (consistent with rulings from other jurisdictions including the panel on multi-district litigation) that the plaintiffs had no standing to assert fraud on the FDA. Additional Pharmaceutical/Medical Device Highlights Personal Injury/Medical Monitoring Seabest Corporation/E-coli Williams Kastner represented Seabest Corporation, one of the largest franchisees of Jack in the Box restaurants, in E-coli illness personal injury cases. Jeff Johnson served as national counsel for Seabest for claims throughout the western United States. There was a class settlement of a number of small personal injury claims which included a provision for a medical monitoring trust, in case some of the children developed future medical problems from their E-coli exposure. Labor & Employment Wells Fargo Sick/Vacation Time Class Action We represented Wells Fargo in a class action filed on behalf of all Wells Fargo employees affected by a PTO policy Wells Fargo implemented several years ago. Wells Fargo did away with its old system of separating sick days and vacation days and allowing employees to accrue unused sick days. Plaintiffs claim they were damaged as a result of losing their unused sick days. The named plaintiffs in the suit filed a motion for class certification, but we convinced the court to hear a motion for summary judgment before ruling on the class certification motion. The Court granted a summary judgment to Wells Fargo, and the case is now on appeal at the Oregon Court of Appeals. Raytheon Company Williams Kastner members, Judd Lees and Josephine Vestal, represented Raytheon Company in Caproni et al. v. Hughes. Aircraft Company. The purported class of 250 sought to set aside "exempt" status. Utilizing a salary basis test, the estimated damages could have exceeded $750,000. The case settled before class certification. Additional Labor & Employment Highlights Environmental Hawk's Prairie Landfill Class Action Williams Kastner represented the Ostrom Company. The lawsuit involved odor and nuisance complaints relating to landfill operations In Thurston County. Mark Myers of Williams Kastner was lead counsel. Mica Bay Property Owners v. Idaho Department of Transportation and Scarsella Brothers, Inc. Williams Kastner represented Scarsella Brothers regarding a Clean Water Act case involving erosion form a highway construction project allegedly impacting a portion of Lake Coeur d'Alene. The case was litigated in Idaho state court. Mark Myers of Williams Kastner was lead counsel. Additional Environmental Highlights Securities SunAmerica Securities Williams Kastner served as counsel for SunAmerica Securities in federal court in the case of Getty v. Sun America Securities. This case involved the second largest alleged security law ponzi scheme in Washington state with claims exceeding $26 million. Arley Harrel of Williams Kastner was lead counsel. The class was certified and the case settled. Washington Public Power Supply System Bonds Williams Kastner represented a national securities broker in a federal court case involving the largest municipal default in the country at the time. There were complex securities law issues pertaining to bonds used to finance the construction of nuclear power plants. Product Liability Thor Industries Williams Kastner represented Thor Industries (manufacturers of Airstream and Four Winds RVs) in an attempted nationwide class action in federal court regarding unbraked towing capacity issues. Arley Harrel of Williams Kastner was lead counsel. Class certification was denied and the case was dismissed. DR Horton Williams Kastner represented a subsidiary of DR Horton (publicly held home builder) as corporate and coverage counsel in a defective nail class action settlement involving several hundred homeowners in Washington State Superior Court.
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