Consumer Rights – Altshuler Berzon LLP

Labor Union Representation Employment & Civil Rights Consumer Rights Constitutional & Election Law Environment & Public Health Public Entity Representation Appellate Practice Other

Altshuler Berzon LLP represents consumers, students, benefits recipients, and others in class and other complex actions before state and federal courts, and arbitrators.

Our practice includes enforcing state, federal, and local laws prohibiting discrimination and protecting other civil rights as well as litigating to enforce privacy, unfair competition, and other consumer protections. We have obtained class action awards and settlements totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Victories

Spruell v. Acceptance Now, LLC

$14 million settlement of 68,000 member class action on behalf of low-income consumers alleging that rent-to-own company violated price-cap restrictions of California’s Karnette Rental-Purchase Act; settlement provided each class member with more than complete reimbursement of amounts paid in excess of price caps.

Candelore v. Tinder Inc.; Kim v. Tinder, Inc.

Class action settlement for $68.5 million plus injunctive relief under California’s Unruh Act and Unfair Competition Law on behalf of 270,000 Californians against company that unlawfully charged older premium-service subscribers (over 30) twice as much for premium dating app services as it charged younger subscribers for the identical services—believed to be the largest Unruh Act settlement in California history.

Lopez v. California Institute of Technology and Simplilearn Americas, Inc.

Obtained a class settlement for students who alleged that a continuing education program was deceptively advertised.

Bunn v. Nike, Inc.

Obtained class action settlement on behalf of California consumers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing requiring Nike to accommodate their disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic by making clear-plastic insert facemasks available to sales personnel to use in communicating with class members.

In re Anthem Inc. Data Breach

Served as co-lead counsel in federal multi-district litigation involving hundreds of consumer class actions against Anthem, Inc. and its affiliated Blue Cross-Blue Shield companies in a data breach case, and obtained a significant $115 million settlement requiring defendants to change their data privacy practices.

Utility Consumers’ Action Network v. Sears/California Federal Bank/Household Credit Service/Texaco Credit Card Services/Capital One/Bank of America

Obtained settlements in a series of consumer privacy class actions against financial institutions and credit card companies prohibiting unauthorized dissemination of personal account information to third party telemarketers.

Blair v. Rent-A-Center

Obtained a $13 million settlement (providing the class members with full monetary relief for all of their damages, as well as injunctive relief), in a federal court class action on behalf of low-income consumers who alleged that they were overcharged in violation of California’s Rental Purchase Law for appliances and other products purchased on a rent-to-buy basis.

Kim v. Tinder, Inc.

Obtained a Ninth Circuit decision overturning district court’s approval of consumer class action “reverse-auction” settlement that provided minimal benefits to class members.

Garvin v. Utility Consumers’ Action Network; Savage v. Utility Consumers’ Action Network

Successfully defended on appeal a $14 million settlement of a state law privacy class action challenging a bank’s practice of selling confidential consumer information to third‑party marketing companies.

Hamilton v. Great Expectations

Obtained an $8.5 million settlement of a statewide class action against a video dating service that had electronically eavesdropped on confidential membership interviews.

Nobles v. MBNA Corp.

Obtained a settlement of a California consumer class action against a bank that misleadingly offered consumer lines of credit without disclosing hidden costs and credit impacts, resulting in a payment to class members of more than 85% of the claimed losses, with interest.

Fanning v. HSBC; Lindgren v. HSBC

Negotiated a $13 million settlement of privacy class actions in federal court on behalf of California credit card account holders who alleged that their telephone conversations with their bank’s debt collection and financial fraud personnel were secretly recorded.

As You Sow v. Nestle Healthcare Nutrition, Inc

Representation of nonprofit group seeking to enforce California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act with respect to a pediatric organic whole food formula for tube feeding.