Sedgwick offers premier class action representation. Having pooled our considerable experience into a dedicated Class Action Task Force, we provide our clients with immediate, strategic counsel on the complex procedural issues attendant to class action proceedings.
Class actions and other multiclaimant proceedings in which there are thousands – or even millions – of plaintiffs pose the most substantial litigation threats to corporations. While class actions vary, they present at their core the same challenges. A corporate defendant’s paramount needs are to stop the action at its inception, prevent certification and, failing that, to manage the risk effectively. That requires a firm whose attorneys form a national team that can provide a nationwide perspective and offer insight as to jurisdictional idiosyncrasies.
An Interdisciplinary Approach
To meet the challenges that today’s organizations face, Sedgwick has drawn on our attorneys’ broad experience to form an interdisciplinary class action team made up of procedural tacticians, crisis managers and attorneys who practice in the substantive disciplines at the center of class action litigation: consumer fraud/deceptive trade practice, antitrust, employment, products liability, toxic tort and environmental. Our attorneys have years of experience representing the industries that so often find themselves subject to classwide disputes: consumer products, manufacturing, life sciences, financial services, insurance, transportation, motor vehicles, information technology and Web-based business.
Recognizing that class action litigation represents a truly nationwide problem, Sedgwick’s class action attorneys comprise a geographically diverse but integrated team whose members have both local venue expertise and multidistrict litigation experience. Class actions are often filed in multiple jurisdictions, and the plaintiffs’ bar has an increasingly national perspective in its search for new theories, new defendants and favorable venues. Corporate defendants, likewise, need a firm with a national perspective to understand the origins of, and defenses to, shifting class action trends. Sedgwick’s class action group works seamlessly across offices and states to coordinate efforts, maximizing our knowledge and minimizing travel. We offer a nationwide, unified approach with on-the-ground case management.
Effective Pretrial Strategy
Sedgwick’s first steps in developing a class action defense strategy are to attain a complete understanding of all of the technical issues involved in a matter and to consult with our clients on crafting a solution that meets their short- and long-term business goals.
Over the course of a class action, we keep our clients closely informed of case progress and of litigation risks. At the inception of class litigation, our team scrutinizes jurisdiction, venue and judicial assignment to ensure the best chance for a successful defense. Early motion practice typically seeks to limit the scope of merits discovery, as well as other favorable case management provisions. Our discovery protocols identify individual issues and develop evidence to defeat certification. We furnish trial and appellate courts with cogent, scholarly briefs on certification issues that set forth the impracticality and constitutional impropriety of lumping dissimilar claims together for common resolution.
Trial and Negotiated Resolutions
When we cannot win solely on the law, we can bring to the courtroom trial teams that have been tested and proven in high-stakes litigation, even as we look for creative solutions outside the courtroom. Over the years, our strategy of trial readiness has led to the successful resolution of scores of class actions involving a wide range of subjects.
In cases where we can obtain favorable terms, we are experienced in winning court approval of proposed settlements. Our record of successful negotiated resolutions of complex, high-profile matters rests on an in-depth understanding of clients’ legal, regulatory, business and public relations objectives as well as our experience crafting realistic, implementable settlement provisions. Sedgwick’s expertise in these cases has allowed us to develop resolution strategies that save our clients substantial expense without sacrificing trial readiness.
Sedgwick offers premier class action representation. Having pooled our considerable experience into a dedicated Class Action Task Force, we provide our clients with immediate, strategic counsel on the complex procedural issues attendant to class action proceedings.
Class actions and other multiclaimant proceedings in which there are thousands – or even millions – of plaintiffs pose the most substantial litigation threats to corporations. While class actions vary, they present at their core the same challenges. A corporate defendant’s paramount needs are to stop the action at its inception, prevent certification and, failing that, to manage the risk effectively. That requires a firm whose attorneys form a national team that can provide a nationwide perspective and offer insight as to jurisdictional idiosyncrasies.
An Interdisciplinary Approach
To meet the challenges that today’s organizations face, Sedgwick has drawn on our attorneys’ broad experience to form an interdisciplinary class action team made up of procedural tacticians, crisis managers and attorneys who practice in the substantive disciplines at the center of class action litigation: consumer fraud/deceptive trade practice, antitrust, employment, products liability, toxic tort and environmental. Our attorneys have years of experience representing the industries that so often find themselves subject to classwide disputes: consumer products, manufacturing, life sciences, financial services, insurance, transportation, motor vehicles, information technology and Web-based business.
Recognizing that class action litigation represents a truly nationwide problem, Sedgwick’s class action attorneys comprise a geographically diverse but integrated team whose members have both local venue expertise and multidistrict litigation experience. Class actions are often filed in multiple jurisdictions, and the plaintiffs’ bar has an increasingly national perspective in its search for new theories, new defendants and favorable venues. Corporate defendants, likewise, need a firm with a national perspective to understand the origins of, and defenses to, shifting class action trends. Sedgwick’s class action group works seamlessly across offices and states to coordinate efforts, maximizing our knowledge and minimizing travel. We offer a nationwide, unified approach with on-the-ground case management.
Effective Pretrial Strategy
Sedgwick’s first steps in developing a class action defense strategy are to attain a complete understanding of all of the technical issues involved in a matter and to consult with our clients on crafting a solution that meets their short- and long-term business goals.
Over the course of a class action, we keep our clients closely informed of case progress and of litigation risks. At the inception of class litigation, our team scrutinizes jurisdiction, venue and judicial assignment to ensure the best chance for a successful defense. Early motion practice typically seeks to limit the scope of merits discovery, as well as other favorable case management provisions. Our discovery protocols identify individual issues and develop evidence to defeat certification. We furnish trial and appellate courts with cogent, scholarly briefs on certification issues that set forth the impracticality and constitutional impropriety of lumping dissimilar claims together for common resolution.
Trial and Negotiated Resolutions
When we cannot win solely on the law, we can bring to the courtroom trial teams that have been tested and proven in high-stakes litigation, even as we look for creative solutions outside the courtroom. Over the years, our strategy of trial readiness has led to the successful resolution of scores of class actions involving a wide range of subjects.
In cases where we can obtain favorable terms, we are experienced in winning court approval of proposed settlements. Our record of successful negotiated resolutions of complex, high-profile matters rests on an in-depth understanding of clients’ legal, regulatory, business and public relations objectives as well as our experience crafting realistic, implementable settlement provisions. Sedgwick’s expertise in these cases has allowed us to develop resolution strategies that save our clients substantial expense without sacrificing trial readiness.