Class Action Defense Practice [Severson & Werson]

Class Action Defense

Severson & Werson attorneys have represented and counseled financial institutions in every conceivable aspect of their businesses for over fifty years. Over the last two decades, the firm has become recognized nationally as a leader in class action defense.

Because of the enormous expense and difficulty of trying consumer class actions, to say nothing of the large risk of loss class actions often represent, these cases are almost always settled without trial. A crucial element in reaching a settlement favorable to the client, however, is representation by counsel having the demonstrated ability and willingness to try large class action cases to a successful conclusion. Because so few class actions are ever tried, few attorneys can claim class action experience; few have demonstrated the ability and willingness to try these cases. Severson lawyers have.

Severson attorneys tried — and won — one of the more far-reaching class action trials in recent U.S. history. The case was one of the “CPI” or “force-placed insurance” cases which have swept the country during the last five years. The case was tried to a jury by Severson counsel, in close collaboration with the client’s legal staff, for more than six weeks in 1995 to a California jury, followed by later, shorter trial segments to the judge. The verdict was for the defense on all but the most minor claim, which the Court of Appeal later reversed. In short, our client’s practices were completely exonerated.

The firm is also engaged in defense of 28 major national mortgage banking firms who have been named in separate nationwide class action suits filed in California by a loosely affiliated consortium of plaintiffs’ counsel. These cases launch a broad-based attack on nearly universal, traditional payoff and reconveyance practices in the context of residential real estate secured lending. The cases allege various unfair, illegal and/or contractually improper practices.

As a closely related part of our practice, Severson specializes in defending challenges by state and local law enforcement authorities — typically the consumer affairs or “fraud” divisions of the attorneys general and district attorneys’ offices. These cases are often brought under a state’s little FTC act or other consumer protection legislation. Experience with these special laws is crucial to an effective defense. In California, for example, the little FTC act statute allows the filing of “non-class class actions” — representative actions brought by law enforcement officials or private citizens — without the procedural protections and close court scrutiny typical of true class actions.

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