Class Actions

Overview

For any business, class actions pose a multi-pronged threat with the potential to monopolize time and drain resources while damaging a company’s good name. Clients engaged in local and international businesses call on McConnell Valdés to defend them in complex, high-stakes class action cases.

Our stand-alone Class Actions practice has established an impressive track record by aggressively and effectively defending clients confronting the threat of multi-party product liability, consumer, environmental, antitrust and securities lawsuits.

We work together with clients to devise and implement strategies targeted to all aspects of class action defense – from defeating or narrowing claims to managing discovery and opposing class certification. While we aim to resolve class claims through favorable settlements before certification and trial, our team lawyers are courtroom ready, and have achieved considerable success in trying high profile, large-scale cases to winning verdicts.

What We Do

The McConnell Valdés Class Actions team:

• Analyzes initial claims
• Manages large-scale discovery
• Opposes class certification
• Devises creative settlement solutions
• Issues motions for summary judgment to defeat or narrow claims
• Advocates strenuously on behalf of our clients in trial and in appeal in state and federal courts

Representative Clients & Matters

• Representation of a global insurance company in a class action filed in Puerto Rico court alleging that defendant Joint Underwriting Association, and its current and former defendant automobile insurance carrier members, allegedly conspired to defraud JUA policyholders.
• Representation of global pharmaceutical manufacturing company  in a multi-million dollar product liability action filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, for damages allegedly caused by Vicryl Suture and Prolene Mesh.
• Representation of  a group of current and former federal employees who reside in Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands and Hawaii in a class action suit filed against the Government of the United States claiming that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has unlawfully excluded cost-of living allowances (COLAs) payments from the “retirement base” used to calculate benefits, including retirement annuities, life insurance benefits and contributions to thrift savings plans.
• Representation of a global oil company in a gasoline industry-wide class action involving fuel temperature adjustment issues. 
• Representation of client in a $175,000,000 class action seeking to nullify all electronic toll collection (ETC) violations assessed in Puerto Rico since 2004, and reimbursement of all fines collected.  Plaintiffs also charged defendants with violation of Puerto Rico’s counterpart of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
• Represented insurance company on separate class action suits filed on behalf of all insurance agents and brokers and motor vehicle owners against all insurance companies that sold motor vehicle insurance in Puerto Rico, involving antitrust, breach of contract, and insurance claims.  Obtained voluntary dismissal of all claims against our client without making any settlement payment in one class action and prevailed on summary judgment in another.

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