Edelson

Firm history

Edelson PC was founded in 2007 in Chicago, Illinois and opened an office in San Francisco, California in 2015.

Ligitation

Edelson has litigated against Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google for violating consumer privacy laws by improperly storing users' search, contact, and biometric data.

Edelson PC is co-lead counsel in the NCAA personal injury concussion litigation brought against the NCAA, its member institutions, and its conferences on behalf of college football players who allege the NCAA failed to protect them from concussions and brain damage, including CTE. There are more than 369 total lawsuits filed. Edelson PC leads a number of actions on behalf of governmental entities and labor unions in lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors over the opioid epidemic.

Edelson PC filed numerous class actions arising in the aftermath of the federal bailouts of US banks (e.g., Citibank, Chase, and Wells Fargo). The lawsuits alleged the banks unlawfully suspended home credit lines based on pre-textual reasons, and that certain banks failed to honor loan modification programs. Edelson PC achieved the first federal appellate decision in the country recognizing the right of Wells Fargo borrowers to enforce HAMP trial plans under state law. The eventual settlements exceeded $3 billion in home equity lines of credit.{{ Cite web|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-citigroup-homeequityloans-settlement/citigroup-settles-borrowers-home-equity-loan-lawsuit-idUSBRE87U15A20120831

Edelson PC prosecuted more than 100 cases on behalf of consumers who allegedly received unauthorized charges on their mobile phone bills, settling numerous nationwide class actions, including against industry leader AT&T Mobility, collectively worth more than $100 million.{{ Cite web|url= https://www.law360.com/articles/58142/at-t-settles-class-claims-over-mobile-content

Class action settlements

Edelson PC has regularly raised concern regarding the conduct of plaintiffs’ attorneys and objected to a number of settlements. Edelson has objected to or intervened in settlements with TikTok, the NCAA, Neiman Marcus, and Equifax.

The firm also brought a RICO lawsuit against a “professional class-action objector” raising allegations of extortion, which resulted in a judgment entered against attorney Christopher Bandas, prohibiting him from practicing law in the state of Illinois and limiting his ability to object to class action settlements in federal or state court.

In December 2020, the firm filed a lawsuit against Tom Girardi, the law firm of Girardi & Keese, and Erika Girardi, among others, alleging that Girardi had misappropriated client funds. Following the filing of that lawsuit, numerous other allegations against Tom Girardi came to light, and he and his law firm thereafter filed for bankruptcy.

Cases

Spokeo v. Robins: Edelson PC successfully argued to the United States Supreme Court that a plaintiff can have standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution by alleging that a website published inaccurate information about him, in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.{{Cite web |access-date=2018-04-07 |archive-date=2018-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323174324/http://blogs.reuters.com/alison-frankel/2016/05/16/brace-for-more-class-action-challenges-post-spokeo/ |url-status=dead

Mullen v. GLV, Inc., et al.: Edelson PC brought a class action on behalf of several parents for failure to disclose sexual abuse occurring within Sports Performance Volleyball Club. Its owners, Rick and Cheryl Butler, are charged with withholding and misrepresented information about the sexual abuse allegations against Rick Butler. Edelson PC represented that it would donate any attorney's fees received in the case to charity. The case is one of the first sexual abuse cases to be granted class actions status.{{ Cite web|url= https://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/class-action-suit-gets-ok-against-volleyball-coach-rick-butler-20190122

Harris, et al. v. comScore, Inc.: Edelson PC was appointed class counsel in a suit alleging improper data collecting practices by one of the world's largest internet analytics companies and successfully certified a class estimated by several sources to be the largest privacy case ever certified on an adversarial basis.

In re Facebook Privacy Litigation: Edelson PC filed the first of its kind class action against Facebook under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook collected facial recognition data from its users without authorization.{{ Cite web|url= http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-facebook-facial-recognition-lawsuit-met-story.html

Firm culture

Edelson PC has drawn attention in the legal community by cultivating the feel of a startup. The dress code is casual and the Chicago offices have an indoor volleyball court, golf simulator, a ping pong table, and a pool table.{{Cite web |access-date=2018-04-07 |archive-date=2018-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408010033/https://tech.co/better-age-chicagos-top-founders-40-2016-08/gallery/5#scroll-to-gallery |url-status=dead Cite web|url= https://abovethelaw.com/2013/08/this-firm-hired-an-actor-to-play-the-worlds-worst-summer-associate/ employing a polar bear as an attorney,{{ Cite web|url= https://abovethelaw.com/2017/09/lets-screw-with-some-summer-associates/ and commissioning a musical parody of Hamilton written by Edelson PC lawyers.{{ Cite web|url= https://biglawbusiness.com/the-full-lyrics-to-edelson-p-c-s-hamilton-parody/

References

References

1. (26 February 2021). "Facebook privacy settlement approved: Nearly 1.6 million Illinois users will 'expeditiously' get at least $345". Chicago Tribune.
2. (27 February 2021). "Judge approves $650M settlement in photo-tagging lawsuit against Facebook".
3. "Attys In Slot App Suits Top $50M In Fees From Settlements".
4. (18 February 2021). "Edelson PC wins $50 million payout from 'social casino' litigation". Thomson Reuters.
5. (19 August 2020). "Federal judge upholds $925 million damages verdict in ViSalus robocalls case". Associated Press.
6. (19 August 2020). "'Death sentence' for robocalls? Judge OKs nearly $1B in damages". Chicago Tribune.
7. "Law Firm Loathed by Tech Expands to Industry's Home Turf". The New York Times.
8. "Jay Edelson, the Class-Action Lawyer Who May Be Tech's Least Friended Man". The New York Times.
9. (7 February 2019). "Wave of concussion lawsuits to test NCAA's liability". Associated Press.
10. (5 March 2019). "College Concussion Claims Put NCAA at Risk as Tragedies Multiply". Bloomberg Law.
11. "Opioid Epidemic Hitting Local Governments". Illinois Coalition of Local Governments.
12. "HAMP Participants Have Contract Rights, 7th Circ. Rules". Law 360.
13. (9 March 2021). "Jay Edelson says TikTok settlement, Girardi bankruptcy show class action bar is 'broken'". Reuters.
14. (23 October 2020). "A Plaintiff-Side View on Big Law Bloat, COVID Cutbacks and the 'Secret Sauce' for Landing Mega Settlements". Law.com.
15. (6 September 2014). "Attorneys push back to approve NCAA concussion settlement". CBSSports.com.
16. (3 March 2017). "ow Two Big-Name Plaintiffs Lawyers Became Rivals Over NCAA Concussion Cases". Law.com.
17. (18 September 2018). "Surprise twist in landmark Neiman Marcus data breach case: Judge dissolves settlement class". Reuters.
18. (14 September 2020). "Plaintiffs' lawyer Jay Edelson slams $380 million Equifax deal in amicus brief at 11th Circuit". Reuters.
19. (18 January 2019). "Judge OKs Bandas' request barring Illinois law practice, orders end to Edelson's suit over class action objections". Cook County Record.
20. (12 March 2019). "Notorious 'Serial Objector' May Have Filed His Last Objection (1)". Bloomberg Law.
21. (5 June 2021). "Tom Girardi sued by Indonesia's Lion air crash families over claims US lawyer embezzled millions of their settlement funds".
22. "Volleyball coach Rick Butler hit with class-action lawsuit over sex abuse claims". Chicago Sun Times.
23. "Top youth volleyball coach was accused of raping players in the 1980s, yet still trained kids, lawsuit charges". NBC News.
24. "Top Volleyball Coach Raped Teenage Athletes, Lawsuit Alleges". The New York Times.
25. "Massive Class Certified In ComScore User Privacy Suit". Law 360.
26. "ComScore Pays $14M To Escape Massive Privacy Class Action". Law 360.