Served as co-lead counsel against Big Tobacco, resulting in the largest settlement in world history, and at the time the largest automotive, antitrust, ERISA and securities settlements in U.S. history.
Steve Berman has been named to a list of the “nation’s greatest” attorneys known for their tireless efforts and contributions. Berman was recognized by Lawdragon alongside the 86th U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, and soon-to-retire U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Breyer. press release »
Steve Berman represents consumers, investors and employees in large, complex litigation held in state and federal courts. Steve's trial experience has earned him significant recognition and led The National Law Journal to name him one of the 100 most powerful lawyers in the nation, and to repeatedly name Hagens Berman one of the top 10 plaintiffs’ firms in the country. Steve was named an MVP of the Year by Law360 from 2016 to 2019 for his class-action litigation and received the 2017 Plaintiffs’ Trailblazer award. He was recognized for the third year in a row as an Elite Trial Lawyer by The National Law Journal.
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Steve co-founded Hagens Berman in 1993 after his prior firm refused to represent several young children who consumed fast food contaminated with E. coli—Steve knew he had to help. In that case, Steve proved that the poisoning was the result of Jack in the Box’s cost cutting measures along with gross negligence. He was further inspired to build a firm that vociferously fought for the rights of those unable to fight for themselves. Berman’s innovative approach, tenacious conviction and impeccable track record have earned him an excellent reputation and numerous historic legal victories. He is considered one of the nation’s most successful class-action attorneys, and has been praised for securing record-breaking settlements and tangible benefits for class members. Steve is particularly known for his tenacity in forging consumer settlements that return a high percentage of recovery to class members.
Steve is a frequent public speaker and has been a guest lecturer at Stanford University, University of Washington, University of Michigan and Seattle University Law School.
Steve was a high school and college soccer player and coach. Now that his daughter’s soccer skills exceed his, he is relegated to being a certified soccer referee and spends weekends being yelled at by parents, players and coaches. Steve is also an avid cyclist and is heavily involved in working with young riders on the international Hagens Berman Axeon cycling team.
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East Palestine Train Derailment and Toxic Chemical Pollution Hagens Berman has filed a class-action lawsuit following reports that a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio resulted in toxic chemical exposure and health complications for local residents. MORE
Ford Escape and Bronco Sport Fuel Injector Fire Hazard Defect Hagens Berman filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners of Ford Escapes and Broncos with 1.5-liter engines for a dangerous defect that can cause spontaneous fires. MORE
Ford Super Duty Roof Crush Risk Hagens Berman filed a nationwide class action and a wrongful death suit against Ford for a defect causing rollover roof-crush in Super Duty pickup trucks manufactured between 1999 and 2016. MORE
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Las Vegas Hotels Price-Fixing Scheme Hagens Berman has filed a case on behalf of consumers harmed by a scheme perpetrated by some of the largest gaming and hospitality companies in Las Vegas. MORE
In our Rapid Fire Q&A segments, Angeion Group unveils the fun tidbits you may not know about today's leading litigators. This month we share the second part of Steve Weisbrot's interview with Steve Berman, Managing Partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
Several current and former soccer players have filed a class action against soccer’s worldwide governing body FIFA and affiliated soccer organizations in the U.S.Steve W. Berman is an American plaintiff's lawyer and trepreur who founded and is Managing Partner of Hags Berman Sobol Shapiro, a 76-attorney law firm based in Seattle, Washington.
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Berman was drafted into U.S. military service for the Vietnam War in 1972, but the war ded before Berman was st to serve.
After graduating, Berman worked for Jner & Block, th Shidler McBroom Gates & Lucas, which later became K&L Gates. He represted plaintiffs in some of the first sexual harassmt lawsuits in Washington. His interest in class-action lawsuits began in 1989, after winning an $850 million settlemt for investors that provided bonds for a failed nuclear power plant project. He th worked for Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, who acted as co-counsel on the lawsuit, and later for Betts Patterson & Mines.
In 1993, Berman's employer decided not to take on a case against Jack in the Box for allegedly exaggerating to investors regarding the quality of the company's food before causing an e-coli outbreak.
Berman Indictor Llp
The law firm was worried taking the case would harm its relationships with insurance companies they help defd. In response, Berman left and started his own firm, Hags Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, with four partners and a few associates, so they could pursue the Jack in the Box case.
After six years of litigation, where Berman represted 14 of 46 U.S. states that participated, the case was settled in 1996 for $206 billion.
The firm suffered a setback in 2006 wh it was ordered to pay $10.8 million to three small water-bottling companies in Maine. Hags Berman had originally represted the bottlers in a lawsuit about water quality. But wh the companies wanted to accept an out-of-court settlemt offer, the law firm decided to instead pursue class action lawsuits over the objection of the bottlers. A jury found that the firm had be disloyal to its original clits.
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He won $1.63 billion from Toyota related to sudd unintded acceleration in certain Toyota vehicles. Berman also sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association for their response to athlete concussions
Berman has also sued pharmaceutical companies for alleged price-fixing, SeaWorld for its treatmt of orcas, and the makers of Butterfinger for its alleged use of child labor.
In the late 2010s, Berman started lawsuits against big oil companies, accusing them of causing climate change, on behalf of coastal towns and others affected by rising water levels. The lawsuits use similar reasoning as the tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s, alleging oil companies willfully misled the public about the vironmtal harms of their product.A key component in plaintiff-side litigators making the 500 guide is the impact of their cases. In this assessment, it’s hard to top the work done by Steve Berman, a master class-action attorney and the managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro in Seattle.
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“It may sound corny, but what first interested me in the law was the chance to right wrongs and change things that needed changing, ” says Berman.
The 1980 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School started on the defense side at Jenner & Block, where he had the legendary Jerry Solovy as a mentor. As a plaintiffs’ lawyer, Berman has tallied an impressive amount of record-setting recoveries, including as a lead attorney on the historic Big Tobacco litigation. He has since scored big for injured clients in corporate fraud, antitrust, sports injury and automotive litigation, having served as lead counsel in the Toyota unintended-acceleration action that resulted in a $1.6 billion settlement.
Steve Berman: The most rewarding part of the work my firm does is being able to impact large groups of individuals who have suffered losses. Class actions sometimes get a bad rap for being dime-a-dozen deals that yield very little for the plaintiff, but as we have proven many times and again most recently in the Apple e-books case, when a firm has the determination to live and breathe a case through to the end, great things can happen. In
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SB: By and large, our automotive practice area has been the busiest lately, and we are quickly growing this area of our firm in regards to litigating class actions in response to covered-up defects, diesel pollution and other issues of negligence and fraud in the auto industry. The trend has certainly revealed itself: Automakers are acting in blatant disregard to consumers and the law, and the auto industry is wrought with fraudulent behavior.
SB: We recently wrapped up a class-action lawsuit regarding a price-fixing antitrust matter in which Apple and five of the nation’s top publishers illegally raised prices of e-books. The case was hard fought and took years, with Apple refusing to settle until the Supreme Court ruled on the case, bringing the final amount paid to consumers to $400 million – $560 million total including the publishers’ settlements.
SB: The case was incredibly challenging and was an uphill battle from the beginning. In the e-books antitrust litigation, people probably forget due to the DOJ and state AGs actions that Hagens Berman was the first to bring suit in the United States after months of investigation. After, dozens of plaintiffs’ firms piled on and the government actions were filed about six months later. Even without discovery, our complaint was spot on as to the conspiracy, due to extensive pre-filing analysis. Thereafter, we created an unprecedented partnership with the DOJ and 33 State AGs in jointly prosecuting the case. And having built up mutual respect during months of litigating together in the trenches, we were able to fashion a
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