Consumer

In hundreds of cases across the country, Girard Sharp lawyers have defended the rights of consumers against the world’s biggest companies, recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for plaintiffs in some of the largest consumer settlements in history.

Our consumer protection team is dedicated to protecting clients’ rights when a product or service doesn’t live up to advertised promises or causes other harm. We have extensive experience certifying and successfully defending the rights of groups of plaintiffs in consumer lawsuits against manufacturers, investment firms, and employers where many people have been affected by the same problem.

Our consumer lawyers also have extensive experience helping people across the country protect their privacy rights and seek redress when privacy violations occur. In the modern economy where sensitive personal information—including medical, financial, and other personal data—is stored electronically, protecting this information is increasingly difficult but still vitally important.

We are nationally recognized leaders in class action litigation and arbitration in cases where consumers allege fraud, manufacturing defects, false advertising, and misrepresentation, and we help clients fight back against internet fraud, whether by a website for shopping, dating, or social networking. We likewise litigate a wide variety of privacy disputes and represent clients in lawsuits involving data breaches and privacy rights.

We can level the playing field against industry giants. Our recoveries include:

Automotive

$225 in cash or $325 in dealer credits for owners of Hyundai and Kia cars with falsely advertised horsepower ratings

Up to $800 for drivers of General Motors vehicles filled with defective coolant

$25 million for Honda and Acura owners with premature brake pad wear

$650 or up to $1,300 in new vehicle credits for owners of Mercedes vehicles with emergency response systems that would become obsolete without an expensive retrofit

False Advertising

$15 million settlement, including cash, extended warranties, replacement parts, and store credits, for owners of Apple iPods with falsely advertised battery life

$5 million, including cash reimbursements, for consumers who purchased Tyson Foods chicken falsely advertised as raised without antibiotics

Consumer Electronics and Telecom

$80 million settlement from MCI, one of the largest ever in a telecom class action

Secured a class action settlement against AT&T for billing non-customer accounts

Obtained cash recoveries in arbitration for more than 2,000 individuals who bought defective smartphones from a major electronics manufacturer

Serving as lead counsel in class actions against Google for selling defective smartphones

Privacy

Served as lead counsel for victims of the North Korean hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, securing cash, credit monitoring, and other benefits

Served on the leadership team in the Home Depot data breach class action and helped secure a $13 million fund to reimburse class members for losses and expenses they spent as a result of the Home Depot data breach, including free identity monitoring services for 18 months

Served on the leadership team for the Target data breach class action, helping secure a $10 million fund and other relief for consumers

Interested in filing a class action?

Current Investigations

Omni Family Health Data Breach Lawsuit Investigation

Girard Sharp attorneys are currently investigating reports related to Omni Health’s data breach in February 2024. The cyberattack compromised sensitive information of patients and employees, including names, Social Security numbers, addresses, health insurance details, and data about dependents and beneficiaries.

Grand Design RV Frame Defect Lawsuit Investigation

Girard Sharp attorneys are investigating reports that Winnebago Grand Design RVs are experiencing a high rate of frame failure, potentially causing severe vehicle damage and safety concerns.

Depo-Provera Meningioma Side Effects Lawsuit

Girard Sharp attorneys are investigating claims that Depo-Provera, a hormone-replacement drug used primarily for contraception, may significantly increase the risk of meningioma, a type of brain tumor, bone density loss and osteoporosis, a condition causing weak and brittle bones.

Results

MacBook Keyboard Litigation

$50,000,000

Girard Sharp served as co-lead counsel in the certified product defect class action against Apple on behalf of purchasers of MacBook laptops equipped with Apple’s allegedly defective butterfly keyboard. The court granted final approval of a $50 million settlement in May 2023.

LG Refrigerators

Confidential

Girard Sharp served as co-lead counsel representing consumers who bought LG refrigerators prone to stop cooling, resulting in spoiled food and medicine, due to a defective linear compressor part. In 2020, the court approved a settlement that made each class member eligible for several thousand dollars in recovery; those without documentation could recover up to $450. The class members also received a five-year extended warranty covering the full cost of repairs for cooling failures. The settlement provided relief to over a million and a half American consumers.

Wells Fargo TCPA

$17,850,000

Girard Sharp served as co-lead counsel in an action alleging that Wells Fargo used an automatic telephone dialing system to repeatedly call the cellular phone numbers of persons with no prior affiliation with Wells Fargo. On December 10, 2019, the Honorable Manish S. Shah of the Northern District of Illinois granted final approval of a settlement that established a fund of $17,850,000 for class members.