Most class actions end in settlements, but an increasing number are heading to trials, despite the substantially higher costs, given the dollars at stake and experts required to determine potential damages. (Credit: Natallia/Adobe Stock)
Defense attorney Joel Siegel had reasons not to go to trial: A judge had certified a class of more than 300,000 policyholders in California against his client, First American Title Insurance Co., and the case was in Los Angeles Superior Court, where no defendant wanted to be.
On March 25, one day before jurors began deliberating, Siegel got a handwritten note from plaintiffs’ lawyer Steven Jay “Bernie” Bernheim offering to settle the case for $400 million. But he didn’t. And, on March 26, after 90 minutes of deliberations, jurors handed his client a defense verdict.
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Amanda Bronstad
Amanda Bronstad is the ALM staff reporter covering class actions and mass torts nationwide. She writes the email dispatch Law.com Class Actions: Critical Mass. She is based in Los Angeles.
