Amin Talati Wasserman opens LA office to address growth of California class actions

22-Jun-2021 - Last updated on 22-Jun-2021 at 19:40 GMT

With class actions against food and beverage companies are up nearly 400% since 2010 and California ground zero for many such actions, Amin Talati Wasserman has opened an office in LA to better serve its clients litigation needs.

The law firm, which is headquartered in Chicago and has an office in Washington, DC, has also added two consumer class actions litigators: William Cole and Matthew Orr. Both are based in Los Angeles.

While the number of consumer class action lawsuits against manufacturers and retailers of food, beverage, dietary supplement, and cosmetic products are growing across the country, over half of all filings involving dietary supplements in 2020 were made in California. Meanwhile, pre-litigation notices to food and drug companies under California’s Proposition 65, directed at potentially harmful chemicals in consumer products, increased by more than 1,000 to 1,546 in 2020, said the law firm.

“These are milestone events for our firm,” said Ivan Wasserman, managing partner of Amin Talati Wasserman. “Creating a California presence and adding litigators of William and Matthew’s stature allows us to serve the litigation needs of our clients as effectively as we do in the regulatory and intellectual property areas.”

Track records

Both Cole and Orr have records of litigation wins for food, beverage, supplement, and cosmetic clients in class action, Federal Trade Commission, and state attorney general matters, including dozens of dismissals and summary judgment victories, said Amin Talati Wasserman in a press release.

Cole previously served as the first assistant U.S. attorney, chief of the National Security and Cybercrimes Section and chief of the Criminal Division in the federal Southern District of California, where he received one of the Department of Justice’s highest honors for his investigatory work on al-Qaeda. He recently tried a false advertising class action against a supplement maker in which the plaintiff received nothing.

Orr’s successes include a landmark federal appellate win earlier this year for Target, establishing that federal law preempted California law claims alleging that the structure/function claims of a popular vitamin supplement lacked adequate substantiation.

In addition to their class action work, Cole and Orr often handle supply chain, intellectual property, and commercial litigation.