Class actions bring power to people who are often at a disadvantage in the courtroom. They level the field and allow ordinary people to take on the largest and most powerful corporations and institutions. Sugerman Dahab focuses on class actions because our class action cases have the most impact. We have decades of experience handling class actions in state and federal courts in Oregon.
Scharfstein v. BP West Coast Products, LLC, No 1112-17046 (Multnomah Cnty. Cir. Ct.)
Across Oregon, ARCO gas stations and am-pm minimarkets charged consumers an illegal debit card charge 13,000 times a day. Over 2 million consumers were overcharged. David led a team of talented lawyers in what is widely recognized as a landmark consumer protection case. David and team tried the case to a jury and obtained a judgment in excess of $400 million. The case was fully affirmed on appeal. Years later, BP settled, and the settlement resulted in a payment of $185 to each overcharged consumer. Unclaimed funds from the case provided $80 million in funding to Oregon Legal Aid and $80 million to start a new consumer protection center, Oregon Consumer Justice.
Maney v. Brown, No. 6:20-cv-00570-SB (U.S. District Court of Oregon)
In this ongoing case, David and Nadia, together with the Oregon Justice Resource Center, represent adults incarcerated in Oregon prisons who contracted COVID-19. The rate of COVID-19 in Oregon’s prisons is roughly twice that of the rate of infection in the general population. Over 5000 people have been infected, and 49 people have died. In an earlier stage of the case, the team obtained an injunction requiring the State to prioritize access to vaccines for adults in custody. The district court recently certified a damages class of individuals who contracted COVID-19 while in custody, as well as a wrongful death class of those who died from COVID-19 while incarcerated.
Stewart v. Albertsons, Inc., No. 16CV15125 (Multnomah Cnty. Cir. Ct.)
Sugerman Dahab leads a talented team of consumer protection lawyers as we take on a predatory practice at Oregon Safeway stores. Every day, 365 days a year, Oregon Safeway puts various meat products on sale, marking them “Buy one, get one free.” Sometimes they even make it “Buy one, get two free.” But there is nothing “free” about it, as Safeway stores routinely raised the unit price of meat before putting it on sale. The case is ongoing.