Steve W. Berman

CASE/ROLE

SETTLEMENT VALUE /
NATIONAL IMPACT

State Tobacco Litigation
Special Assistant Attorney General Representing 13 States

$260 billion
Largest civil settlement in history
The multistate agreement required tobacco companies to pay the states $260 billion and submit to broad advertising and marketing restrictions, leaving a lasting and widespread impact.

NCAA Student Athlete Name, Image and Likeness
Co-Lead Counsel

$2.78 billion+
Largest antitrust settlement in history
Class action against the NCAA and Power Five conferences alleging violations of federal antitrust law regarding payment to college athletes for the use of their names, images and likenesses. After two decades of fighting on behalf of athletes regarding this issue, the firm secured a monumental settlement for a class of more than 400,000 NCAA players. In addition to $2.78 billion in past damages, the total value of new payments and benefits to college athletes under the new revenue-sharing model is expected to exceed $20 billion over the next 10 years, making it the largest antitrust class-action settlement in history.

Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation
Co-Lead Counsel

$25 billion
Largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history at the time
Agreements with Visa and Mastercard secured relief valued at as much as $25-87 billion, and injunctive relief reducing interchange rates, among other benefits.

Volkswagen/Porsche/Audi Emissions Scandal
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and Settlement Negotiating Team

$14.7 billion
Largest automotive settlement in U.S. history
Hagens Berman’s automotive legal team was the first to file in this historic lawsuit against Volkswagen for its emissions cheating and masking of harmful pollutants, culminating in a historic settlement.

Volkswagen Franchise Dealerships
Lead Counsel

$1.67 billion
The firm achieved a monumental settlement on behalf of Volkswagen dealerships across the U.S. blindsided by the automaker’s emissions cheating, returning an average payment to each Dealer Settlement Class Member of approximately $1.85 million.

Toyota Sudden, Unintended Acceleration
Co-Lead Counsel

$1.6 billion
Largest automotive settlement in history at the time
The firm did not initially seek to lead this litigation but was sought out by the judge for its wealth of experience in managing very complex class-action MDLs.

Hyundai / Kia Theta II GDI Engine Fire Hazard Settlement
Co-Lead Counsel

$1.3 billion
The firm achieved a settlement in response to a defect in 4.1 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles equipped with Theta II GDI engines putting owners at risk for spontaneous, non-collision engine fires or premature engine failure.

Mercedes BlueTEC
Co-Lead Counsel

$700 million
Spurred by the firm’s success in the Volkswagen Dieselgate case, Steve independently tested diesel vehicles across manufacturers, uncovering additional instances of emissions-cheating, masked via illegal defeat devices.

Apple E-Books Antitrust
Co-Lead Counsel

$616 million
This antitrust lawsuit alleged Apple and five of the nation’s top publishers colluded to raise the price of e-books for U.S. consumers. Steve’s litigation resulted in an unheard of recovery equal to twice consumers' actual damages. Apple took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it denied Apple’s request to review the case.

McKesson Drug Class Litigation 
Co-Lead Counsel

$350 million
Steve was named co-lead counsel in this action that led to a rollback of benchmark prices of hundreds of brand name drugs, and relief for third-party payers and insurers. His discovery of the McKesson scheme led to follow up lawsuits by governmental entities and recovery in total of over $600 million.

Average Wholesale Price Litigation

$338 million
Drug prices charged to consumers and payers across the nation are significantly more than the cost to produce them. In many cases, Big Pharma conspires with other companies to create these false profits. Hagens Berman has helped several classes of plaintiffs obtain multimillion-dollar judgments.

Enron Pension Protection Litigation
Co-Lead Counsel

$250 million
Attorneys represented 24,000 Enron employees claiming the company recklessly endangered retirement funds, causing some employees to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars almost overnight, in a major economic milestone in U.S. history.

Bank of America Homeloans

$250 million
Following the historic market crash in 2008, Hagens Berman filed this class action against Bank of America, Countrywide and LandSafe, alleging their collusion was in direct violation of the RICO Act and other laws.

McKesson Governmental Entity Class Litigation 
Lead Counsel

$82 million
Steve was lead counsel for a nationwide class of local governments that resulted in a settlement for drug price-fixing claims.

JPMorgan Madoff Lawsuit
Lead Counsel

$218 million
This historic settlement against JPMorgan involved three simultaneous, separately negotiated settlements totaling more than $2.2 billion, in which Hagens Berman returned hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of Bernard L. Madoff investors.

NCAA Athletic Grant-in-Aid Cap Antitrust
Co-Lead Counsel

$208 million
Steve pioneered this historic case which forever changed NCAA sports and the lives of 53,748 class members. The case culminated in a $208 million settlement regarding damages and injunctive relief secured through a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of plaintiffs. According to the Court, the NCAA “permanently restrained and enjoined from agreeing to fix or limit compensation or benefits related to education” that conferences or schools may make available. Schools are now allowed to provide benefits tethered to education up to $6,000 annually.

Apple iOS App Developers
Class Counsel

$100 million
Hagens Berman represented developers of iOS apps sold via Apple’s App Store or featuring in-app sales, alleging the tech giant engaged in anticompetitive practices that harmed developers. The settlement brings important changes to App Store policies and practices. U.S. iOS app developers with less than $1 million per year in proceeds from App Store sales through all associated developer accounts across the nation can receive hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars from the fund.

Google Play Store App Developers
Co-Lead Counsel

$90 million
This antitrust class action accused Google of monopolizing its Play Store through anticompetitive policies, affecting small businesses across the nation. Attorneys for the class of roughly 43,000 Android app developers say some class members will likely see payments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Zuora Investor Fraud
Lead Counsel

$75.5 million
In a showcase of Steve’s securities litigation expertise, this settlement achieved in 2023 provides significant relief to purchasers of the securities of Zuora across the U.S.

NCAA Concussions
Lead Counsel

$75 million
Hagens Berman served as lead counsel in this multidistrict litigation against the NCAA, achieving medical monitoring and  injunctive relief in the form of changes to concussion management and return-to-play guidelines. The lawsuit alleged the institutions neglected to protect college athletes from concussions and their aftermath at schools across the country.

NCAA/Electronic Arts Name and Likeness
Co-Lead Counsel

$60 million
This first-of-its-kind lawsuit ushered in the first time that hardworking college athletes saw some of the profits from the use of their likeness in video games. More than 24,000 individuals were eligible to receive payment, and checks were issued for up to $7,600, with a median around $1,100.

Harvey Weinstein Sexual Harassment

$17.1 million
As the #MeToo movement hit a fever pitch moment, Hagens Berman’s Steve Berman represented a class of those harmed by Harvey Weinstein, a kingpin of sexual harassment in Hollywood. The firm litigated the case through to bankruptcy proceedings in 2020.

Youth Soccer Concussions

Steve pioneered this first-of-its-kind lawsuit that ended heading for US Soccer’s youngest players to diminish risk of concussions and traumatic brain injuries, changing the game for youth players across the U.S.

CASE

SETTLEMENT VALUE \
LOCAL IMPACT

Exxon Mobile Oil Spill

$700 million
Hagens Berman successfully represented a class in this lawsuit stemming from the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill. The spill occurred when the ship crashed into an Alaskan reef in 1989, sending nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound and negligently harming the wellbeing of natives, workers and marine life for years to come. Hagens Berman’s clients received a multimillion-dollar award in the case against Exxon, which helped shape the future of U.S. environmental and shipping policy.

Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS)

$700 million
This case was one of the most complex and lengthy securities fraud cases ever filed and one of the largest municipal bond defaults in history. After years of litigation, plaintiffs were awarded a $700 million settlement agreement that was reached with more than 200 defendants, illustrating Steve’s prowess in complex litigation.

USC, Dr. Tyndall Sexual Harassment
Co-Lead Counsel

$215 million
Steve led the firm’s involvement in this class action representing 16,000 victims of USC’s then gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall. The settlement pioneered a structure prioritizing privacy and placing power in the hands of class members through a tiered relief system.

Boeing Securities Litigation
Co-Lead Counsel

$92.5 million
Second largest settlement in the Northwest at the time
Boeing agreed to a proposed settlement to the shareholder suit filed in November 1997 by Hagens Berman. The settlement, the second largest awarded in the Northwest, affected tens of thousands of shareholders who purchased or otherwise acquired Boeing common stock

Dairy Price-Fixing
Class Counsel

$52 million
The settlement reached by Hagens Berman resolved claims against the dairy industry related to an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of milk via the premature slaughtering of more than 500,000 dairy cattle.

Jack in the Box E. coli
Co-Lead Counsel

$12 million
The E. coli outbreak at the center of this case led to the death of four children, the hospitalization of 171 consumers, most of whom were in Washington state, the firm’s home. The discovery work done by Hagens Berman helped other personal injury lawyers recover more than $100 million in wrongful death and civil damages from defendant Foodmaker.

City of Sycamore Water Contamination

$8.4 million
Hagens Berman represented a residents of Sycamore, Illinois in a class action accusing the city of creating a public health crisis through decades of negligence to its water system. Residents reported chronic health issues related to exposure to the city’s water. The settlement will bring continued water infrastructure improvement projects through 2027 as well as independent testing.

Washington Ferry Environmental Damage

$4.5 million
After three years of hard-fought litigation, Washington state property owners along Rich Passage reached a settlement in a lawsuit claiming waves from high-speed ferries caused environmental and property damages to beaches and bulkheads in the local ecosystem.

Iowa Educators Corp.
Class Counsel

$1.9 million
Hagens Berman represented Iowa families in a class-action lawsuit filed against Iowa Educators Corporation and Martin Brothers Distributing Company Inc. for allegedly restricting competition and artificially inflating prices of food for school lunches.

Washington Apple Growers Wage Suppression
Class Counsel

$1.3 million
In 2000, Hagens Berman, led by co-founder and managing partner, Steve Berman, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against three Yakima Valley apple companies on behalf of several legal Mexican immigrants. The lawsuit claimed the companies conspired to hire large numbers of illegal workers to depress wages for orchard work.

Hungarian Gold Train
Class Counsel

During WWII, the Nazis seized a train of stolen Jewish possession from Jews living in Hungary. The train, containing numerous boxcars was dubbed the "Gold Train." At the end of the war, the United States Army took custody of the Hungarian Gold Train in 1945 while the train was in Austria, the value of which was estimated between $50 and $120 million. According to the lawsuit, despite having receipts and ability to return the items in the 1940s, the U.S. Army knowingly let generals and other high-ranking officers take some of the possessions without returning them.

An online database itemized 6,000+ stolen heirlooms and included a claims process for Hungarian Holocaust survivors and their families. Many items were identified through family records.

Idaho Grass Burning

Confidential Settlement
Hagens Berman brought this class action  on behalf of Idaho residents claiming grass-burning farmers released more than 785 tons of pollutants into the air. These included concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, proven carcinogens. Burning the fields annually caused serious health problems, especially to those with respiratory ailments such as cystic fibrosis and asthma.

Dole Food Environmental Contamination

In culminating this environmental lawsuit, Dole and the non-profit organization Water and Sanitation Health coordinated on a water filter project to assist local communities in Guatemala.

Grand Canyon Litigation

Trial court enjoined the project
The firm represented the Sierra Club in a challenge to a Forest Service decision to allow commercial development on the southern edge of the Grand Canyon National Park.