Over the past 13 years, Chavez & Gertler LLP has been a leading national presence in the protection of consumer and individual rights. Through zealous advocacy, skilled and creative lawyering, and a passion for serving the public interest, the firm has won significant settlements and trial verdicts on behalf of classes of consumers and individuals. Its outstanding work has earned the firm a national reputation for excellence, integrity, and success.

Some of the firm’s recent accomplishments include the leadership of coordinated class actions against GMAC, one of the largest finance companies in the world. Chavez & Gertler successfully represented a class of over 30,000 consumers challenging GMAC’s collection of loan balances. Appointed as lead counsel, the firm assumed primary responsibility for all of the trial and appellate proceedings in the litigation and, after extensive litigation and trial, achieved a $105 million settlement for the class. GMAC Repossession Cases, Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4237. Chavez & Gertler, also acting as lead counsel, recently negotiated a $76 settlement for class members in actions challenging the efforts of a related group of finance companies to collect amounts purportedly owed by their borrowers. Transouth Cases, Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4273 (Santa Clara County Superior Court).

In addition to its work on behalf of classes of consumers, the firm has won major recoveries for individuals. For example, the firm won a significant trial victory against Burlington Northern, one of the largest railroads in the nation. The jury found that the railroad had been negligent in causing the collision at an unmarked and unsafe railroad crossing, and rendered a total verdict of almost $9 million, including $2 million in punishment or punitive damages for consciously disregarding the safety of the public. Pietrowski v. BNSF RR, Case No. 02-00335 (Contra Costa County Superior Court). The firm also won a $3.1 million jury verdict for an injured electrical worker in a jury trial arising out of a helicopter crash. Chavez & Gertler partner Jonathan Gertler tried the case for a month in San Francisco Superior Court. Scott v. Trinity Helicopters, Inc., Case No. 02-408924 (San Francisco County Superior Court).

The firm, based in Mill Valley, California was founded in 1994 by Mark Chavez and Jonathan Gertler. Mr. Chavez is considered one of the leading consumer class action and public interest lawyers in the nation. A graduate of Stanford Law School, Mr. Chavez has been actively involved in a number of organizations seeking to promote the interests of consumers through public interest litigation. He was a founding member of the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation in 1978. In 1993, he and seven other consumer attorneys from across the country founded the National Association of Consumer Advocates. Today the organization consists of 1,000 private and public sector attorneys, legal services attorneys, law professors and students, whose primary practice or interests involve the protection and representation of consumers.

Mr. Chavez is a nationally respected class action litigator. He has been lead or co-lead counsel in numerous cases vindicating the rights of consumers, insurance policyholders, telephone customers, automobile and home borrowers, and others. Mr. Chavez is also a national leader of the plaintiff’s trial bar. He sits on the Board of Directors of Public Justice (formerly Trial Lawyers for Public Justice) Foundation, the National Consumer Law Center, Disability Rights Advocates and other organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of consumers and vulnerable citizens. In his twenty-eight years of practicing law, Mr. Chavez has spent a substantial portion of his career litigating class action cases. In April 2000, he successfully argued Linder v. Thrifty Oil, 23 Cal.4th 429 (2000) before the California Supreme Court, on behalf of amicus the Consumer Attorneys of California. Linder was the first decision on class certification issues decided by the California Supreme Court in nearly two decades. He was also co-counsel for the plaintiff class in Washington Mutual Bank, F.A. v. Superior Court, 24 Cal. 4th. 906 (2001), in which the California Supreme Court defined the rules governing certification of nationwide classes in California. Mr. Chavez has served as lead or co-lead counsel in over 90 other class actions.

Jon Gertler is one of the leading trial lawyers in California. In 2006 Mr. Gertler earned the “Trial Lawyer of the Year” awarded by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, and was a finalist for the “Consumer Attorney of the Year.” He is also a recognized class action attorney and has been named a Northern California Superlawyer. Mr. Gertler has successfully handled catastrophic injury and death cases for his clients since 1984. In his last consumer trial, Mr. Gertler obtained a judgment worth more than $12 million in consumer refunds, credits and fees. He is currently lead or co-counsel in wage and hour class actions against large corporate defendants including Sun Microsystems, Teminix Pest Control and ADP.

In 2007, the firm opened its Washington, D.C. office headed up by Steven Berk. Mr. Berk has an extensive range of litigation experience spanning both the private and public sectors. He has recently served in leadership roles in various nationwide consumer class action cases, involving technology, product liability and fraudulent business practices. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Berk was a partner at Jenner & Block, where he was lead trial counsel in a number of commercial cases in federal and state courts. Mr. Berk also served as an Assistant United States District Attorney for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a federal prosecutor, he was trial counsel in over 25 jury trials in the Federal District Court and Superior Court for the District of Columbia. In addition, Mr. Berk has prepared and presented several appellate cases before the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, conducted numerous investigations and presented cases to state and federal grand juries.

The Washington, D.C. office of the firm is committed to continuing the firm’s reputation for excellence, integrity and a commitment to the public interest