Rise in Data Breach Litigation and How to Prepare: Utilizing arbitration clauses and class action waivers, litigation trends, and significant rulings in data breach class actions

Mark A. Olthoff | Polsinelli PC

Mark has extensive litigation experience with class actions, including consumer protection, data privacy and privacy laws. He has litigated all manner of business disputes, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, corporate veil issues, business divorces, and officer and director liability, among others. Mark’s national practice includes actions involving BIPA, TCPA, MMPA, KCPA, RICO, FDCPA, FCRA and other federal and state statutes. He is an author and frequent speaker on subjects such as data breach and privacy litigation, piercing the corporate veil, class actions, business litigation issues and legal ethics. Mark was a co-editor of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association’s Business Litigation Handbook and the author of the chapter on piercing the corporate veil. He also was appointed member of the Missouri Supreme Court Disciplinary Committee from 2008-2016.

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. | Duane Morris LLP

Gerald “Jerry” Maatman, Jr. is a Chambers-recognized workplace class action defense litigator, an eighttime Law 360 Employment Law MVP, nine-time recipient of BTI Consulting Group’s distinguished Client Service All-Star Award, and a 2021 Legal 500 Hall of Fame inductee. Mr. Maatman is a Partner at Duane Morris LLP, where he chairs the firm’s Class Action Defense Group. Among his various cases, Mr. Maatman successfully defended the largest EEOC pattern or practice lawsuit ever prosecuted in the history of the Commission, the largest age discrimination collective action ever brought in Illinois, the first sexual harassment class action brought by a State Attorney General in the United States, and the largest wage & hour class actions ever litigated in Florida, Illinois, and New York. A graduate of Washington & Lee University and the Northwestern University School of Law, where he has served as an adjunct professor for 34 years, Jerry is based out of Duane Morris’ Chicago and New York offices.

The author of eight books on the law, Jerry is often consulted by major news organizations for his views on significant court rulings and legal issues. He has served as a legal commentator on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), National Public Radio (NPR), MSNBC, CNBC, and USA Talk Radio, and his comments have appeared in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Business Insurance, USA Today, Fortune, and Forbes. In 2023, Business Today included Mr. Maatman in its rankings of the Top 8 Most Influential Labor & Employment Lawyers in the United States. Further, Chambers selected him as one of the leading class action defense lawyers in its 2006 to 2024 rankings of U.S. lawyers. In its Global rankings, Chambers stated that “Maatman is absolutely phenomenal,” and is “one of the top class action minds in the country.”

Session I – Rise in Data Breach Class Actions: Effective use of arbitration clauses | 1:00pm – 1:30pm

• Surge in data breach class actions
• Recent trends in federal court filings
• Understanding arbitration clauses and class action waivers
• Exploring their application in data breach cases
• Benefits of arbitration clauses and class waivers
• Case studies and legal precedents
• Legal considerations and challenges

Session II – Rise in Data Breach Class Actions: What should be in your litigation toolkit | 1:30pm – 3:10pm

• The rapid evolution of data breach claims
• Key litigation trends in the past 24 months
• Significant rulings in data breach class actions

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

• Key settlements in the data breach class action space v. crafting arbitration clauses with class action waivers to mitigate risks
• What ought to be in your litigation toolkit