Class Action
& Complex Litigation

Klamann & Schermerhorn has extensive experience in class action and complex litigation.  The firm is regularly retained by prominent plaintiffs’ law firms to handle class action certification and administration matters as well as case management and litigation coordination in putative and certified class action cases.

Mr. Klamann has been lead Class Counsel in certified class action cases involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), federal and State securities anti-fraud laws and regulations, environmental contamination and toxic exposures, real estate, proprietary school litigation, and other collective action cases. In addition, Mr. Klamann has been lead counsel in several putative class action cases in the insurance fraud and employment discrimination areas. Mr. Klamann was co-trial counsel in the Michigan Schools Asbestos Class Action Litigation. Mr. Klamann was a part of the litigation team of class action counsel in Ireton, et al. v. American Family Insurance Co., a nationwide insurance “vanishing premium” class action case. Mr. Klamann was lead counsel for a consortium of law firms in the Williams, et al. v. Sprint age discrimination class action.

Mr. Schermerhorn has been co-lead Class Counsel in certified state and federal class action cases involving breach of insurance, consumer fraud and product defect. Mr. Schermerhorn also has extensive experience writing and arguing before various courts throughout the country, including the 2nd Circuit and 8th Circuit Courts of Appeals.

In addition to its class action experience, Klamann & Schermerhorn has had extensive involvement in “complex litigation.” For example, Mr. Klamann was lead counsel in a successful real estate syndication/fraud case involving more than 140 plaintiffs from 23 States in their joint action against the world’s then largest accounting firm, Ernst and Young. Mr. Klamann was also lead counsel in a successful consolidated joinder action against a regional accounting firm involving 124 investors in a 40 different limited partnerships. Mr. Klamann represented more than 70 plaintiffs in a successful oil and gas syndication fraud case. Mr. Klamann was also part of the litigation and trial team for the liability and punitive damages trial phase of the Mon Mass II Litigation involving more than 7500 asbestos plaintiffs West Virginia.

Mr. Schermerhorn was among a team of attorneys representing 25 former NFL players in their concussion-related cases against the Kansas City Chiefs. The cases were part of the massive multi-district litigation pending in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Schermerhorn obtained the first order finding that former NFL Players’ concussion-related claims are not preempted by various collective bargaining agreements. Mr. Schermerhorn also represented 3 former NFL players in their concussion-related cases against the former St. Louis Football Cardinals which were all later settled.

The Klamann Law Firm also navigated and settled a colossal mass class and arbitration action against DST Systems, Inc., which a District Court judge referred to as a “time-intensive (indeed multi-year) procedural judicial labyrinth.” During the course of the litigation, we participated in more than 350 separate arbitration trials and submitted more than 600 pre- and post-hearing briefs. Mr. Schermerhorn, who led the briefing and legal aspects of the case, also argued before both the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as before various district court judged in both Missouri and New York. Durign oral arguments, Second Circuit Judge Richard C. Wesley remarked: “I’ve only been doing this 20 years, and this is a whopper of a case with all kinds of threads.” In the end, we tied the threads together and negotiated a settlement of more than $124 million.

Mr. Klamann has previously been Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law where he taught Complex Litigation to second- and third-year law students and LLM candidates and is a frequent speaker at seminars on complex litigation topics. Mr. Schermerhorn has appeared as a guest lecturer at a seminar on mass arbitration and has frequently been a guest lecturer at UMKC Law School.