Few people consider the prospect of a class-action lawsuit as something to look forward to, but for those who have suffered a physical, emotional, or financial injury due to the actions of another party or a corporation, sometimes the only way to get justice is to file a class-action lawsuit.
Ensuring you have the right advocate on your side could be the difference between seeing justice done and never receiving compensation for the damages you suffered. But finding the right partner is more than just randomly picking a name out of the phone book, and that’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best class-action lawyers in Washington.
As you consider the attorneys and law firms on this list, remember that in most cases, you won’t have to pay fees upfront and you’ll only receive a bill when you win your case. Also, initial consultations are usually free, so there’s no harm in contacting the firms on this list to find out what damages you may be entitled to seek through a lawsuit.
1. Schroeter Goldmark & Bender
810 3rd Ave #500, Seattle, WA 98104
Practice Areas: Class Action, Asbestos and Mesothelioma, Employment Law, Personal Injury
Firm Size: Medium
Seattle-based Schroeter Goldmark & Bender (SGB) was founded in 1969, making it one of the oldest Washington firms on our list. Attorneys with this midsized firm specialize in a range of areas from personal injury and wrongful death to employment law and exposure to asbestos, and they take on individual and class-action cases in every practice area.
Most of the firm’s biggest success stories are victories in class-action lawsuits related to employment law, including more than $11 million in awards against an armored-car company over allegations that they wouldn’t allow employees to take rest and meal breaks and a $7.4 million class-action verdict against a meat-packing company over policies that required employees to maintain protective equipment off-the-clock. Ongoing investigations at the firm center largely on workplace law, including potential cases involving companies like Cascade Corp., Dominos Pizza, The Home Depot, and GEO Group.
2. The Stritmatter Firm
3600 15th Ave W #300, Seattle, WA 98119
Practice Areas: Class Action, Medical Malpractice, Product Liability
Firm Size: Medium
The Stritmatter firm was founded in 1945, which makes it the oldest class-action law firm in Washington to make this list. Over the course of its history, this mid-sized, Seattle-based law firm boasts more than 200 verdicts and judgments in excess of $1 million, and attorneys with the firm were responsible for securing the largest personal-injury verdict in state history ($123 million) after the Ride the Ducks Aurora Bridge disaster, which killed five students and injured some-70 others.
Other major class-action results in the firm’s history include a $20 million settlement with a telecommunications company for passing fees illegally to customers, and a $4 million settlement against a health insurance provider for testing patients’ blood for HIV without their knowledge. In addition to the firm’s main office in Seattle, it also operates a branch in Hoquiam.
3. Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC
403 Columbia St #500, Seattle, WA 98104
Practice Areas: Class Action, Consumer Protection, Product Liability, Sexual Abuse
Firm Size: Medium
Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA) is a medium-sized, Seattle-based law firm that also has an office in Tacoma, as well as one in New York City. Attorneys with the firm focus primarily on individual and mass cases related to areas like consumer protection, product liability, medical malpractice, and sexual abuse.
Major victories in the firm’s history include a $95 million class-action verdict on behalf of home healthcare workers, a $60 million settlement with the state of Washington and a timber company over a deadly landslide, and upwards of $70 million in settlements related to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
4. Palace Law
4009 Bridgeport Way W # B, University Place, WA 98466
Practice Areas: Class Action, Workers’ Compensation, Personal Injury
Firm Size: Small
The attorneys at Palace Law, a small firm in the Pierce County community of University Way, have a combined century’s worth of experience, including with massive, complex litigation like class actions. The firm’s primary focus areas include employment matters like workers’ compensation, and they also handle cases like personal injuries and product defects.
Investigations are ongoing into potential individual and class-action claims related to a variety of occupational-related claims. This includes occupational disease and injury, ladder, scaffold, and welding accidents, exposure to harmful substances in the workplace, repetitive-stress injuries, occupational hearing loss, chronic exposure to toxic chemicals, and work-related respiratory illnesses.
5. Bendich, Stobaugh and Strong, P.C.
126 NW Canal St Ste 100, Seattle, WA 98107
Practice Areas: Class Action, Employment Law
Firm Size: Small
The small firm Bendich, Stobaugh and Strong, was founded in 1975, and today, this Seattle-based firm practices primarily in the areas of employment law, including class actions and individual claims. In the past couple of decades, the firm has won class-action lawsuits on behalf of thousands of workers, and the firm has helped clients recover more than $400 in workplace-related lawsuits.
Past victories by the firm’s attorneys cover topics like pay raises at the University of Washington, employee classification by the city of Seattle, healthcare benefit denial, and more. Some of the firm’s ongoing work includes cases related to public-sector employees like paramedics, public defenders, and other state workers.
6. Phillips Law Firm PLLC
315 5th Ave S UNIT 1000, Seattle, WA 98104
Practice Areas: Class Action, Traffic Accidents, Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, Medical Malpractice
Firm Size: Small
The Phillips Law Firm (PLF) is a small, Seattle-based firm with a primary focus on personal-injury cases, traffic accidents, workers’ compensation, and medical malpractice, including individual claims and class-action lawsuits. Attorneys with the firm have recovered more than $1 billion in damages across more than 10,000 cases, including settlements related to environmental litigation, wrongful death, and medical malpractice. The firm has offices in Seattle, Woodinville, and Renton, as well as Irvine, California.
PLF attorneys are investigating individual and class-action claims related to medical and dental malpractice, misdiagnosis, surgical errors, nursing home abuse, workplace accidents, defective products, dangerous drugs, environmental contamination, and more.
7. Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC
936 N 34th St #300, Seattle, WA 98103
Practice Areas: Class Action, Consumer Protection, Employment Law
Firm Size: Medium
Terrell Marshall Law Group (TMLG) was founded in 2008, and in that time, the firm’s attorneys and staff have been fully dedicated to consumer and worker protection. TMLG attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in settlements with small, medium, and large businesses, even taking on Fortune 500 companies.
Settlements, verdicts, and judgments the firm’s attorneys have won on behalf of individual and class-action clients include a $35 million settlement on behalf of Walmart employees who were denied rest and meal breaks and a $24 million settlement against Sallie Mae over robocall law violations. Investigations are ongoing into wage, overtime, and hourly pay violations, rest and meal breaks, misclassification, and vacation pay, as well as consumer-fraud cases like robocalls, debt adjustments, and unsafe products.
8. Frank Freed Subit & Thomas
705 2nd Ave #1200, Seattle, WA 98104
Practice Areas: Class Action, Employment Law, Discrimination
Firm Size: Small
Frank Freed Subit & Thomas is a small firm based in Seattle that was founded in 1981. The primary focus of the firm’s attorneys is handling cases related to employment law, including discrimination, employee benefits, union representation, wrongful termination, wage and overtime, and employee benefits.
Among the biggest victories in the firm’s history include a $10.5 million class-action settlement against FedEx over allegations of withholding breaks and overtime, a $2.4 million settlement against Tom Douglas Restaurants over rest and meal breaks, and a $3 million settlement against Borton & Sons over wage and hourly pay classifications.
9. Doug Cloud Law
1008 S Yakima Ave Ste 202, Tacoma, WA 98405
Practice Areas: Class Action, Mass Tort, Whistleblower Claims, Medical Malpractice, Product Liability
Firm Size: Sole Practitioner
Attorney Doug Cloud has been in solo practice in Tacoma since 1992, and his primary practice focus in that time has been on class-action and mass-tort claims related to medical care, including malpractice, defective devices, and dangerous drugs. Some of his previous victories include cases related to personal injuries, auto accidents, fraud, and employment law, but his primary practice area includes medical-related cases.
Cloud is considering and investigating cases related to drugs like Lipitor, Depakote, Tylenol, Actos, Pradaxa, Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, and Yaz and medical devices like replacement hips, IUDs, and transvaginal mesh.
10. Ladenburg Law
705 S 9th St STE 203, Tacoma, WA 98405
Practice Areas: Class Action, Personal Injury, Asbestos and Mesothelioma, Medical Malpractice
Firm Size: Small
Tacoma-based Ladenburg Law is a small firm with a broad portfolio including individual and class-action cases covering personal injuries, defective products, medical malpractice, asbestos and mesothelioma, auto accidents, nursing home abuse, and more. In addition to its main office in Tacoma, the firm also has a location in Olympia, and it serves clients in Pierce, King, Thurston, and Kitsap counties.
Ongoing investigations by the firm’s attorneys include products like vehicle parts, baby and nursery equipment, children’s toys, playground equipment, tools and construction equipment, dangerous drugs, medical devices, breast implants, and more.
