Class Action and Mass Tort Litigation

Simmons Hanly Conroy class action attorneys have experience litigating cases that involve people from around the country. Named Partner Jayne Conroy and Partner Jay Barnes lead the firm’s class action litigation practice.

If you have been harmed by a large company, our attorneys may be able to help you secure justice.

Our current class action lawsuits include the following:

Our clients include:

• Corn farmers impacted by Syngenta misleading marketing
• Owners of Volkswagen motor vehicles
• Owners of Toyota motor vehicles
• Owners of Tesla vehicles with autopilot
• Victims of environmental disasters
• Mutual fund investors
• Homeowners in foreclosure actions
• Purchasers of paperless tickets to entertainment events
• Purchasers of vacation “time share” units
• Franchisees of a national income tax return preparation service
• Owners of Nissan motor vehicles with panoramic sunroofs that have spontaneously shattered

A total of $15.9 billion in a class action lawsuit was awarded to the owners of Volkswagen diesel vehicles that had secret software installed to falsely pass emission tests. More than $10 billion of the settlement was for buybacks of 2.0-liter diesel vehicles and owner compensation. Another $1.2 billion was for buybacks of 3.0-liter diesel vehicles and the remaining $4.7 billion went to offsetting excess emissions.

Named Partner Jayne Conroy serves on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee of the Volkswagen MDL.

$1.5 Billion Global Settlement for Corn Farmers Misled by Syngenta

Syngenta agreed to pay $1.51 billion to the members of a class of U.S. farmers who either grew corn or rent land for growing corn. The result was considered by some to be the largest monetary award to-date in a court case involving agriculture.

The subject of the case was Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera corn, a strain that had been genetically modified to be resistant to insects. While Viptera had been approved in 2010 for sale in the United States, it did not have such acceptance in corn markets worldwide, which class members allege was responsible for economic chaos within the U.S. corn market.

Named Partner Jayne Conroy served on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the Syngenta MIR 162 MDL.

Automotive manufacturer Toyota Motors agreed to settle the class action brought by Simmons Hanly Conroy clients and others arising out of economic losses that millions of Toyota owners suffered following a rash of unintended acceleration events in 2009 and 2010. The total value of the settlement is more than $1.1 billion.

The settlement followed three years of hard-fought litigation in which Named Partner Jayne Conroy played a leading role, having been appointed by United States District Judge James Selna as a member of the plaintiffs’ leadership team in the case, and in which several Simmons Hanly Conroy clients are serving as representatives of the class of Toyota owners economically injured.

Hundreds of Million to Families Impacted by 9/11 Terrorist Attack

We are proud to have represented thousands of family members of September 11 victims in their suits against financial sponsors of terrorism and against airlines and airport security companies. Working directly with Ronald L. Motley in this litigation, Named Partner Jayne Conroy was appointed to a leadership role on the Plaintiffs Executive Committee for Personal Injury and Death Claims. She, and other firm mass tort attorneys, represented the consolidated cases against the airlines and security companies in the multidistrict litigation against the financial sponsors of terrorism. In 2007, the litigation was settled for hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to clients of the firm. The firm also represented property owners who suffered financial injury as a result of the September 11 attacks.