Benchmark Litigation named Stoll Berne Oregon Firm of the Year for the fifth consecutive year. The 15th annual US awards ceremony took place on March 13th, 2024.

The award program highlights and gives recognition to the country’s most exemplary litigators and their firms for their work shown in 2023. Stoll Berne’s continuing work on class actions, environmental, securities, and wildfire litigation helped keep us on the radar for this year’s award.

To learn more about this year’s winners: 2024 Benchmark Litigation Awards

Cody Berne, Keith Ketterling, Timothy DeJong, and Emily Johnson amongst other co-counsel lawyers rank #1 for their impressive verdicts.

Stoll Berne made the Courtroom View Network’s Top 10 Most Impressive Plaintiff Verdicts of 2023. The matter, James, et al. v. PacifiCorp, ranked #1 on the list and relates to the Oregon Labor Day 2020 wildfires. In a 2023 trial, a Multnomah County jury found PacifiCorp liable for causing the Labor Day fires, finding after a seven-week trial that the corporation acted negligently, grossly negligently, recklessly and willfully against the entire class, which PacifiCorp estimated included 5,000 people. The verdict also established that each subsequent damages award would be increased by 25% for punitive damages against the company.

To learn more about the ranking: CVN’s Top 10 Most Impressive Plaintiff Verdicts of 2023

To view a recording of the court proceeding: Video of James et al. v. PacifiCorp et al. – Trial – 04/25/23 to 06/14/23 – Courtroom View Network (cvn.com)

To learn more about the case: Cody Berne Leads Trial Team to Massive Victory in Landmark PacifiCorp Wildfires Class Action Trial – Stoll Berne | Attorneys | Class-Action, Securities, IP, Real Estate, Business Litigation

The verdict is the third consecutive win for plaintiffs in the certified class action, which collectively have awarded $220 million for 36 of the class members.  

A third jury in Portland, Oregon has awarded more than $42 million in compensation to ten survivors of the wildfires on Labor Day 2020. The total award to the ten plaintiffs is $42,412,119.00, consisting of $5.933 million in economic damages (which are doubled) and $23.25 million in non-economic damages, both of which are increased by 25% for punitive damages.

The verdict comes on the heels of a trial just last month, where the jury awarded $85 million to a different set of nine plaintiffs. This series of trials—which exclusively concern fire survivors’ damages—follow a class-action verdict last year that found PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, liable to an entire class of fire survivors for causing the fires. That jury also awarded punitive damages to the class.  That jury also awarded $92 million to 17 plaintiffs.

To date, the three juries have returned verdicts of $220 million to 36 plaintiffs. Additional damage trials for the thousands of remaining class members will continue moving forward.

During the trial, each survivor—as well as a representative from the Upward Bound Camp for Persons with Special Needs in Gates, Oregon—shared their stories from Labor Day 2020 and after. Plaintiff Christine Grom described how a live power line came crashing down on her property on Labor Day 2020, and how she then fled through fire and smoke that night—only to spend two years displaced from her home after she lost everything. Plaintiff Carl Seyboldt described how he was forced to set his two horses and pony loose in desperation as the fire threatened his home. The Executive Director of the Upward Bound Camp for Persons with Special Needs described how the fire began on the Camp’s premises after a power line fell. She then explained how the fires destroyed the Camp’s only indoor spaces that can accommodate campers, leaving the nonprofit organization without the ability to hold camps during the winter, spring and fall months. And the jury viewed the videotaped testimony of Delores Stowell, who passed away a year and half after the fires but had her testimony recorded in the weeks before she died so that she could hold PacifiCorp accountable for burning down her home and everything in it.

Last year, a Portland jury found PacifiCorp liable for causing the Labor Day fires, finding after a seven-week trial that the corporation acted negligently, grossly negligently, recklessly and willfully against the entire class, which PacifiCorp estimated included 5,000 people. That verdict also established that each subsequent damages award would be increased by 25% for punitive damages against the company. Plaintiffs and the class are represented by the Court-appointed Lead Counsel: Stoll Berne, Keller Rohrback LLP, and Edelson PC. They were assisted by Eugene-based Johnson Johnson Lucas & Middleton, PC.

“PacifiCorp for years prioritized profits over the safety of people in the communities it serves. In the five years before the fires, PacifiCorp paid its owners at Berkshire Hathaway more than $3 billion in dividends. That was money PacifiCorp should have used to upgrade its equipment and operations. Instead, the survivors of its fires are suffering the consequences of PacifiCorp’s reckless and willful disregard for their communities. We are proud to advocate on behalf of the survivors and to help them hold PacifiCorp accountable,” said Cody Berne, lead trial attorney for Stoll Berne in the case.

The case is officially named Jeanyne James, et al. v. PacifiCorp et al., No. 20CV33885 (Multnomah County Circuit Court, Oregon).

Further information about this procedure and the class action trial is available at www.PacifiCorpFireLitigation.com.

To seek additional information, fire survivors may contact Lead Counsel by dialing 503-217-6722 or 888-607-5808, or by emailing PacifiCorpFireLitigation@edelson.com.

A group of U.S. Plaintiff’s law firms have requested a modernization of civil trials rules amidst the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They want to encourage live-streamed testimony from witnesses who are not able to appear in court, with the end goal of improving efficiency throughout the trial process.

The proposal, made by 12 class action law firms, does not aim to end live, in person trial testimony, it rather suggests that it would clear up confusion over subpoena authority to allow for witnesses outside of a 100-mile radius of trial to appear by live streaming. They also argue that this method is preferred to pre-recorded depositions. The topic was addressed to the federal judiciary’s top rulemaking committee.


This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.

Sign up to receive Class Actions Blog posts in your inbox!

On February 2, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington denied Monsanto’s Motion for Summary Judgment in ongoing PCB litigation. Stoll Berne and co-counsel at Keller Rohrback represent the City of Seattle in this suit and seek to hold Monsanto accountable for the harms that Monsanto’s PCBs have caused to the City’s stormwater and drainage system and the Lower Duwamish Waterway.

Stoll Berne attorneys Steve Larson, Emily Johnson and Maddie Holmes were primarily responsible for the expansive briefing on the detailed and complex factual and legal issues that persuaded the Court to find in Seattle’s favor and reject all of Monsanto’s arguments.

Trial is set for September 23, 2024.

Across the country, Verizon customers are receiving notices to file a claim before April 15th, 2024, in order to receive a payout of up to $100, as part of the proposed $100 million settlement Verizon is set to pay. The lawsuit states that Verizon hid administrative fees in advertised monthly prices, thereby misleading postpaid customers between the years of 2016 and 2023.

Verizon denies all allegations. They claim that admin charges are clearly explained during all sales transactions and stated in contracts as well as billing. The settlement was approved in December 2023 and is set for a final hearing in March 2024.


This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.

Sign up to receive Class Actions Blog posts in your inbox!

Verdict follows classwide liability findings and continues path to billions of dollars in compensation for fire victims as more trials are set in the coming months.

A jury in Portland, Oregon awarded $85 million in compensation from PacifiCorp to nine survivors of the fires that swept across Oregon on Labor Day 2020. The verdict, which consisted of more than $6 million in economic and $56 million in non-economic damages, translates to an award of more than $85 million after the doubling of economic damages and the addition of punitive damages of 25% that are automatically applied given the jury’s verdict in the first phase of the case. This verdict is the first trial exclusively on individuals’ damages after a historic class action verdict last year that established that PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, was liable to the entire class for causing the devastating fires. It is the second jury verdict awarding damages to injured class members, and maintains a trajectory which, according to PacifiCorp, represents more than $25 billion in total damages to the class.

Through three days of testimony, the victims of the Labor Day Fire recounted the horrific stories of fleeing the fires and the losses they suffered. One survivor, Scott Johnson, described how he and his wife, Mary Beth Carden, leapt into the river beside their property and hid for hours while the fire consumed their hand-built home. Another, Cory Staniforth, rushed back to his farm to attempt to save his penned-in chickens and livestock before realizing that the fire had encircled him. He was forced to run through “walls of flame” to escape back to his wife, who was nine months pregnant at the time. Frank King, a 101-year-old veteran of World War II, described losing 98 years of history and memories in the fire.

This trial concerned only damages to the victims. Last year, a Portland jury determined that PacifiCorp was liable to an entire class of people for causing the Labor Day fires, finding after an intensive, seven-week trial that PacifiCorp acted negligently, grossly negligently, recklessly, and willfully with regard to the entire class. The ruling paved the way to trials limited to the damages suffered by the other members of the class— according to PacifiCorp, some 5,000 victims—of which this was the first. The next damages trial is set to begin February 26, and will seek compensation for another nine survivors of the fires, as well as the Upward Bound Camp for Individuals with Special Needs. The Camp operates at the old Gates School, on the site where a power line started a fire on the night of Labor Day 2020. The third damages trial is set for April 22, 2024.

Plaintiffs and the class are represented by the Court-appointed Lead Counsel: Stoll Berne, Keller Rohrback LLP, and Edelson PC. They were assisted by Eugene-based Johnson Johnson Lucas & Middleton, PC.

Plaintiff’s Counsel provided the following statements:

● “This was an incredibly difficult trial for our clients, and we are so grateful to the jury for its time, its service, and its thoughtful verdict. For days, these victims were forced to recount their traumatic experiences just surviving the wildfires caused by PacifiCorp, all while PacifiCorp sought to diminish their experiences. We are so proud of the strength and resilience of our clients, and thankful to the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable for what happened on Labor Day 2020—something it will never do itself,” said Nick Rosinia, the chair of Edelson PC’s trial team.

● “We are committed to getting as much compensation as possible for Labor Day fire survivors as expeditiously as possible. Today’s powerful verdict is another important step in that direction,” said Matthew Preusch, a partner at Keller Rohrback LLP.

● “As a native Oregonian, it has been a tremendous honor to advocate on behalf of survivors of PacifiCorp’s fires. Our community and the entire state needed to hear the facts about what PacifiCorp did to the survivors and their families. This trial was about these brave people. It was also about a corporation and its owners at Berkshire Hathaway who refuse to take any accountability. We thank the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable,” said Cody Berne, lead trial attorney for Stoll Berne in the case.

The case is officially named Jeanyne James, et al. v. PacifiCorp et al., No. 20CV33885 (Multnomah County Circuit Court, Oregon).

Further information about this procedure and the class action trial is available at www.PacifiCorpFireLitigation.com.

To seek additional information, fire survivors may contact Lead Counsel by dialing 503- 217-6722 or 888-607-5808, or by emailing PacifiCorpFireLitigation@edelson.com.

Press may contact press@edelson.com for additional information.

About Lead Counsel

Edelson PC

From cases involving environmental pollution, wildfires, the opioid epidemic and NCAA head injuries, to exposing plaintiff’s lawyer Tom Girardi’s multi-decade Ponzi scheme, Edelson is consistently recognized as a leader in high-stakes class and mass action plaintiff’s work. As lead counsel, the firm has recovered over $5 billion in settlements and judgments, with its overall settlements and judgments surpassing $45 billion. Edelson PC has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boulder, CO, Washington, D.C., and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Keller Rohrback L.L.P.

Keller Rohrback, with offices in Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Oakland, Missoula, New York, and Santa Barbara, serves as lead and co-lead counsel in class actions throughout the country. The team of environmental litigators has a long history of successful representation in a wide range of important environmental litigation. They have helped protect people and the environment across the country, with judgments and settlements on behalf of clients exceeding $75 billion dollars.

Stoll Berne

Stoll Berne, based in Portland, Oregon, represents plaintiffs nationwide in complex environmental, securities and other class action lawsuits. Recently, Stoll Berne represented the State of Oregon in obtaining a $698 million settlement in a PCB contamination lawsuit against Monsanto.

3M, Corteva Inc, and DuPont were granted a big win by a U.S. appeals court on Monday November 27th, 2023. The appeals court rejected a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed roughly 11.8 million Ohio residents to participate in a massive class action. The court’s decision comes after finding lead plaintiff Kevin Hardwick’s claims to be too broad. They state that Harwick “rarely” called out actions of one single company, and alternately accused the companies as a whole of causing contamination. Circuit Judge Raymon Kethledge noted that there are thousands of companies that have manufactured PFAS, however only 10 were listed as defendants.

The dismissed lawsuit aimed to force the companies to fund studies that analyzed the health impacts PFAS. If granted it also aimed to establish a fund that would have monitored Ohio residents for health impacts from PFAS exposure.


This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.

Sign up to receive Class Actions Blog posts in your inbox!

Attorney Kevin Flannery has joined the law office of Stoll Berne as an associate. His practice will focus on complex litigation matters.

Flannery earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. Following law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Rives Kistler at the Oregon Supreme Court and then for Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud at the Washington Supreme Court. He was a public defender for the last four years with the Whatcom County Public Defender’s Office and the Yakima County Department of Assigned Counsel.   

Flannery worked in public service before he pursued his legal career. He was the Deputy Director of Communications for the Office of Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander. He holds a Certificate in Public Management from the University of Missouri’s Truman School of Public Affairs, and he earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University in 2012. 

“You can see Stoll Berne’s values in the cases that it takes. And you can see Stoll Berne’s excellence in the outcomes that it obtains for its clients,” Flannery said. “I am thrilled to join the firm’s dedicated team of attorneys and staff who have tirelessly advocated for justice and built Stoll Berne into the Pacific Northwest’s preeminent firm for class actions, investor recovery, and other complex litigation.”  

Stoll Berne was recently named in the U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, Best Law Firms ranking for 2024.

Firms included in the 2024 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise. Our areas ranked include:

Metropolitan Tier 1 (Portland, OR):

  • Bet-the-Company Litigation
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Insurance Law
  • Litigation – Antitrust
  • Litigation – Insurance
  • Litigation – Intellectual Property
  • Litigation – Patent
  • Litigation – Securities
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs
  • Real Estate Law

Metropolitan Tier 2 (Portland, OR):

  • Advertising Law
  • Antitrust Law
  • Litigation – Labor & Employment
  • Securities / Capital Markets Law
  • Tax Law

Metropolitan Tier 3 (Portland, OR):

  • Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)

Aquarion and Connecticut Water Co., Connecticut’s largest water suppliers, are facing two class action lawsuits. Plaintiffs in this case allege that these two water companies knowingly supplied water contaminated with PFAS chemicals. The suit also claims that water companies knew about the contamination for years. Claimants seek monetary and punitive damages, as well as an installation of treatment systems for the water to be filtered.

Both water companies claim they have met all state and federal regulations.


This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.

Sign up to receive Class Actions Blog posts in your inbox!

The Portland Business Journal once again recognized Stoll Berne as a top philanthropist company in Portland for the 2022 financial year in the Small Company Category.

At Stoll Berne, practicing law is just part of our job – our purpose is much greater. The firm encourages generosity, volunteerism, community involvement, and sustainability. And we practice what we preach.

To learn more about the Portland Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropy Awards, click here.

Stoll Berne, along with nine individual attorneys, were recently selected to be included in the 2024 edition of Benchmark Litigation, a definitive source for America’s leading litigation firms and attorneys. Our award recipients include:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Stoll Berne

ATTORNEYS

Stoll Berne attorney Erin Roycroft presented at the Lewis and Clark Law School’s Women’s Law Caucus event, “WLC Presents: Navigating Professionalism with the Oregon New Lawyers Division. Presenting as a member of the Oregon State Bar’s New Lawyers Division, Erin and the other panelists discussed challenges specific to female-identifying attorneys in the workplace. The event was held November 1, 2023, at Lewis and Clark Law School.

Stoll Berne attorney Erin Roycroft moderated a panel discussion for the American Constitution Society’s Oregon lawyer chapter. The panelists reviewed key decisions from U.S. Supreme Court’s October 2022 term and previewed important cases on the Court’s docket for the October 2023 term. The event was held on October 20, 2023. Panel members included Robin Maril, Assistant Professor of Law at Willamette University, John Parry, Edward Brunet Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Faculty at Lewis & Clark Law School, and Tung Yin, Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School. Erin is the Vice President of ACS’s Oregon lawyer chapter.  

A Kansas City, Mo., jury unanimously found Tuesday that the National Association of Realtors and other real estate organizations conspired to artificially inflate home sale commissions, in a case that could change how much home sellers pay real estate agents. The jurors on Tuesday awarded $1.8 billion in damages to about 500,000 Missouri home sellers. Since it is an antitrust case, the amount my be tripled.

The plaintiffs said a National Association of Realtor’s rule that required sellers to pay a 5% to 6% commission in order to list their homes on the National Association of Realtor’s database, the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, was anti-competitive. The database feeds widely used real estate sites including Zillow. If sellers do not agree to the commission terms, they go virtually unseen in the market.

Plaintiffs said the rule has stifled competition and has resulted in higher prices. They argued that if the rule were not in place, buyers would pay commissions to their own agents while buyers’ agents would have to compete by offering lower rates. The lawsuit pointed to countries whose total real estate commissions average 1 to 3 percent, such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Netherlands, Australia and Belgium.

Analysts predicted in an October report that changes to the system could reduce the $100 billion consumers pay in commissions by 30 percent. “From a catalyst perspective, a court-ordered injunction could ‘unbundle’ commissions nationally by early 2024, eliminating the longstanding practice of listing agents and sellers setting and paying buyer agent commissions,” the report states.


This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.

Sign up to receive Class Actions Blog posts in your inbox!

In Kansas City, Missouri, a large antitrust case against several nationwide known real estate companies is underway. The defendants in this case are The National Association of Realtors and some of the largest real estate companies in the United States. They include Keller Williams, HomeServices of America and two of its subsidiaries. Defendants are being accused of artificially fixing the commissions that home sellers pay to buyers’ agents. The class members include over 260,000 home sellers that are seeking $1.3 billion in damages.

While both Keller Williams and HomeServices of America have denied the allegations, two other defendants in this case have agreed to settle to avoid uncertainty of litigation.  Anywhere Real Estate planned to pay $83.5 million, and Re/Max agreed to pay $55 million. Both settlements are pending court approval. The scheduled trial is set to last through November 3rd, 2023.


This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.

Sign up to receive Class Actions Blog posts in your inbox!

About 3 million iPhone users are about to receive a payout from the recent $500 million settlement against Apple. This settlement results from a judge rejecting the large tech company’s appeal against the 2017 class action suit. Payouts of up to $90 will go to affected class members who filed claims in 2020.

The class action against the large tech giant stems from users being affected by software throttling. “Software throttling” reflects how Apple software updates for its earlier iPhone models purposefully slowed down performance. Apple claims this was not to deceive customers into buying newer models, but to prolong the life span of those pre-2018 models. The settlement will be paid out to users who purchased models 6,6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, and 7 Plus.

Stoll Berne, once again, has been recognized by Chambers USA in the 2023 Oregon guide in both Litigation: General Commercial and Real Estate. Chambers’ annual reference directory ranks Oregon’s leading law firm practice areas and lawyers based on interviews with clients and professional peers. Lawyers are evaluated on their technical legal ability, professional conduct, and client service.

Eight individual attorneys were also recognized in Oregon by Chambers USA. They include:

To read more about our firm or individual rankings, please visit Chambers USA

We are excited to announce that Erin Roycroft has joined the law office of Stoll Berne as an associate attorney. Erin’s practice will focus on complex litigation matters.

Erin was most recently an inaugural judicial clerk to the Honorable Jennifer Sung at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Scott Shorr at the Oregon Court of Appeals. In between her two clerkships, Erin practiced at another Portland area law firm primarily in labor and employment. In 2022, Erin received the Michael E. Haglund Pro Bono Award from the Multnomah Bar Association. Erin is excited to transition back into litigation practice at Stoll Berne. “I feel unbelievably lucky to work with this talented group of lawyers,” she says.