Eric H. Gibbs

• 415.981.4800
• ehg@girardgibbs.com
• DOWNLOAD VCARD

Education
• J.D., Seattle University School of Law, 1995.
• B.A., San Francisco State University, 1992

Admissions
• California;
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit;
• United States District Courts for the District of Colorado, and the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California

Memberships
• American Bar Association;
• American Association for Justice;
• Public Justice;
• National Association of Consumer Advocates;
• National Employment Lawyers Association;
• Consumer Attorneys of California;
• Alameda County Bar Association;
• San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association

Eric H. Gibbs specializes in the prosecution of consumer and employment class actions. Mr. Gibbs has served as court-appointed lead counsel, class counsel and liaison counsel in numerous class actions throughout the United States.

He has successfully prosecuted over 50 class action matters, including cases involving defective products, telecommunications, credit cards, unfair competition, false advertising, truth-in-lending, product liability, credit repair, employment misclassification and wage and hour under both state and federal law. Some of the cases in which Mr. Gibbs served as court appointed class counsel and achieved favorable results for class members include In Re General Motors Dex-Cool Cases (negotiated cash reimbursements from $50 to $800 per class member vehicle repair), Piercy v. NetZero (achieved nationwide class settlement providing cash reimbursements, and changes in billing and account practices), Bacca v. BMW of North America (negotiated reimbursement for sub-frame repair expenses and Nationwide Sub-frame Inspection and Repair Program – Court approval pending), In Re Ipod Cases (achieved settlement in California state-court class action alleging material misrepresentations respect to the battery life providing for warranty extensions, battery replacements, cash payments, and store credits to those class members who experienced a battery failure), Roy v. Hyundai Motor America (negotiated nationwide class settlement providing for the repair of allegedly defective passenger-side airbags, reimbursement for transportation related expenses, and an alternative dispute resolution program allowing for trade-ins and buy-backs), Paul v. HCI Direct (achieved nationwide class certification and settlement on behalf of consumers charged for merchandise they allegedly did not knowingly order), Kim v. BMW of North America (negotiated nationwide class settlement providing for notification program and free vehicle repair related to passenger-side airbags).

Mr. Gibbs currently serves as Court-appointed lead counsel in Parkinson v. Hyundai Motor America, 258 F.R.D. 580 (C.D. Cal. 2008), a certified class action lawsuit against Hyundai for engaging in unfair and deceptive practices by selling vehicles with defective flywheel systems. He also serves as Court-appointed class counsel on behalf of a certified class of vehicle owners in In Re Mercedes-Benz Tele Aid Contract Litigation, 254 F.R.D. 610 (D.N.J. 2008), multi-district litigation alleging that Mercedes-Benz failed to disclose to its customers that the “Tele Aid” equipment installed in their vehicles would soon be obsolete and require a $1,000 replacement to keep working. Mr. Gibbs currently serves as lead counsel in Smith vs. The Regents of the University of California, where he represents a certified class of current and former patients of the UCSF medical center for unlawful disclosure of confidential medical information. He represents a certified class of former employees in Refuerzo v. Spansion LLC, a class action against Spansion for violations of the WARN Act for failure to provide 60 days notice before terminating over 600 employees from its California headquarters. Mr. Gibbs serves as co-lead counsel in De La Cruz v. Masco Retail Cabinet Group, a class action brought on behalf of current and former account representatives of Masco, alleging employment misclassification in violation of the FLSA. Mr. Gibbs was recently appointed to serve as interim class counsel on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In re Chase Bank USA, N.A. “Check Loan” Contract Litigation, multi-district litigation alleging that Chase Bank wronged consumers by offering them long-term fixed-rate loans, and then attempting to deny them the benefit of their bargain by more-than-doubling their loan payments.

Other consumer class actions in which Mr. Gibbs acted in a leadership role include Mitchell v. American Fair Credit Association and Mitchell v. Bankfirst, N.A., which generated one of the largest settlements in the United States under the credit services laws (over $40 million); Providian Credit Card Cases, which resulted in one of the largest class action recoveries in the United States arising out of consumer credit card litigation ($105 million); In re LookSmart Litigation, a nationwide class action settlement providing cash and benefits valued at approximately $20 million; and Fantauzzo v. Razor, where plaintiffs alleged that defendant marketed and sold electric scooters with defective stopping mechanisms, the court approved a nationwide class action settlement providing for, among other things, a recall of the potentially defective electric scooters.

Mr. Gibbs has lectured on consumer class actions, including as a featured speaker addressing “Dealing With Objectors” at the Consumer Attorneys of California 3rd Annual Class Action Seminar; “What is a Class Action?” at the CAOC Annual Ski Seminar; “After the Class Action Fairness Act” at CAOC’s 1st Annual Class Action Seminar; “Class Certification In Consumer Cases” for the Litigation Section of the Barristers Club of the San Francisco Bar Association; and “Successfully Obtaining Attorneys’ Fees Under Fee-Shifting Statutes” for the Consumer Rights Section of the Barristers Club of the San Francisco Bar Association. Mr. Gibbs is the co-author of “Consumer Class Actions in the Wake of Daugherty v. American Honda Motor Company,” CAOC’s Forum Magazine, January/February 2009.

Mr. Gibbs earned an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell, recognizing him in the highest class for professional ethics and legal skills. He is the editor of the Quarterly Newsletter for the Class Action Working Group of the American Association for Justice, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California. He serves on Public Justice’s Class Action Preservation Project Committee, where he chairs a subcommittee on deterring frivolous objections. Mr. Gibbs is also a member of the California State Bar Consumer Financial Services Committee, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Alameda County Bar Association, and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Gibbs is a 1995 graduate of the Seattle University School of Law. He received his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University in 1991. Before joining Girard Gibbs, he worked for two years as a law clerk for the Consumer Protection Division of the Washington Attorney General’s Office. He is a member of the California Bar.