Michael Braun has represented shareholders and consumers in class action litigation for the past 27 years, serving as lead or liaison counsel in well over a hundred cases.

He was named Lawyer of the Year in 2000 by California Lawyer Magazine, and has been recognized annually since 2005 as a Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Magazine.

Mr. Braun is a graduate of the London School of Economics, Loyola Law School, The Hague Academy of International Law and the University of California at Los Angeles. He is licensed to practice law in the United States, England and Canada. Mr. Braun is a member of the California, New York, District of Columbia bars, the Law Society of Ontario (Canada) and the Law Society of England and Wales.

Mr. Braun has dedicated his entire legal career to representing plaintiffs and class members across a variety of legal disciplines including: securities, antitrust, banking, employment, privacy and consumer fraud. Over the past several years he has focused his attention on food, vitamin and nutritional supplement fraud – specifically issues concerning false and misleading labeling, adulteration, substitution, unsafe and unlisted ingredients.

“Food is an integral part of our daily lives. As consumers we have the fundamental right to food provenance, authenticity and transparency. In recent years, economically motivated food fraud has become rampant – not only denying consumers the right to make informed decisions as to what they consume, but economically harming them by denying them the benefit of what they paid for, and in some instances, putting their health in jeopardy. Consumers must not only be vigilant of fraudulent actors, but be willing to take legal action to protect their rights.”

Representative Consumer Cases

Outten, et al v. American InterContinental University, Inc Case No. BC318199 (Los Angeles Superior Court 2004)

Harrell v. Philips Electronics North America Corporation Case No. (Los Angeles Superior Court 2004)

Thurston, et al. v. Brooks College, Ltd Case No. NC036756 (Los Angeles County Superior Court 2005)

Schafer v. Dell Inc Case No. CGC-06-457335 (San Francisco Superior Court 2006)

Baker V. Valley Presbyterian Hospital Case No. BC 409505 (Los Angeles County Superior Court 2010)

Frey v. Allied Domecq Spirits and Wine Americas, Inc., Case No. CV05-5216 CAS 

(C.D. Cal. 2005)

Eisenstat v. Ken’s Foods. Inc., Case No. CV 10-2510 SVW (C.D. Cal. 2010)

Zeisel v. Diamond Foods, Inc.,  Case No. CV 10-1192 (N.D. Cal. 2011)

 

Stransky v. Bank of America Corporation Case No. BC319261 (Los Angeles Superior Court 2004)

Nilsen, et al. v. Brooks Institute of Photography Case No. 1165597 (Santa Barbara Superior Court 2005)

Goyette, et al. v. Capital One Bank, et al Case No. CV 05-3458 RGK (CDCA 2005)

Vizzi v. Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc Case No. SACV 08-650 JVS (C.D. Cal 2010)

Larsen v. Trader Joe’s Co. Case No. CV-11-5188-SI (N.D. Cal. 2011)

Thurston v. Bear Naked Inc., Case No. 11-cv-02890-H (BGS) (S.D. Cal. 2011)

Astiana v Kashi Co., Case No. 11-cv-1967-H (BGS) (S.D. Cal 2011)

Miller v. Wise, Case No. 17-cv-00616-JAK (CDCA 2017)

Representative Securities Cases

Small v. Fritz Co., Supreme Court of California, 30 Cal. 4th 167 (April 7, 2003) (created new law in the state of California for shareholders that held shares in detrimental reliance on false statements made by corporate officers. The decision was widely covered by national media including The National Law Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and the New York Law Journal, among others and was heralded as a significant victory for shareholders.

In re Apria Healthcare Group Securities Litigation, Master File No. 797060 (Superior Court of California, Orange County) (recovery of $42 million)

In re Complete Management Inc. Sec. Litig., Master File No. 99 Civ. 1454 (NRB) (S.D.N.Y.) (recovery of $11.0 million)

In re Cybermedia, Inc. Securities Litigation, Master File No. 98-1811CBM (Ex) (C.D. Ca.) (recovery of $10.5 million)

In re Stratosphere Securities Litigation, Master File No. CV-S-96-00708-PMP (RLH) (D. Nev.) (recovery of $9 million)In re Ascend Communications Securities Litigation, Case No. 97-9376 MRP (AN) (C.D. Ca. 2002) (recovery of $5.45 million)

In re Brightpoint Securities Litigation,(S.D. Indiana 2003) (recovery of $5.5 million)

In re Spectrian Corp. Securities Litigation, Master File No. C-97-4672-CW (N.D. Ca.) (recovery of $2.975 million)

In re 2TheMart.com Securities Litigation, 114 F.Supp 2d 955 (C.D.Ca. 2002) (recovery of $3.0 million)

In re Irvine Sensors Securities Litigation, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18397 (C.D.Ca. 2003) (recovery of $3.5 million)

In re Metris Companies Securities Litigation, Civil Action No. 02-CV-3677 (D. Minn)(recovery $7.5 million)

Noteworthy Reported Decisions

Dumont v. Reily Foods Co., 934 F.3d 35 (1st Cir. 2019)

Butler v. Porsche Cars N. Am., Inc., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114239 (N.D. Cal. 2016)

Astiana v. Hain Celestial Grp., Inc., 783 F.3d 753 (9th Cir. 2015)

Astiana v. Ben & Jerry’s., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177058, (N.D. Cal. Dec. 17, 2013)

Thurston v. Bear Naked, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151490, (S.D. Cal. July 30, 2013)

Ubaldi v. SLM Corp., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109877, 1, (N.D. Cal. Aug. 5, 2013)

Larsen v. Trader Joe’s Co., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3602 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 9, 2013)

Colucci v. ZonePerfect Nutrition Co., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183050 (N.D. Cal. 2012)

Astiana v. Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101371 (N.D. Cal 2012)

Spears v. First Am. Eappraiseit, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58077 (N.D. Cal. 2012)

Zeisel v. Diamond Foods, Inc., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60608 (N.D. Cal. 2011)

Astiana v. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57348 (N.D. Cal. 2011)

Barrer v. Chase Bank, USA, N.A., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1111 (D. Or. 2011)

Vought v. Bank of Am., NA, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114159 (C.D. Ill. 2010)

Zeisel v. Diamond Foods, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141941 (N.D. Cal. 2010)

Barrer v. Chase Bank United States, N.A., 566 F.3d 883 (9th Cir. Or. 2009)

Baghdasarian v. Amazon.Com, Inc., 258 F.R.D. 383 (C.D. Cal. 2009)

Daghlian v. DeVry Univ., Inc., 461 F. Supp. 2d 1121 (C.D. Cal. 2006)

In re Irvine Sensors Corp. Secs. Litig., 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18397 (C.D. Cal. 2003)

Small v. Fritz Companies, Inc., 30 Cal. 4th 167 (Cal. 2003)

In re Complete Mgmt. Sec. Litig., 153 F. Supp. 2d 314 (S.D.N.Y. 2001)

In re 2TheMart.com, Inc. Sec. Litig., 114 F. Supp. 2d 955 (C.D. Cal. 2000)

Sakhrani v. Brightpoint, Inc., 78 F. Supp. 2d 845 (S.D. Ind. 1999)