- California
Aaron Blumenthal
Aaron Blumenthal represents consumers, employees, and whistleblowers in complex and class action litigation against the world’s largest technology companies. His briefing has helped achieve major victories for consumers, including on pioneering Section 230 issues. Aaron also co-founded the firm’s mass arbitration practice.
Aaron has helped recover hundreds of millions of dollars in data breach and privacy matters, including a record-breaking $115 million settlement in data breach litigation against Anthem.
Aaron has leveraged his fluency in multiple coding languages to build apps essential to the firm’s mass tort practice, including the Northern California Wildfire Litigation against PG&E that recovered over $1 billion for 6,000 wildfire survivors represented by the firm.
Aaron has represented tens of thousands of Lyft and DoorDash drivers in mass arbitration over claims including misclassification as independent contractors, violations of overtime law, and failure to reimburse mileage.
Aaron attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was lauded by Professor Franklin Zimring as a “statistical jack-of-all-trades.”
admissions−
awards+
Rising Star, Northern California Super Lawyers, 2018-2026
education+
- J.D., University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Berkeley Law), 2015
- B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, University of California, Berkeley, 2008
Presentations & Articles+
Impact of the Viking River Cruises Ruling on PAGA and Mass Arbitrations
Simpluris Podcast
October 24, 2022
Why Justices' PAGA Ruling May Not Be Real Win For Cos.
Law360 Employment Authority
July 12, 2022
Co-author, DoorDash: Quick Food, Slow Justice
Daily Journal
March 24, 2020
In the Breach (co-author)
Trial Magazine, American Association for Justice
September 2017
Winning Strategies in Privacy and Data Security Class Actions: the Plaintiffs’ Perspective
Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
January 10, 2017
Circumventing Concepcion: Conceptualizing Innovative Strategies to Ensure the Enforcement of Consumer Protection Laws in the Age of the Inviolable Class Action Waiver
103 Calif. L. Review 699
2015
Religiosity and Same-Sex Marriage in the United States and Europe
32 Berkeley J. Int'l. L 195
2014
Litigation Highlights
In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litigation
Aaron represented consumers whose personal information was impacted by the Anthem data breach, which was announced in 2015 as affecting nearly 80 million insurance customers. The case resulted in a $115 million settlement, which offered extended credit monitoring to affected consumers and was the largest data breach settlement in history at the time.
In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation
Key member of the multi-district consolidation of lawsuits against Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. Aaron has been designated co-lead of discovery review as to the TikTok defendants and additionally works with Andre Mura and the MDL team on law and briefing. He helped represent the Kentucky school district in the first school district bellwether case that settled shortly before trial.
In re: Vizio, Inc., Consumer Privacy Litigation
Aaron was a key member of the litigation team in this multi-district litigation alleging that Vizio collected and sold data about consumers' television viewing habits and their digital identities to advertisers without consumers' knowledge or consent. As co-lead counsel, Gibbs Mura negotiated a settlement providing for class-wide injunctive relief transforming the company’s data collection practices, as well as a $17 million fund to compensate consumers who were affected.
LLE One v. Facebook
Aaron represented video advertisers in a class action against Facebook alleging that the company inflated its metrics for the average time users spent watching video ads, causing the plaintiffs to spend more for video advertising on Facebook than they otherwise would have. The case resulted in a $40 million settlement providing cash recovery to affected individuals and companies.
Hernandez v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Aaron represented over 1,200 mortgage borrowers in a class action against Wells Fargo for improperly denying loan modifications and invalidly foreclosing on people’s homes due to a software glitch and related calculation errors by Wells Fargo. The case settled in two phases for a total of $40.3 million. Judge William Alsup, who oversaw the case, praised the settlement as bringing “significant” relief to each class member and noted the amount was “greater than those approved by other courts in this district involving similar claims concerning loan modifications.”
In re Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A. “Check Loan” Contract Litigation
Aaron was a key member of the litigation team in this multidistrict case alleging that Chase Bank wronged consumers by offering long-term fixed-rate loans, only to later more-than-double the required loan payments. The litigation resulted in a $100 million settlement eight weeks prior to trial.