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Practice Areas: Civil Litigation, Complex Class Action Litigation

Additional Information: <P> <img width="http://www.bffb.com/images/HS/mm.jpg#http://images/HS/mm.jpg#"> <P> Manfred Muecke is a member of the firm’s complex class action litigation group representing individual and small business plaintiffs in a wide array of matters including antitrust, consumer fraud, securities fraud, misleading sales & marketing practices, and unlawful business practices. Mr. Muecke is admitted to practice in the California Supreme Court and United States District Court for the Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California, respectively. Over the years, Mr. Muecke and the firm have successfully litigated class action claims and recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved shareholders, policyholders, and end-payor purchasers. Mr. Muecke and the firm were part of co-lead counsel in class action litigation brought against Conseco Life Insurance Company on behalf of a class of over 82,000 policyholders challenging the company’s modification of a cost of insurance calculation in a line of policies the company had sold to the class members. This modification had the effect of these policies lapsing prematurely or resulting in reduced coverage. Plaintiffs were successfully able to recover benefits to the class members having an aggregate value of $400 million. In collaboration with co-counsel, Mr. Muecke and the firm litigated several cases on behalf of policyholders against various insurance companies challenging the annuity marketing and sales practices of these companies on behalf of class members. These practices targeted senior and elderly consumers and were the subject of regulatory investigations. On behalf of class members, Mr. Muecke, the firm, and co- counsel have recovered $52 million worth of relief against Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company and a settlement valued at $79.5 million from Midland National Life Insurance Company. Mr. Muecke, along with the firm and numerous co-counsel have represented indirect purchaser plaintiffs in antitrust class action litigation against major international manufacturers of liquid crystal display (“LCD”) glass screen makers who were alleged to have conspired to constrain supply and artificially increase pricing of glass used to manufacture LCD screens that are embedded in many consumer products such as televisions and computer monitors. Mr. Muecke, the firm, and other co-counsel helped prosecute price fixing claims against these manufacturers and achieved settlement relief for indirect purchasers of LCD screen products in the amount of $1.1 billion. Mr. Muecke and the firm are currently representing indirect purchasers and end-payors along with co-counsel in several antitrust litigation matters challenging alleged anticompetitive practices concerning cathode ray tubes, lithium ion batteries, eggs, and digital music. Additionally, Mr. Muecke, the firm, and co-counsel are also actively litigating fraud claims on behalf of investors in a large real estate fund. Mr. Muecke received his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2002 and joined the firm in 2003. Mr. Muecke has also obtained an M.B.A. from San Diego State University in 2009 and has been a licensed real estate broker in the state of California since 2012. Prior to law school, Mr. Muecke worked as a special education teacher in Long Beach, California as part of Americorp’s Teach For America program and is still an active member of the Teach For America alumni corps. Mr. Muecke is also a registered member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe located in Havasu Lake, California and is the Chairman of the Tribe’s economic development corporation. Mr. Muecke is currently a member of the Class Action and Derivative Suits committee of the American Bar Association Section Of Litigation, the San Diego County Bar Association’s Committee For Ethnic Relations & Diversity and the San Diego Native American Law Association.

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Firm Members: William Fairbourn Robert Spurlock Andrew Everroad Andrew Friedman