Melissa R. Emert, Esq.

Melissa R. Emert, Esq., has been representing aggrieved stockholders and consumers for more than 30 years. Ms. Emert recently joined KGG after spending most of her career at a national class action firm where she founded and was Co-Chair of its Consumer and Antitrust Class Action Litigation Groups. Ms. Emert’s practice focuses on consumer, antitrust and securities class actions. She has litigated throughout the United States and held prominent leadership positions in many large multi-district litigations (“MDLs”).

Professional Profile

Ms. Emert is admitted to practice before the State Courts of New York and the United Sates District Courts for the Southern, Western and Eastern Districts of New York, the Eastern District of Michigan and the Northern District of Illinois. She is also regularly admitted for the purpose of litigating particular cases in various other jurisdictions across the country.

Areas of Practice

• Class Action Lawsuits

Class Action Cases of Note

A sampling of the cases in which Ms. Emert has or had leadership or executive committee positions includes:

• Tate, et al., v. Eyemed Vision Care, LLC, No. 1:21-cv-36 (S.D. OH March 22, 2021): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in representing persons affected by Eyemed’s data breach and had their personal information compromised;
• In Re: Blackbaud, Inc., Customer Data Breach Litigation, No. 3:20-mn-02972 (D. S.C. February 16, 2021): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in representing persons affected by Blackbaud’s data breach and had their personal and private information compromised;
• Cercas et al., v. Ambry Genetics Corp., No. 8:20-cv-00791 (C.D. Cal. 2020): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in claims on behalf of persons affected by Ambry’s data breach and had their personal and private health information compromised;
• Tillman et al., v. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, No. 1:20-cv-05915 (S.D.N.Y. 2020): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in representing on behalf of persons affected by Morgan Stanley’s data breach and had their personal information compromised;
• Kellie Carder, et al., v. Graco Children’s Products, Inc., No. 2:20-cv-00137 (N.D. Ga. 2020): Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel in representing consumers who purchased Graco booster seats based on false representations of their safety and weight limits;
• In re: Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. Dog Food Products Liability Litigation, No. 19-md-2887 (D. Kan. 2019): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee alleging violations of state consumer protection statutes and common law on behalf of consumers who purchased dog food that contained toxic levels of Vitamin D;
• In re: Google Location History Litig, consolidated action No. 5:18-cv-05062-EJD (N.D. Cal. 2019): Court-appointed Interim Class Counsel in privacy breach action alleging Google tracked millions of mobile device users’ geolocation after falsely representing that activating certain settings will prevent the tracking;
• In re: Apple Inc. Device Performance Litig., No. 5:18-md-02827 (N.D. Cal. 2018): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee alleging claims on behalf of iPhone and iPad users that have been affected by Apple’s intentional slowdown of processors;
• In re: Intel Corp. CPU Mktg. and Prod. Liab. Litig. No. 3:18-md-02828 (D. Or. 2018): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee alleging violations of state consumer protection statutes and common law claims on behalf of consumers affected by Intel’s significant security vulnerabilities of its processors;
• Echavarria v. Facebook, Inc., No. C 18-05982 (N.D. Cal. 2018): Serving on the Class Representative Communications and Client Vetting Committee in a court approved leadership structure for claims on behalf of persons been affected by Facebook’s “View As” data breach;
• In re: German Auto. Mfr. Antitrust Litig., No. 3:17-md-02796 (N.D. Cal. 2017): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee alleging anticompetitive conduct in the market for German-made automobiles;
• In re: Sonic Corp. Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., No. 1:17-md-02807 (N.D. Ohio 2017): Court-appointed member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee alleging claims on behalf of persons affected by Sonic’s data breach which resulted in a class wide settlement;
• In re: Uber Tech., Inc., Data Sec. Breach Litig., No. 2:18-ml-02826-PSG-GJS (C.D. Cal. 2017): Coordinated through the MDL, this class action alleges Uber’s failure to secure and safeguard riders’ and drivers’ personally identifiable information causing 57 million driver and rider accounts to be compromised;
• Hughley v. Univ. of Cent. Florida Bd. of Tr., No. 2016-CA-001654-O (9th Judicial Cir., Fla. 2016): One of three court-appointed lead counsel representing students and employees of the University in a security data breach involving plaintiffs’ PII where the settlement included numerous injunctive relief measures;
• In re: Daily Fantasy Sports Litig No. 1:16-md-02677-GAO (D. Mass 2016): Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel alleging violations of state consumer protection statutes and common law claims on behalf of consumers participating in defendants’ online fantasy sports websites;

Opiod Litigation

Ms. Emert is counsel for West Palm Beach, Alachua, Osceola and Levy counties in Florida in the opioid actions.

The addition of Melissa Emert to the KGG Team provides greater depth and support to the firm’s growing national class action practice.