Michael Stortz represents clients in consumer protection and data privacy class actions, and provides related counseling on compliance and litigation risk mitigation efforts, including online disclosures and arbitration provisions in consumer-facing terms of service.
Michael represents companies against claims of unfair competition, false advertising, consumer fraud, and breach of warranty, as well as claims arising under federal and state privacy laws, including the TCPA and federal and state wiretapping statutes. He is adept at devising creative exit strategies, including enforcing arbitration provisions with class action waivers, and resolving cases via dispositive motion. Michael has a robust record of defeating motions for class certification, and sustaining those trial court outcomes on appeal. He also has significant experience in defeating mass arbitration campaigns, including prevailing at individual arbitrations and forcing early dismissal of mass arbitration filings. Michael counsels companies in updating their consumer-facing arbitration provisions in light of plaintiffs' evolving strategies to use such provisions to extract significant settlements.
In addition to his extensive work defending class actions, Michael also represents clients in the technology, retail, and consumer product industries across a wide range of commercial disputes, including antitrust and intellectual property matters.
Over the course of three decades, Michael has assisted businesses in high-exposure litigation matters such as cases brought in federal and state courts under California’s Unfair Competition Law, Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and False Advertising Law.
He also represents companies faced with putative class actions under federal and state privacy statutes, including the federal TCPA and VPPA statutes, and more recently the California Invasion of Privacy Act.
Michael has been recognized for his work regarding consumer arbitration issues and the Federal Arbitration Act.
He has extensive experience with counseling and compliance efforts to address the TCPA statute, and has advocated for important changes to the law before the Federal Communications Commission.
In addition, Michael also represented clients in a range of commercial disputes, including antitrust and intellectual property matters.
- Recognized by The Legal 500 for Cyber Law (including data privacy and data protection), 2019 and General Commercial Disputes, 2020
- Member, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation
- Member, Bar Association of San Francisco
- Member, Antitrust, UCL, and Privacy Section of the California Lawyers Association
- Panelist, “The Evolving Privacy and Cyber Policy Landscape,” Association of Corporate Counsel, Santa Clara, CA, 6 June 2019.
- "Trends in Consumer Class Actions,” CLE Series, San Francisco, CA, October 2018.
- Panelist, “Overview of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA),” National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU)’s Regulatory Compliance Seminar, San Diego, CA, October 2017.
- Panelist, “Can I Get A Witness? Technical Witness Bootcamp,” RSA Conference, San Francisco, CA, February 2017.
- Panelist, “Technology for Effective TCPA Defense: What You Need to Know,” LiveVox, Webinar, November 2016.
- Panelist, “Trailing Behind the TCPA: Emerging Biometrics and Privacy-Related Litigation,” 2016 PACE Conference & Expo, Orlando, FL, April 2015.
- “Developers Are Testing Defenses In Generative AI Litigation,” Law360, 15 September 2023
- “2nd Circ. Ruling Widens TCPA Autodialer Circuit Split,” Law360, 23 April 2023
- “ADA Braille Gift Card Claims Shouldn’t Gain Traction In NY,” Law360, 15 November 2019
- “What Will Calif. Privacy Law’s ‘Do Not Sell’ Button Look Like?,” Law360, 5 November 2019
- “INSIGHT: One Text Message Not Enough for TCPA Lawsuit,” Bloomberg Law, 3 October 2019
- “Calif. AG Must Clarify Consumer Privacy Act Right Of Access,” Law360, 5 September 2019
- “Calif. Businesses Avoid Privacy Class Action Explosion, Law360, 21 May 2019
- Quoted, “Using Test Cases In Wage Mass Arbitration Can Rein In Costs,” Law360, 2 March 2023
- Quoted, “Will Supreme Court’s New Standing Test Tame the Real World of Class Actions?,” Cybersecurity Law Report, 28 July 2021
