Class Actions

Certification decides the case. Before it, the defendant faces one plaintiff’s claim, often a modest one. After it, the defendant faces the class. Everything that happens in between should be built with that hearing in mind, and defendants who litigate a class complaint as ordinary commercial litigation tend to discover the difference too late to fix it.

Topkin Law defends businesses and insurers against putative class actions in Florida state and federal courts, under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.220 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. Each engagement opens with an honest assessment of certification risk and aggregate exposure, because that is the number the client’s decision-makers need.

What We Do

Opposing certification

From the first responsive pleading forward, we build the record of individualized issues, the variation in transactions, communications, reliance, damages, and available defenses that makes classwide treatment unworkable. That record is developed in discovery and deployed where it counts, at the certification hearing.

Early motion practice

Standing challenges, pleading motions, and attacks on a defective class definition can end or reshape a case before certification discovery begins. Used well, the pleadings stage also commits the plaintiff to the theory the certification fight will be argued over.

Consumer and statutory claims

Florida class practice runs heavily through statutory theories, including claims under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Fee-shifting exposure under those statutes frequently changes the economics of a case, and it belongs in the evaluation from the beginning rather than as an afterthought at mediation.

Insurance-related claims

Claims-handling and policy-interpretation theories aggregated across policyholders raise certification and merits questions of their own. The firm’s carrier-side coverage work informs how those cases are evaluated.

Settlement structure

Class settlements have their own architecture, involving notice, court approval, and objector management, or, depending on posture, individual resolutions that do not implicate the class. We structure resolution so that it actually closes the exposure it is meant to close.

Awards & Accolades

Who We Represent

Businesses, retailers, insurers, self-insured companies, and healthcare businesses facing putative class claims in Florida, along with institutional clients coordinating national exposure that includes Florida filings.

How We Approach
the Work

The first deliverable answers three questions directly. How real is the certification risk? What does aggregate exposure look like across realistic scenarios? What will the defense cost? Boards, general counsel, and carriers make decisions from that answer, so it has to be accurate rather than reassuring.

From there, discovery builds the individualized-issue record, motion practice narrows the theory, experts are retained for the questions the court will decide, and any resolution is timed to the leverage the record has produced.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes class defense different from ordinary litigation?

The certification decision, which converts a single claim into classwide exposure or ends the aggregate case. Nearly everything before it should be built with that ruling in mind.

When is certification decided?

Usually after discovery directed at the certification factors, on a schedule that varies by court and is often itself contested. The record supporting the defense has to exist well before the motion is heard.

Can these cases be settled?

Yes, though the structure matters. Classwide settlements require notice and court approval; individual resolution is sometimes available depending on posture. The right approach depends on what the client needs the settlement to resolve.

Does the firm work within national defense structures?

Regularly, maintaining consistent positions across jurisdictions while handling the Florida proceedings directly.