Livia M. Kiser

Liv Kiser is a member of the firm’s automotive group. She is also a member of the firm’s commercial litigation group.

In the automotive industry, Liv routinely represents domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers and distributors with respect to disputes arising under consumer protection statutes and other laws.  She has considerable experience defending class action lawsuits in which false and misleading advertising and other deceptive consumer practices arising from purported vehicle defects and/or deficiencies are alleged.  Liv has a track record of resolving these suits in cost-effective and favorable ways for her clients including through defeating class certification.

In addition to dispute resolution, Liv provides counseling and advice to her automotive clients on best consumer practices in order to minimize litigation risk, particularly with respect to advertising, special promotions, privacy and appropriate consumer disclosures.

Liv has successfully defended numerous clients in the financial, retail, food, and other industries in jurisdictions across the country against allegations of consumer fraud, false labeling, false advertising, breach of warranty, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act violations, and other claims arising under state and federal law.  Her experience encompasses defending more than 40 consumer class action lawsuits for large, multinational clients in a variety of industries. She has been very successful in obtaining removal, securing dismissal, defeating class certification, obtaining preliminary and final approval in connection with settlement, and procuring indemnity.  Liv is very familiar with state and federal consumer laws as well as the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) and the cases interpreting CAFA.

Liv has obtained very favorable results for her clients in the complex commercial disputes she handles and has significant experience at every stage of litigation including removal, consolidation, managing fact and expert discovery, defeating class certification, preparing and arguing dispositive motions, and trial and appellate practice. She routinely appears in state and federal tribunals and before arbitration panels and administrative hearing officers throughout the United States, including the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Liv also routinely represents clients before state and federal administrative agencies and in administrative proceedings. She has represented companies under investigation by the United States Securities Exchange Commission for insider trading and violations of other securities laws. Liv has also represented clients before the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the United States Department of Agriculture. In addition, she has conducted confidential internal investigations for clients to ensure their compliance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Export Administration Regulations, and other federal laws and regulations pertaining to export controls. She routinely resolves these matters in ways that are favorable to the companies without any adverse action being taken.

Liv is committed to providing pro bono legal services. She has focused these efforts primarily on children seeking asylum in the United States and those requiring special education services in schools. As a result of Liv’s work, new law has been developed in both areas. In one case, she represented a Chinese boy before the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal on an important and undecided legal issue wherein there currently exists a split in other circuits, obtaining a ruling entirely in her client’s favor plus an award of fees and costs.  Reported decision at 604 F.3d 324 (7th Cir. 2010).  In another case, on behalf of parents of an autistic child, Liv successfully prevented dismissal of a complaint seeking an award of fees and costs after a school district capitulated to all of the parents’ demands on the eve of a due process hearing. Rather than go to hearing, the school district provided all of the relief requested by the parents to try to avoid a finding that the parents were prevailing parties under the law (and, thus, entitled to recover their attorneys' fees). The district court rejected the school district’s approach, chastising it for “pumping for an unthinking overextension” of Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep’t of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598 (2001). The result caused the school district to settle on very favorable terms. Reported decision at 680 F.Supp.2d 950 (N.D. Ill. 2010).

Prior to joining Barack Ferrazzano, Liv practiced at Latham & Watkins LLP.

Representative Matters

• Represented a large automobile distributor in a nationwide class action alleging the company's advertising of vehicles as being "XM Ready" was false and misleading; successfully compelled arbitration on an individual basis of the named plaintiff's claim on an equitable estoppel theory in an issue of first impression in the Seventh Circuit.  Reported decision at 2009 WL 1813783 (S.D. Ind. May 20, 2009).

• Represented a Fortune 500 manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks and severe service vehicles in a securities class action seeking damages arising from a blackout imposed by federal law as a result of a financial restatement filed by employees who alleged that they were wrongfully prevented from performing cashless exercises of their stock option awards; successfully defeated Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. Reported decision at 2011 WL 222131 (N. D. Ill. Jan. 20, 2011).
• Representing an organic dairy and its large retail customers in a series of class actions filed in courts across the country and consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation; appointed by the Court as Liaison Counsel for Defendants; a principal drafter of motions to dismiss on behalf of all Defendants based on preemption and novel legal issues; motions were granted in their entirety by the Court on June 3, 2009. Reported decision at 2009 WL 1576928 (E. D. Mo. June 3, 2009). On appeal, the Eighth Circuit affirmed on the critical novel legal issue presented in the lawsuits. Reported decision at 621 F.3d 781 (8th Cir. 2010).

Publications

• Credit/Debit Card Litigation Under The Fair And Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) (Thomson West 2008)

News

• Barack Ferrazzano expands litigation practice

Read more about Livia Kiser's Experience in the Following Areas

• General Overview