Mr. Meer is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.  He is a member of the Labor & Employment Department and has extensive experience representing global clients in class action and collective action lawsuits, as well as several other types of high exposure claims.

Mr. Meer has successful experience in litigation and client counseling of employers in all areas of wage & hour class action and collective action litigation, mass layoffs and related litigation, employment discrimination class actions, and high exposure claims for wrongful discharge, discharge in violation of public policy, sexual and other harassment, disability, reasonable accommodation and access issues, labor arbitration, unfair business practice litigation under California Business & Professions Code Section 17200, employee benefits litigation, and protection of employer trade secrets and non-competition issues.

Mr. Meer also has assisted numerous clients in large employment-related transactions such as wage & hour compliance audits, corporate restructuring, plant or facility closures, reductions in force, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, internal investigations, state and federal audits and investigations, trade secret protection and privacy issues, electronic discovery issues, and document retention for litigation.

Trial And Case Victories

Mr. Meer is one of only a handful of employment lawyers in Southern California with successful class action trial experience, including the successful defense of wage & hour claims in a class action that went to trial before a Los Angeles jury.  Mr. Meer has won complete defense verdicts for employers in several wage and hour trials and also obtained complete defense verdicts for employers in over a dozen other jury trials.

Prior to trial, Mr. Meer has a consistent record of defeating class certification in wage & hour cases as well as complex discrimination and civil rights cases.  Mr. Meer has defeated class certification or conditional certification in dozens of cases and has obtained summary judgment for employers in over 50 cases in state and federal courts.  He has also won appellate cases before the California Court of Appeal and the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit.  Mr. Meer currently has a case pending before the California Supreme Court, in which the plaintiffs are challenging the denial of class certification. 

Mr. Meer also has been particularly successful in recovering significant amounts of money on behalf of employers and companies, after defeating claims brought by former employees.  He has recovered attorneys’ fees for employers in over a dozen cases after winning dismissal of their lawsuits, with awards of attorneys’ fees ranging from $5,000 to $1 million. 

Mr. Meer has defeated a case brought by a chief executive officer of a pharmaceutical company, resulting in an order for the plaintiff to pay $1 million in attorneys’ fees to the defendant as well as a criminal conviction for the plaintiff.  He also defeated a case brought by a Senior Vice President of a large publicly traded company, resulting in an attorneys’ fees award to the defendant in excess of six figures.  He has also defeated a case brought by an in-house counsel, resulting in an attorneys’ fee award to the defendant in excess of six figures, along with litigation costs.  He also defeated a case brought by a serial litigant who had previously filed over 100 discrimination cases, resulting in an attorneys’ fee award for the defendant in excess of six figures, which was then executed as a judgment lien on the plaintiff’s other pending lawsuits.

Successful Settlements

Mr. Meer has negotiated favorable class action or collective action settlements in over 30 cases involving wage & hour, unfair competition and discrimination claims.  Recently, he negotiated a class action settlement with a payment representing less than 3% of the potential exposure in a case involving 25,000 current and former convenience store employees of a global corporation with potential damages and penalties exceeding $125 million.

He also recently negotiated a settlement for less than 5% of the potential exposure in a class action case brought against one of the nation’s largest commercial construction companies, which settled on the second day of trial.  Before trial, the plaintiff class demanded a settlement in excess of $15 million. 

Mr. Meer also has settled a state-wide class action case involving 600 current and former employees for a single payment of $5,000 to the class representative.  He also settled a state-wide class action for a single payment of $1,000 to the class representative, in a case brought on behalf of approximately 500 call center employees.

Mr. Meer obtained a walk-away settlement in a class action alleging various ERISA violations for failure to pay benefits, benefit cutbacks and breach of fiduciary duty.  The claims alleged in this case, if successful, could have destroyed the solvency of tax-qualified status of the pension plan that was sued. 

Mr. Meer also has obtained walk-away settlements in three other class action cases, each of which involved over 300 employees.  He has also negotiated favorable settlements in four class action cases brought by large labor unions.

Training, Audits and Litigation Avoidance

Mr. Meer can arrange on-site training for in-house counsel, executive officers, human resources representatives, management or any level of employees through the “Seyfarth At Work” training series.  This training focuses on current issues in employment law presented in programs such as “Managing Within The Law,” “Human Resources Nuts And Bolts,” “Responding To Internal Complaints” and state-required non-harassment training.

Mr. Meer also conducts full-scale or topical audits of human resources policies or practices to help avoid litigation.  These audits include review of all written policies, review of all required employer postings, notices, recordkeeping requirements, review of exempt and non-exempt job classifications and statistical sampling of payroll records to identify potential issues regarding overtime, meal periods and rest periods. 

Mr. Meer also frequently help clients develop and implement litigation avoidance procedures, including standardized review processes, documentation protocols, decision-making flow-charts, statistical auditing and electronic document management.

Professional Recognition

For the last 12 consecutive years, Mr. Meer has been listed in the National Bar Registry of Preeminent Lawyers and has an “AV” Rating from Martindale-Hubbell/Thomson-Reuters, which is their highest peer review survey rating for legal abilities and ethical standards.  Mr. Meer also received a 5.0 out of 5 peer top ranking for legal abilities by Lawyers.com. 

Mr. Meer also has been elected to be included in the Southern California Super Lawyers in the area of Labor & Employment Law in a peer ranking survey in Los Angeles Magazine and has been included in the Nationwide Corporate Counsel Edition of Super Lawyers based on national rankings from in-house corporate counsel at Fortune 500 companies.  Mr. Meer has also been selected to be included in the Top Lawyer listing selected by the Beverly Hills Courier.  Mr. Meer has also been listed in Marquis Who’s Who In American Business.

Mr. Meer is frequently quoted as an expert in labor and employment issues and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, The National Law Journal, msnbc.com, workforce.com, law.com, complianceweek.com, allbusiness.com, Inc.Magazine, The Los Angeles Business Journal, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, The San Francisco Recorder and Legal Elite.

Mr. Meer is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.  He is a member of the Labor & Employment Department and has extensive experience representing global clients in class action and collective action lawsuits, as well as several other types of high exposure claims.

Mr. Meer has successful experience in litigation and client counseling of employers in all areas of wage & hour class action and collective action litigation, mass layoffs and related litigation, employment discrimination class actions, and high exposure claims for wrongful discharge, discharge in violation of public policy, sexual and other harassment, disability, reasonable accommodation and access issues, labor arbitration, unfair business practice litigation under California Business & Professions Code Section 17200, employee benefits litigation, and protection of employer trade secrets and non-competition issues.

Mr. Meer also has assisted numerous clients in large employment-related transactions such as wage & hour compliance audits, corporate restructuring, plant or facility closures, reductions in force, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, internal investigations, state and federal audits and investigations, trade secret protection and privacy issues, electronic discovery issues, and document retention for litigation.

Trial And Case Victories

Mr. Meer is one of only a handful of employment lawyers in Southern California with successful class action trial experience, including the successful defense of wage & hour claims in a class action that went to trial before a Los Angeles jury.  Mr. Meer has won complete defense verdicts for employers in several wage and hour trials and also obtained complete defense verdicts for employers in over a dozen other jury trials.

Prior to trial, Mr. Meer has a consistent record of defeating class certification in wage & hour cases as well as complex discrimination and civil rights cases.  Mr. Meer has defeated class certification or conditional certification in dozens of cases and has obtained summary judgment for employers in over 50 cases in state and federal courts.  He has also won appellate cases before the California Court of Appeal and the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit.  Mr. Meer currently has a case pending before the California Supreme Court, in which the plaintiffs are challenging the denial of class certification. 

Mr. Meer also has been particularly successful in recovering significant amounts of money on behalf of employers and companies, after defeating claims brought by former employees.  He has recovered attorneys’ fees for employers in over a dozen cases after winning dismissal of their lawsuits, with awards of attorneys’ fees ranging from $5,000 to $1 million. 

Mr. Meer has defeated a case brought by a chief executive officer of a pharmaceutical company, resulting in an order for the plaintiff to pay $1 million in attorneys’ fees to the defendant as well as a criminal conviction for the plaintiff.  He also defeated a case brought by a Senior Vice President of a large publicly traded company, resulting in an attorneys’ fees award to the defendant in excess of six figures.  He has also defeated a case brought by an in-house counsel, resulting in an attorneys’ fee award to the defendant in excess of six figures, along with litigation costs.  He also defeated a case brought by a serial litigant who had previously filed over 100 discrimination cases, resulting in an attorneys’ fee award for the defendant in excess of six figures, which was then executed as a judgment lien on the plaintiff’s other pending lawsuits.

Successful Settlements

Mr. Meer has negotiated favorable class action or collective action settlements in over 30 cases involving wage & hour, unfair competition and discrimination claims.  Recently, he negotiated a class action settlement with a payment representing less than 3% of the potential exposure in a case involving 25,000 current and former convenience store employees of a global corporation with potential damages and penalties exceeding $125 million.

He also recently negotiated a settlement for less than 5% of the potential exposure in a class action case brought against one of the nation’s largest commercial construction companies, which settled on the second day of trial.  Before trial, the plaintiff class demanded a settlement in excess of $15 million. 

Mr. Meer also has settled a state-wide class action case involving 600 current and former employees for a single payment of $5,000 to the class representative.  He also settled a state-wide class action for a single payment of $1,000 to the class representative, in a case brought on behalf of approximately 500 call center employees.

Mr. Meer obtained a walk-away settlement in a class action alleging various ERISA violations for failure to pay benefits, benefit cutbacks and breach of fiduciary duty.  The claims alleged in this case, if successful, could have destroyed the solvency of tax-qualified status of the pension plan that was sued. 

Mr. Meer also has obtained walk-away settlements in three other class action cases, each of which involved over 300 employees.  He has also negotiated favorable settlements in four class action cases brought by large labor unions.

Training, Audits and Litigation Avoidance

Mr. Meer can arrange on-site training for in-house counsel, executive officers, human resources representatives, management or any level of employees through the “Seyfarth At Work” training series.  This training focuses on current issues in employment law presented in programs such as “Managing Within The Law,” “Human Resources Nuts And Bolts,” “Responding To Internal Complaints” and state-required non-harassment training.

Mr. Meer also conducts full-scale or topical audits of human resources policies or practices to help avoid litigation.  These audits include review of all written policies, review of all required employer postings, notices, recordkeeping requirements, review of exempt and non-exempt job classifications and statistical sampling of payroll records to identify potential issues regarding overtime, meal periods and rest periods. 

Mr. Meer also frequently help clients develop and implement litigation avoidance procedures, including standardized review processes, documentation protocols, decision-making flow-charts, statistical auditing and electronic document management.

Professional Recognition

For the last 12 consecutive years, Mr. Meer has been listed in the National Bar Registry of Preeminent Lawyers and has an “AV” Rating from Martindale-Hubbell/Thomson-Reuters, which is their highest peer review survey rating for legal abilities and ethical standards.  Mr. Meer also received a 5.0 out of 5 peer top ranking for legal abilities by Lawyers.com. 

Mr. Meer also has been elected to be included in the Southern California Super Lawyers in the area of Labor & Employment Law in a peer ranking survey in Los Angeles Magazine and has been included in the Nationwide Corporate Counsel Edition of Super Lawyers based on national rankings from in-house corporate counsel at Fortune 500 companies.  Mr. Meer has also been selected to be included in the Top Lawyer listing selected by the Beverly Hills Courier.  Mr. Meer has also been listed in Marquis Who’s Who In American Business.

Mr. Meer is frequently quoted as an expert in labor and employment issues and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, The National Law Journal, msnbc.com, workforce.com, law.com, complianceweek.com, allbusiness.com, Inc.Magazine, The Los Angeles Business Journal, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, The San Francisco Recorder and Legal Elite.