Rachele Byrd is a managing partner of Wolf Haldenstein’s San Diego office.  Ms. Byrd’s practice focuses on complex class actions. She has extensive experience litigating in federal and state courts across the country in matters of antitrust, privacy, unfair and deceptive practices, securities fraud, civil rights and unlawful taxation.

Ms. Byrd joined Wolf Haldenstein in 2001 as an associate and became a partner in 2008. Prior to joining Wolf Haldenstein, Ms. Byrd served as Deputy Alternate Public Defender for the County of San Diego representing children and parents in juvenile dependency proceedings.

REPRESENTATIONS

• Ms. Byrd has successfully litigated and negotiated numerous multi-million dollar settlements, serving as lead or co-lead counsel. For example:
  • Carrera Aguallo, et al. v. Kemper Corp., et al., No. 1:21-cv-01883 (N.D. Ill.) (data breach class action where Ms. Byrd was Settlement Class Counsel and that settled for benefits to the class valued at over $17 million);
  • Engquist v. City of Los Angeles, No. BC591331 (Los Angeles Super. Ct.) (gas tax refund action against the City of Los Angeles that settled for $32.5 million plus injunctive relief valued at tens of millions of dollars following certification of the class and on the eve of a hearing on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment);
  • DeFrees v. Kirkland, et al., 11-04272 (JLS) (C.D. Cal.) ($12.2 million settlement reached in derivative action on the eve of trial);
  • Granados v. County of Los Angeles, BC361470 (Los Angeles Super. Ct.) ($16.9 million settlement reached in taxpayer refund action following class certification); and
  • McWilliams v. City of Long Beach, BC361469 (Los Angeles Super. Ct.) ($16.6 million settlement reached in taxpayer refund action).
• Ms. Byrd was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In re: Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Privacy Litigation, No. 5:20-cv-0291 (N.D. Cal.) and to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In re Robinhood Outage Litigation, No. 20-cv-01626-JD (N.D. Cal.).
• In a precedent-setting unfair taxation class action against the City of Los Angeles, Ms. Byrd represented Plaintiffs, who prevailed by not only recovering over $92.5 million in improperly collected telephone utility taxes for city residents, but also by obtaining a unanimous landmark California Supreme Court decision that established the rights of taxpayers to file class claims for tax refunds from local governmental entities. Ardon v. City of Los Angeles, 52 Cal. 4th 241 (2011).
• Ms. Byrd represented taxpayers in McWilliams v. City of Long Beach, 56 Cal. 4th 613 (2013), where the California Supreme Court held that local charter provisions and ordinances cannot supplant the right of taxpayers under the Government Claims Act to file class claims for tax refunds from local governmental entities.
• Ms. Byrd represents iPhone apps purchasers In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation, No. 4:11-cv-06714-YGR (N.D. Cal.), an antitrust class action that secured a favorable opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court: Apple Inc. v. Pepper, 139 S. Ct. 1514 (2019).

AFFILIATIONS

Community
Ms. Byrd is a on the board of Ranchita El Shadai, a non-profit ministry to disadvantaged children in Jamul, California.

Professional
Ms. Byrd authored “Class Actions: There Is No Reason To Fix What Isn’t Broken,” San Diego ABTL Report, Vol. XIV, No. 3, Summer 2007, a counter-point article discussing class action reform in California.