Stephen R. Basser

Stephen R. Basser, a partner in Barrack Rodos & Bacine’s San Diego office, leads the Firm’s consumer litigation practice group and focuses his practice on the prosecution of complex civil litigation matters.  Steve has served as the Firm’s principal attorney in leadership positions in a variety of consumer class actions throughout the United States, including recent cases advancing consumers’ rights and remedies versus major companies such as Nissan Motor Company, Transamerica Insurance Company, and Google, Inc.  He is also a member of the Firm’s insurance litigation practice group, having prosecuted a series of “senior” annuity cases from 2004 through 2015 pursuing the rights of the elderly in actions against insurance companies that targeted senior citizens in the sale of deferred equity-indexed annuities.

Steve also maintains an active securities litigation practice, representing institutional investors in courts across the country.  Notably, he served as the lead trial attorney in In re Apollo Group Inc. Securities Litigation, in which he and his litigation team secured a unanimous verdict for investors in January 2008 after two months of trial, resulting in a recovery of $145 million after a prolonged appellate process.

• In re McKesson HBOC, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. C-99-20743-RMW, before the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte in the Northern District of California, which resulted in settlements totaling $1.052 billion, the largest securities fraud class action recovery in the Northern District of California.
• In re Apollo Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, Master File No. CV 04-2147-PHX-JAT, before the Honorable James A. Teilborg in the District of Arizona, which resulted in a recovery of $145 million after a two-month jury trial that ended with a unanimous verdict for investors, and spawned a prolonged appellate process.
• In re Applied Micro Circuits Corp. Securities Litigation, No. 01-CV-0649-K (AJB), before the Honorable Judith N. Keep in the Southern District of California, which resulted in a $60 million settlement for investors.
• “Senior Annuity” cases in which BR&B served as a co-lead counsel or participated in the prosecution group, which asserted claims against insurance companies under consumer protection and elder abuse statutes and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and achieved the following settlements:
  • Negrete, et al. v. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Case No. 05-cv-06838-CAS-MAN (C.D. Cal.), resulted in a claims-made settlement valued between $251 million and $971 million;
  • In re American Equity Annuity Practices and Sales Litigation, Case No. 2:05- cv-06735-CAS-MAN (C.D. Cal.), resulted in a settlement valued at approximately $129 million;
  • Rand v. American National Insurance Co., Case No. 3:09-cv-0639-WDB (N.D. Cal.), resulted in a settlement valued at more than $9 million;
  • Negrete, et al. v. Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company, Case No. 2:05-cv-06837-CAS-MAN (C.D. Cal), resulted in a settlement valued at approximately $52.7 million;
  • Meadows v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co., Case No. 4:12-cv-1380- CW (N.D. Cal), resulted in a settlement valued at more than $11.2 million;
  • Midland National Life Insurance Co Annuity Sales Practices Litigation, Case No. 2:07-ml-01825-CAS-MAN (C.D. Cal.), resulted in a settlement valued at $79.5 million; and
  • In re National Western Life Insurance Deferred Annuities Litigation, Case No. 05-cv-1018-AJB (WVG), resulted in a settlement valued at more than $21 million.

• In re Plum Baby Food Litigation, Case No. 4:21-cv-00913-YGR, before the Honorable Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California.
• In re Evenflo Company, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:20-md-02938-DJC, before the Honorable Denise J. Casper in the District of Massachusetts.
• In re Philips Recalled CPAP, Bi-Level PAP, and Mechanical Ventilator Products Litigation, MDL No. 3014, before the Honorable Joy Flowers Conti in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

• Temple University School ofLaw
  Philadelphia, PA | J.D., cum laude, 1976
• American University
  Washington, DC  | B.A., with honors, 1973

• Pennsylvania, 1976
• California, 1985
• United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Southern District of California
• United States District Court for the Central District of California
• United States District Court for the Northern District of California
• United States District Court for the District of Colorado
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas