Recent Developments in “Mass Arbitrations” (Presented by The Federal Bar Association Annual Meeting & Convention 2025 sponsor JAMS)

Behdad Sadeghi is a Partner at Zimmerman Reed LLP, where he focuses on plaintiff-side representation of individuals and public entities in consumer fraud, data privacy, and civil rights disputes. He has litigated numerous mass arbitration cases from initiation to conclusion before JAMS, AAA, and NAM, achieving relief for tens of thousands of claimants, and also has experience litigating the enforceability of arbitration provisions in federal courts. His broader practice includes complex consumer protection, securities and financial fraud, antitrust, and civil rights litigation in state and federal courts across the country. He is a member of the firm’s Public Client group and has represented state governments in opioid litigation and litigation against e-cigarette manufacturers. He served as trial counsel in a three-week jury trial in 2023 that achieved a $60.5 million settlement the day before closing arguments. He holds a B.A. from Carleton College, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law (formerly William Mitchell College of Law).

Collin Vierra is a Partner at Eimer Stahl LLP and Chair of the firm’s Mass Arbitration Practice Group and Co-Chair of its Data Privacy and AI Practice Group. His nationwide practice focuses on complex trial and appellate litigation, commercial and consumer mass arbitration, and counseling across a wide range of issues including data privacy and AI, discrimination, products liability, commercial disputes, antitrust, and government regulation. He has helped companies respond to approximately a quarter-million individual demands for arbitration across numerous industries — including social networking, consumer hardware, and consumer entertainment — and is known for pioneering techniques for the fair and efficient resolution of mass claims. He has obtained tens of thousands of dismissals and withdrawals of mass arbitration claims without any settlement payment or judgment to claimants. He also frequently litigates arbitration and other issues at the trial and appellate levels. A graduate of MIT, Stanford University, and Stanford Law School with degrees in engineering and economics, he has been recognized by Law.com/The Recorder as a Lawyer on the Fast Track, by Legal 500 for his ‘particular prowess in mass arbitration defense,’ and by Benchmark Litigation among the ‘best and brightest litigators across the U.S.

The Honorable Ellen L. Maas (Ret.) serves as a JAMS arbitrator and mediator in Minneapolis, bringing to her neutral practice the experience of a 28-year career as a Minnesota District Court judge. Appointed to the bench in 1995 by Governor Arne Carlson and subsequently elected five times, Judge Maas was nationally recognized for her handling of a six-week jury trial arising from a 2003 multiple-fatality train collision — Frazier v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. — and routinely presided over complex civil litigation matters including product liability, employment, professional liability, and consumer law cases. Before taking the bench, she had an active trial practice at Popham, Haik, Schnobrich & Kaufman and Arthur, Chapman & Michaelson in the areas of toxic tort, product liability, negligence, employment, municipal liability, and insurance coverage. She holds a B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Drake University and a J.D., With Distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law.

Stephen (Steve) Lucke serves as a JAMS arbitrator and mediator in Minneapolis, bringing to his neutral practice nearly 40 years of litigation experience — including a nationwide practice handling some of the most complex ERISA, class action, and mass litigation matters in the country. Prior to joining JAMS, Steve spent his career at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, where he was a partner for more than 30 years and developed a nationally recognized practice in ERISA retirement and health plan disputes, class actions, and complex commercial litigation. His matters have included a ‘mass action’ brought against over 300 health plans and their claims administrator that the trial judge described as ‘perhaps the most complex case pending in the Central District of California.’ He also teaches Complex Litigation at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from the College of the Holy Cross and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, and clerked for the Honorable Myron H. Bright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.