Overview
Simon Franzini is a partner in the firm and co-leads the firm’s consumer class action practice. The firm stands out in the class action world for its superior investigation, research, and analysis, and its ability to take complex actions to trial.
In 2019, Simon was co-lead trial counsel for the class in a class action trial in federal court under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The jury found that the defendant, ViSalus, had violated the TCPA 1,850,440 times, amounting to $925 million dollars in liability. Based on Simon’s success, Dovel & Luner was selected as a finalist for The National Law Journal’s 2020 Elite Trial Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” award in Consumer Protection.
Before turning his focus to class actions, Simon was a patent and business litigator. Simon maintains an active business litigation practice, representing start-ups, small companies, and individuals who have been wronged by some of the largest corporations in the world.
Simon was born and grew up in Milan, Italy. When he is not at work, Simon likes to run, hike, ski, and spend time with his wife Hana and sons Giovanni and Luca.
Education
- Harvard Law School, (J.D., magna cum laude, 2012)
- New York University, (B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 2009)
Notable Cases
Class Actions
“Non-drowsy” medicine that makes you drowsy. Many companies sell over-the-counter “Non-Drowsy” cough medicines. Consumers rely on this medicine when they are driving, working, and supervising their children (when drowsiness is unwanted and even dangerous). But the truth is that these medicines contain Dextromethorphan, a drug that causes drowsiness. Consumers are being deceived, overcharged, and even put in danger. We represent the plaintiffs in ten consumer class actions, in federal courts across the country.
COVID-19 refund litigation. 2020 began normally, with consumers paying in advance for season passes to ski resorts and amusement parks. Then the pandemic hit in March, and those passes became worthless. Instead of providing fair and proportional refunds, some companies kept 100% of the money that consumers paid for the season. We have obtained early, favorable rulings for consumers in multiple COVID-19 refund class actions. For example, this ruling for season ski pass holders.
Protecting ordinary investors. Vanguard markets its “target date” retirement funds as a “set it and forget it” option for ordinary investors. In 2020, to cater to large retirement plans, Vanguard made a fund management decision that heaped unprecedented capital gains tax liability on smaller, ordinary investors. We represent the proposed class of injured investors in a class action in federal court in Pennsylvania. Here is the complaint.
Millions of robocalls. ViSalus is a multi-level marketing company that sells weight loss products. To market its products, it made millions of illegal, pre-recorded robocalls to over 800,000 class members nationwide. We were retained to try the case, in Oregon federal court, and we obtained a $925 million jury verdict for the class. The district court then upheld the verdict.
The Boeing 737 Max 8. In 2017, Boeing put its 737 MAX 8 aircraft into service. The airliner had a known defect that caused two new planes to crash, killing 346 people on board. After the crashes, the 737 MAX 8 was grounded worldwide. We represent plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit alleging that Boeing and Southwest colluded to hide these safety issues from consumers and overcharged them for tickets. The case was certified as a class action in September 2021.
Illegal online gaming. Over the last decade, the world’s leading slot machine makers teamed up with Apple, Google, and Facebook to deliver addictive social gambling apps to smartphones, tablets, and internet browsers. These apps allow consumers to purchase virtual “chips” with real money, and then gamble those chips in the hopes of winning more chips. In 2020 alone, consumers gambled an estimated $6 billion on these apps. These gambling apps are illegal under state anti-gambling laws. We represent the plaintiffs in multi-district litigation against Apple, Google, and Facebook.
Business Litigation
Lead counsel for FlexStent in a patent infringement case in the Central District of California and a related Inter Partes Review. FlexStent alleges that Abbott Labs willfully infringed its patent on foundational vascular stent technology by making and selling drug-eluting vascular stents.
Represented a Silicon Beach startup technology company as lead counsel in a dispute involving patent infringement, trade secret, and antitrust claims against an industry leader in an International Trade Commission investigation and in the Central District of California. The case settled on confidential terms.
Represented SimpleAir in a series of patent infringement cases against various providers of push notification platforms including Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, and Google. Obtained numerous favorable settlements and defeated several Inter Partes Reviews brought by the defendants. In the case against Google, Simon was part of the trial team that obtained an $85 million verdict for past infringement.
Represented Mirror Worlds Technologies in a patent infringement case against Apple, Microsoft, and computer manufacturers. The case involved document storage, search, and display technology developed by Yale Professor David Gelernter and Dr. Eric Freeman. The case settled on the eve of trial. An article about the outcome of the case is available here.
Personal Facts
- Simon met his wife Hana on their first day of college at NYU, in the University Hall dorm.
- Simon grew up in Milan, Italy.
- Simon drives a vespa to work most days.
Joining Dovel & Luner
I joined Dovel & Luner because I wanted to be a trial lawyer — not a document reviewer, binder-maker, or memo writer. I couldn’t have made a better choice.