Amy has built a reputation in the plaintiffs’ bar for delivering results and justice to consumers and sexual assault survivors in class action and mass tort litigation. She secured a $73 million settlement in 2021 from UCLA on behalf of sexual assault survivors who brought claims against gynecologist Dr. James Heaps and achieved a historic $14.975 million dollar jury verdict as co-lead trial counsel on behalf of Pacific Fertility Center patients whose genetic material was destroyed in a catastrophic cryo-preservation tank failure. Media throughout the country have hailed the verdict as groundbreaking, and the Washington Post noted it as “a historic verdict that could have far-reaching consequences for the loosely regulated U.S. fertility industry.”
The Daily Journal recognized Amy among the Top Women Lawyers in California for 2021 and the Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California for 2021, and Northern California Super Lawyers named her a 2021 Super Lawyer. In 2020, Amy was elected co-chair of the American Association for Justice’s Class Action Litigation Group.
Amy currently represents clients in a variety of mass injury matters, including additional families in the Pacific Fertility Center matter, individuals harmed by the chemotherapy drug Taxotere (docetaxel), and individuals affected by the Porter Ranch/Aliso Canyon gas leak. She serves in a court-appointed leadership role in a mass action coordinating claims on behalf of 18,000 boys who suffered irreversible male breast growth after being prescribed the antipsychotic medication Risperdal. Amy has previously represented clients injured by transvaginal mesh, the birth control medications Yaz and Yasmin, and the diabetes drug Actos.
Amy is also a member of our California whistleblower attorney practice group, representing qui tam whistleblowers alleging false claims against the government in the medical industry. Amy currently represents a relator who was the first to file particular whistleblower allegations in 2013 that Kaiser Permanente was overcharging Medicare through improper diagnostic coding; the case was unsealed upon intervention by the federal government in 2021.
Prior to attending law school, Amy pursued a career in the financial sector, acting as the Accounting and Compliance Manager for the Marin County Federal Credit Union for almost seven years. Amy was a spring 2010 extern for the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel of the United States District Court, Northern District of California. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of California at Hastings and her two B.A. degrees summa cum laude from the University of Missouri.
Litigation Highlights
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Pacific Fertility Center Litigation
Amy served as co-lead trial counsel in a three-week trial on behalf of several patients who tragically lost eggs and embryos in a catastrophic cryo-preservation tank failure at San Francisco’s Pacific Fertility Center in 2018. The jury found the cryogenic tank manufacturer, Chart Inc., liable on all claims, and awarded $14.975 million in aggregate damages to the five plaintiffs. Amy leads the Gibbs Law Group team, which first filed the lawsuit in March 2018 with co-counsel, and represents dozens of PFC patients whose frozen eggs and embryos were harmed or destroyed as a result of the tank failure. This was the first trial in the consolidated litigation, and five additional trials against Chart are scheduled for 2022 and 2023.
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A.B. v. The Regents of the University of California
Amy served as plaintiffs’ counsel representing patients of former UCLA OB-GYN Dr. James Heaps in a class action lawsuit alleging assault, abuse, and sexual harassment against both Dr. Heaps and UCLA. The litigation resulted in a $73 million dollar settlement to compensate over 5,500 women who received treatment from Dr. Heaps, as well as mandatory reforms to UCLA’s patient safety measures. The settlement received final approval in July 2021.
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Kaiser Medicare Qui Tam Litigation
Amy and Gibbs Law Group filed a qui tam lawsuit on behalf of a relator stating whistleblower allegations that Kaiser Permanente overcharged Medicare through improper diagnostic coding. On July 31, 2021, the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Justice elected to intervene in this litigation, and it was brought out from under seal into the public record. The litigation is ongoing.
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Sanborn v. Nissan North America
Amy represented car owners in Florida in a class action lawsuit alleging that 2008 and 2009 Nissan Altima vehicles had defective dashboards that would melt into a dangerous shiny and gooey surface in hot climates. The case was just two weeks from trial when the parties reached a settlement that provided dashboard replacements and reimbursements. The Court granted final approval of the settlement in January 2017.
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Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A. “Check Loan” Contract Litigation
Key member of the litigation team in this multidistrict case alleging that Chase Bank wronged consumers by offering long-term fixed-rate loans, only to later more-than-double the required loan payments. The litigation resulted in a $100 million settlement with Chase eight weeks prior to trial.
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Sugarman v. Ducati North America, Inc.
Represented Ducati motorcycle owners whose fuel tanks on their motorcycles degraded and deformed due to incompatibility with the motorcycles’ fuel. In January 2012, the Court approved a settlement that provided an extended warranty and repairs, writing, “The Court recognizes that class counsel assumed substantial risks and burdens in this litigation. Representation was professional and competent; in the Court’s opinion, counsel obtained an excellent result for the class.”