Date founded 1992 Headquarters Oakland Company type Law firm | Founder Scott Edward Cole Founded 1992 | |
Major practice areas Class action litigation | ||
Scott Cole & Associates is a California-based law firm. It was founded in 1992 by Scott Edward Cole. The firm is best known for employment wage and hour (e.g., overtime, meal and rest period, minimum wage) and consumer class action litigation and has represented plaintiffs against hundreds of major corporations such as Coca-Cola and the Unocal Corporation and on behalf of consumers of the Apple iPad.
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History
Scott Cole & Associates was founded in San Francisco, California as the "Law Offices of Scott Edward Cole" in 1992, and moved to Alameda, California the following year. The firm started its practice with workplace discrimination cases and other employee and personal injury litigation. In 1994, the firm mobilized residents of Crockett, California, filed the first case and thereafter represented nearly 1,100 victims injured by the Unocal Corporation petroleum refinery in Rodeo, California. The case involved the airborne release of hundreds of tons of highly toxic and carcinogenic substances. A settlement was reached in 1997 to pay $80 million to the plaintiffs. In 1998, the firm devoted itself to class action litigation, changed its name to Scott Cole & Associates, APC and moved its headquarters to Oakland, California.
Notable cases
Scott Cole & Associates has received national media attention for a number of its employment and consumer class action lawsuits.
In 2005, Scott Cole & Associates represented more than 1,000 Rite Aid managers that were denied overtime pay and meal breaks, which resulted in a $6.9 million settlement. The firm represented United Parcel Service delivery employees in 2007 after the company allegedly violated state labor laws, which ended in an historic settlement of $87 million. Scott Cole & Associates also brought a class action suit against The Coca-Cola Company in 2007 for alleged employment overtime violations, ending with a settlement of $14 million. In 2016, the firm announced a major victory against ABM Security Services when the California Supreme Court handed down a landmark opinion clarifying the rules governing rest breaks and upholding the firm's record-setting $89 million judgment in favor of a class of security guards.
Since 2010, the firm has engaged in numerous food mislabeling as well as product false advertising cases. In 2010, Scott Cole & Associates filed a lawsuit against Apple on behalf of consumers of the iPad after complaints of outdoor functionality issues. In 2014, the firm filed a class action lawsuit against Whole Foods Market for allegedly using synthetic ingredients in baked goods labeled as "all-natural." The firm also brought a lawsuit against Hobby Lobby for alleged wage-and-hour violations of its employees, in response to which the company unsuccessfully sought to block the lawsuit. Since 1994, the firm has handled hundreds of class actions, directly or indirectly affecting millions of workers nationwide, focusing on overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, minimum wage and unpaid business expense cases.
Social causes
The firm was first recognized in 2010 by the Alameda County Green Business Program as a "Certified Green Business."