Shon Morgan is Chair of Quinn Emanuel’s National Class Action and Mass Arbitration Group. He has defended more than 400 hundred class actions and major MDLs. Shon is also a leader in guiding companies to avoid and, if necessary, defend mass arbitration campaigns. He has advised clients such as Hyundai, Google, X, Verizon, The Home Depot, Daimler, Kia, GM, Epson, Lucid Motors and Ancestry.com, in high-profile class litigation and mass arbitrations that involved consumer, privacy, and contractual claims.
Known for developing innovative strategies, Shon consistently helps companies reduce exposure, shift leverage, and disarm class and mass arbitration threats efficiently. Some cases end with a single phone call and a voluntary dismissal; others in defeating attempts to advance multibillion-dollar aggregate claims through trial.
Shon understands mass litigation isn’t just legal—it’s commercial. Clients value his ability to shut down enterprise-threatening plaintiff theories early; align strategy with business goals—whether that means quiet resolution or courtroom wins; and provide accurate risk assessments to boards and executives. He delivers predictability and brand protection in litigation that could otherwise spiral.
Shon’s industry fluency spans tech platforms and data aggregators, AI startups, consumer products, auto manufacturers, financial services, and traditional retailers. He understands how these businesses operate—and how plaintiffs and regulators try to disrupt them.
Shon was recognized from 2019 to 2021 by Law360 as a national Class Action MVP, and by The Daily Journal in the 2023 and 2024 edition "Top 100 Lawyers.” Law360 has four times named QE’s Class Action Group as one of the top five in the United States. Shon is also recognized in Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America – Complex Litigation, esp. Class Action, 2023-2025.
- Activision
- AIG
- Ancestry.com
- Bank One
- Barnes & Noble
- Blackstone
- Boston University
- The Coca-Cola Company
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Computer Sciences Corporation
- Daimler, AG
- Delphi
- Duke University
- Entertainment Partners
- EOS Products
- Epson America, Inc.
- Fidelity Federal
- First USA
- Gateway
- General Motors
- Handshake AI
- Hitachi
- Home Advisor
- Home Depot
- Hughes Electronics
- Hyundai Motor America
- IAC
- IBM
- Johns Hopkins University
- Kia America
- Mercedes-Benz USA
- Mitsui & Co.
- Northrop
- Playrix
- Rover.com
- Salesforce.com
- Sequoia Capital
- Shell Oil
- Snorkel AI
- Suzuki Motor Company
- The Pep Boys
- Time, Inc.
- Unilever
- United Parcel Service
- Vivendi S.A.
- Washington Mutual
- Wells Fargo
- Yardi
- ZestFinance
- Zoominfo
- Zynga
- Obtained twin significant summary judgment victories for Ancestry.com in separate “right of publicity” class actions. The Illinois case sought over $6 billion in statutory damages and asserted that by collecting and offering access to yearbook records, Ancestry impermissibly used plaintiffs’ names and likenesses to “advertise” Ancestry’s subscription genealogy products. This followed a win August 2024 in a similar right of publicity class action in Ohio. These victories appear to be the only defense-side wins on the merits in the broad wave of right-of-publicity cases in the post-pleading-stage phase.
- Ended multi-district class actions attacking the health benefits claims of a key Coca-Cola brand, vitaminwater®, without any compensation to class members. The stakes were particularly high because plaintiffs sought not only billions of dollars in damages but also an injunction that would force a change of the well-established vitaminwater® brand name. These actions were initially MDL’d in the Eastern District of New York but then remanded to their original jurisdictions for purposes of ruling on class certification. Quinn Emanuel defeated class certification in the lead case as to all claims for monetary relief. Following this significant certification denial win, the other previously-consolidated actions were settled for injunctive relief only.
- Serves as lead counsel for Hyundai and Kia in the highly-publicized MDL that arose over rampant thefts of the vehicles because of a TikTok trend. Just a few weeks ago the parties announced a $300 million settlement of the more than 50 consumer class actions at issue in the MDL. The TikTok trend started spreading in 2021, challenging users to steal 2010 - 2021 model year Kia and Hyundai cars using a USB cable and post about it with hashtags like #KiaBoys. Cities across the US saw thefts of the vehicles rise sharply. By fall 2022, Los Angeles officials said there was an 85% increase in thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles compared with the previous year. The settlement covers about 9 million US owners and includes reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses for consumers who had cars stolen. The settlement was granted final approval hearing on July 15, 2024. Shon also serves as a part of the lead counsel tam for the Governmental Entity track, in which more than two dozen cities have sued due to alleged increased policing costs as a result of the increase in car thefts. Some of those cases have been dismissed entirely; others are approaching trial.
- Shon is part of a team defending Google in a pair of high-profile, large-stakes class actions alleging violations of the privacy rights of users of the Chrome browser. In the first of these, Calhoun et al. v. Google LLC, the plaintiffs seek to recover billions of dollars on behalf of all U.S.-resident Google accountholders who use Chrome, based on allegations that Google misappropriated Chrome users’ personal data through its third-party web services such as Ad Manager, Analytics, embedded Maps, Fonts, and other services. In June 2025, the team scored a huge defense win when the district court denied with prejudice the plaintiffs’ motion to certify any class, injunctive or monetary. In the Brown action, the court denied certification of any clams for monetary relief.
- Defended Colgate Palmolive in a series of nine MDL’d class actions in New Hampshire federal court that contended Softsoap Antibacterial Hand Soap efficacy claims are false and misleading. The suits also contended Colgate implicitly represents that Softsoap Antibacterial Hand Soap provides benefits over soap without antibacterial qualities. With the cases approaching the class certification stage, Quinn Emanuel negotiated an injunctive relief settlement that involved no compensation to the massive purported class that was seeking potentially a billion dollars in damages.
- Represented IBM in nine separate consumer fraud class actions in nine states alleging defective hard disk drives. Three of these cases reached the certification stage; and the firm defeated certification in all three. Two of the other actions were dismissed outright. The remaining cases then promptly settled on very favorable terms.
- When Hyundai Motor America and Kia America faced more than 50 consumer class actions after the company restated mileage-per-gallon figures on certain vehicles, it tapped Shon to serve as lead defense counsel. The case resulted in a landmark settlement and generated a Ninth Circuit en banc opinion (which Shon argued) that is perhaps the most significant appellate decision in recent years on class settlements.
- Won a pleading-stage dismissal on behalf of Daimler in a MDL that coordinates more than 35 direct and indirect purchaser antitrust, RICO, and consumer fraud class actions alleging that the “Group of Five” German auto manufacturers engaged in a massive conspiracy over the last 30 years to restrict innovation and/or charge artificial premiums. The MDL implicated every German car sold in the U.S. since 1990.
- Defended HomeAdvisor (now Angi) and IAC in a long-running putative class action in Colorado federal court in which the plaintiffs sought over $4 billion in class-wide damages. The case involved allegations that HomeAdvisor misrepresented the quality of leads sold to home services providers. After taking over for prior counsel several years into a nearly decade-long litigation, Quinn Emanuel achieved total victory by obtaining summary judgment on equitable claims and repeatedly defeating attempts to certify damages classes. Quinn Emanuel also secured a favorable settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to end a parallel civil investigation.
- Represented the University of Southern California in a series of highly-publicized state and federal class actions stemming from allegations of inappropriate conduct by a long-time university doctor. The federal court recently granted final approval to a class settlement that resolved the class actions at a small fraction of the per-plaintiff amount that other institutions have paid in similar cases.
- Won summary judgment for IBM in a RICO action. The plaintiff, one of the country's largest processors of Internet credit card transactions, sued several companies it alleged had misappropriated millions of dollars of credit card proceeds. Our client was added as a defendant late in the case, with the discovery cut-off and trial date approaching, with the plaintiff apparently counting on the fact that the firm would seek a continuance so the plaintiff could receive additional time to get its case together. Instead, Shon's team took full advantage of the impending trial date. It immediately noticed the depositions of the plaintiff's principals for all the days of discovery that remained. The plaintiff was left with no documents and no time to depose IBM's witnesses. Without our client having had to produce a single document in discovery, Mr. Morgan persuaded the court to grant summary judgment in IBM's favor. On an appeal to the Ninth Circuit also defended by Mr. Morgan, IBM won a 2-1 affirmance.
- Represented The Home Depot in a nationwide class action alleging the company was selling a gas grill prone to catastrophic fires. The plaintiff sought injunctive relief and damages, including return of the purchase price for every grill. The plaintiff initially moved for a preliminary injunction barring further sales, which the firm defeated. A few months later the plaintiff moved for class certification, seeking among other things that Home Depot be required to send a representative to inspect every grill in the hands of consumers. A federal judge in Los Angeles denied plaintiff's certification motion in its entirety. The court ruled that the proposed class definition was overbroad and that the plaintiff was not typical of the other consumers he sought to represent.
- Represented Epson in a nationwide class action alleging that Epson misrepresented, or failed to disclose, that rate at which certain of its inkjet printers consumed ink. The court granted summary judgment in Epson's favor on the omissions claims, and denied certification of the affirmative misrepresentation claims.
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of Time, Inc. in a federal court consumer class action arising from a magazine subscription promotion. Following plaintiff's motion for class certification, Shon's team formulated a strategy to file a motion for summary judgment along with its opposition to class certification to give the court an alternative basis to resolve the action. The motions were simultaneously briefed and set for hearing on the same date. The strategy worked, as the court granted the motion for summary judgment and dismissed the action without reaching the issues related to class certification.
- On behalf of Washington Mutual Bank, Shon defeated certification of a 23 state consumer class action alleging violations of consumer fraud statutes and other common law causes of action. The bank was alleged to have used deceptive practices in marketing life insurance.
- Shon was brought in as replacement counsel to defend a pending class action against an ERA Realty affiliate in a significant breach of contract case involving hundreds of real estate brokers who alleged the company improperly deducted fees from their commissions. When retained, the certification hearing briefing was set to begin in a few weeks, and the defense had not yet taken any discovery. Shon’s team immediately identified the facts that mattered, took expedited discovery, and defeated certification and a motion for reconsideration.
- Obtained summary judgment and recovered costs in a class action against The Home Depot where plaintiffs sought billions of dollars in statutory damages for alleged violations of California's consumer privacy statute prohibiting retailers from seeking personal information in connection with credit card transactions. In a related case, we obtained dismissal with prejudice of an unfair competition claim based on lack of an injury in fact from the act of disclosing personal information.
- We represented Washington Mutual Bank in a wage and hour class action alleging improper deductions from employee wages. Before answering the Complaint, Shon's team developed a novel federal preemption defense to the claims based on laws governing the financial stability of federally regulated lending institutions. Upon being served with a draft demurrer raising this preemption defense, the plaintiff dismissed his case.
- Defeated class certification on behalf of IBM in a nationwide class action that stemmed from their investment of millions of dollars in three Internet start-up companies who were part of IBM's "Business Partner" program. When those companies went bankrupt, the investors sued IBM, claiming they had invested on the belief IBM would stand behind the investments in these start-up companies. Shon persuaded the trial court class certification was inappropriate because individual factual issues involved in each claim swamped any common issues. The Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that "this is simply not the case to presume reliance upon, or the materiality of, the defendant's alleged misrepresentation."
- Successfully defended Barnes & Noble in class action alleging various violations of the Labor Code, including failure to provide meal breaks and rest breaks and failure to pay overtime. The Court denied certification in its entirety.
- Represented Computer Sciences Corporation in a purported nationwide overtime class action on behalf of computer consultants. After providing informal discovery to plaintiff’s counsel, we persuaded the plaintiff to drop the class-action allegations.
- Represented Electronic Arts in two consumer class action cases in the Northern District of California, involving claims under CLRA, Section 17200 and the Copyright Act relating to DRM (digital rights management) technology in the video game maker's products. The cases were resolved at a very early stage with no monetary relief to the class.
- On behalf of Johnson & Johnson, defeated TRO and preliminary injunction attempts to block acquisition of a major company specializing in heart stent technology.
- Defeated at the pleading stage an action against AIG seeking to require AIG to substantially increase its reserves in California to protect the liquidity of certain California-based investments, a result that would have had disruptive consequences for AIG's nationwide investment strategies. The California Court of Appeal affirmed this order and denied a motion for rehearing.
- Harvard Law School
(J.D., magna cum laude, 1995)- Harvard Law Review
- Editor, 1993-1994
- Supervising Editor, 1994-1995
- Harvard Law Review
- University of California, Los Angeles
(B.A., philosophy, 1992)
- The State Bar of California
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Michael Boudin:
- United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1995-1996
- Selected by Daily Journal for "Top 100 Lawyers" (2023-2024)
- Recognized by Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America – Complex Litigation, esp. Class Action, (2023 -2025)
- Recognized by Lawdragon 500 as a Leading Litigator in Complex Litigation, esp. Class Action, (2022-2025)
- Global Competition Review Awards (2021):
- The German Automotive Manufacturers antitrust litigation won the award for Litigation of the Year - Cartel Defense
- Law360: "MVP in Class Action" (2019-2021)
- The American Lawyer, "Litigator of the Week" (2019)
- "California Wage and Hour Laws" Published by the National Legal Center for the Public Interest, January 2005
- "Overtime Class Actions--Is Your Company Sitting on a Liability Time-Bomb?" Contributor to Shareholder Derivative Litigation: Besieging the Board (Law Journal Seminars-Press 1995)
- Case Comment, "Eckstein v. Balcor Film Investors," 107 Harv. L. Rev. 1170 (1994)
- "Unenforced Boundaries: Illegal Immigration and the Limits of Judicial Federalism," 108 Harv. L. Rev. 1643 (1995)