Social Media Litigation-Frantz Law Group, APLC
Social Media Litigation
ADVOCATING FOR CLIENTS FOR MORE THAN 43 YEARS
RECORD JURY VERDICTS AND SETTLEMENTS | ACCOUNTABILITY AND JUSTICE
Social Media Litigation: Everything You Need to Know
Public entities are faced with a significant challenge that needs to be addressed immediately. This challenge arises from the mental health crisis of youth and students that has been caused by social media companies and their alleged deceptive products and platforms. As to the scope of the mental health crisis caused by social media, the CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that the rate of teen depression rose by more than 60% between 2011 and 2018. Further, the United States Surgeon General has declared a national advisory on the youth mental health crisis, blaming social media, in part, for the growing number of youths experiencing depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges. You can read the full report at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-youth-mental-health-advisory.pdf Frantz Law Group has extensive legal experience representing public entities such as school districts, states, counties and cities with respect to false and misleading marketing. To assist public entities in addressing this mental health crisis caused by social media companies, Frantz Law Group has commenced litigation (on behalf of public entities) against Meta, TikTok, Snap, YouTube, and others. This lawsuit alleges, in part, that various social media companies have caused a mental health crisis among children and teenagers that is marked by higher proportions of anxiety, depression, and thoughts of self-harm, all of which severely affect their ability to succeed in school. Many children, students, and adults spend an inordinate amount of time scrolling through social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, where they are often subjected to harmful and exploitative content that encourages disorderly behavior, unhealthy social comparison, and cyberbullying. In order to mitigate the problem caused from the social media manipulative algorithms that created youth addiction, school districts are required to hire additional behavioral health personnel, train teachers to assist students with emotional instability, increase disciplinary services, and divert time and resources from educational instruction. This litigation seeks to provide the funding and resources needed to mitigate the damage that school districts are currently experiencing. Separately, states, counties, and cities require additional funding to pay for behavioral health services on behalf of those individuals injured from the adverse social media exposure.
© 2023 by Frantz Law Group, A Professional Law Corporation. All rights reserved. This document, and the designs and intellectual property contained herein, are the sole property of Frantz Law Group, APLC. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved. Any unauthorized copying, alteration, distribution, transmission, performance, display or other use of this material is prohibited. 2
In addition, Frantz Law Group successfully represents nearly 1,000 school districts in 38 states with respect to the anti-vaping JUUL litigation. Despite the proposed partial settlement with JUUL Labs, Inc., Frantz Law Group continues litigation against Altria and other defendants responsible for causing the vaping epidemic. Feeley, Jef., and Nayak, Malathi. “ JUUL Agrees to Pay $1.2 Billion in Youth- Vaping Settlement. ” Bloomberg News, 9 Dec. 2022 | Reuters How will filing a lawsuit against social media companies benefit your public entity? Suing social media companies provides public entities the opportunity to recover financial reimbursement for the expenses the public entities have incurred because of the youth mental health crisis. Some entities have spent thousands of dollars, countless hours, and other important resources to implement or adjust their methods of supervising students, disciplining student behavior, and assisting addicted students who are constantly accessing social media platforms on school property. Even if your public entity has not yet expended substantial resources to deal with this problem, investigating claims and potentially filing a lawsuit can assist to obtain the “future damages” to mitigate the social media-caused mental health crisis present in your public entity. Beyond the opportunity for financial recovery, public entity participation in this litigation is critical. Social media companies have targeted children with addictive and harmful products that feature no warnings or instructions for safe usage. Public entities have been especially impacted and are in a unique position to take a stand against this misconduct. Public entities joining together in this litigation will play a pivotal role in holding social media companies accountable and sending the message to these companies that profits should not be prioritized at the expense of children’s health and safety. Social media companies need to be held accountable for the harm they are causing, and should provide schools with financial resources to mitigate this mental health crisis on the front lines.
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*Results in other matters do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction of the outcome of your legal matter. Resultsare dependent on the facts of each case, and the results may vary based on different facts. **This is the amount recovered by all victims as part of a collective settlement. Under the settlement terms, each plaintiff’s recovery is determined based on various factors. These amounts are not the totals recovered by Frantz Law Group clients. James P. Frantz, Esq. approves the content of this advertisement. • $800 million - against MGM Resorts International on behalf of victims of the 2017 Las Vegas Shooting at Mandalay Bay (Frantz Law Group represented 201 clients of approximately 586 victims). Mr. Frantz played a very important part in achieving this historic settlement.** • $580 million - catastrophic injury/wrongful death in various types of personal injury claims and tractor trailer crashes • $13.5 billion - against Paci c Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2020 on behalf of thousands of victims harmed in the 2017 and 2018 Northern California wild res (Frantz Law Group represents 4,500 clients of approximately 40,000 victims). Mr. Frantz played an integral role in obtaining this landmark settlement.** • $1.8 billion - against Southern California Gas Company in 2021 (Frantz Law Group represents 8,202 clients of approximately 35,000 victims)** • $1.2 billion - pending settlement against JUUL Labs, Inc. in December 2022 (Frantz Law Group represents nearly 1,000 clients of 1,400 school districts)**
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DEDICATED TO CLIENTS FOR MORE THAN 43 YEARS frantzlawgroup.com 855-735-5945
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
James P. Frantz’s 43 years of legal experience includes litigating catastrophic injury claims, tractor-trailer collisions, amusement park accidents, products liability, motorcycle and automobile collisions, aviation accidents, fire and explosion related injuries, wrongful death claims, mass transit accidents, construction accidents, industrial accidents, complex business disputes, class actions, and mass torts. Mr. Frantz currently serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the Porter Ranch Gas Leak litigation (one of the largest mass tort lawsuits in U.S. history), as well as the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the wildfire litigation against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE). The Daily Transcript honored Mr. Frantz as one of the Top 10 Attorneys. Mr. Frantz has been nominated for Top Attorneys in the insurance and personal injury category for the years 2010–2023. Mr. Frantz has also been honored as a Super Lawyer and Tier One Best Lawyers of America for 15 consecutive years. Mr. Frantz is a cum laude graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and a graduate of Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He represented the San Diego County Bar Association as a Delegate to the State Bar of California and has served as a Special Master for the State Bar of California for the past 30 years. He has also been an Arbitrator for 30 years. He is a Master of the William B. Enright Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He is a Fellow and Associate of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates and is AV rated by Martindale- Hubbell.
• $55.4 million - jury verdict*-awarded to the families of four Marines who were killed as a result of the negligence of San Diego Gas & Electric Utility (no pre-trial offer was made by defendants). • $223 million - jury verdict*-awarded in a professional negligence case (top pretrial offer was $100,000). • $18.5 million - verdict*-Mr. Frantz’s expertise was sought by Congress where he testified as a product liability expert with respect to the litigation he prosecuted against a drug manufacturer in which he won (with co-counsel) an $18.5 million verdict. Within months of Mr. Frantz’s congressional testimony, the product was banned bythe federal government due to significant safety concerns.
*Reduced and appealed; resolved for a confidential amount
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
William Shinoff is a trial lawyer at Frantz Law Group and specializes in litigating complex litigation and mass tort cases on behalf of public entities across the country. Mr. Shinoff attributes his love and passion for the courtroom to his family roots in the legal profession. Prior to joining Frantz Law Group, Mr. Shinoff represented school districts and public entities throughout Southern California at one of the premier public entity law firms in Southern California. During his nine years representing public entities, Mr. Shinoff litigated matters in both state and federal courts throughout California. Currently, Mr. Shinoff is the lead attorney for Frantz Law Group representing nearly 1,000 public entities across the country against JUUL Labs, Inc. and Altria in youth vaping litigation. Mr. Shinoff’s unique defense background enables him to deal with large corporate entities and big insurance companies and navigate through the smoke and mirrors of insurance company bureaucracy. Mr. Shinoff strives to take a hands-on approach with his clients and makes sure they are completely satisfied and comforted throughout the litigation process. Mr. Shinoff began his undergraduate studies at the University of Miami, Florida and completed his education at the University of Victoria, British Columbia where he obtained a bachelor’s degree. Following university, he graduated cum laude from California Western School of Law where he was an associate editor on the Law Review Journal. He is admitted to practice law in California and Texas.
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
Regina Bagdasarian graduated magna cum laude from California Western School of Law where she served as Editor in Chief of California Western Law Review. Recognized for her excellence in legal research and writing, Ms. Bagdasarian served as an editor and researcher for an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court regarding the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victims Protection Act. Ms. Bagdasarian was also a member of the Moot Court Appellate Team where she was recognized for expertise in written and oral advocacy. In her current practice, Ms. Bagdasarian focuses on complex matters involving nuanced analysis and application of the law. She is committed to zealous advocacy on behalf of the firm’s clients. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Bagdasarian worked extensively in product development, marketing, and international brand management. This unique combination of legal training and business experience provides Ms. Bagdasarian with both the legal acumen and practical experience with which to assess legal issues and implement strategies for success. Ms. Bagdasarian brings a combination of creativity, tenacity, intellectual curiosity, and attention to detail to every client and case.
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
Ed Chapin is an accomplished trial lawyer, who during his illustrious legal career has taken upwards of 100 cases to trial in federal and state courts. Recent noteworthy trials in which Ed was the lead counsel include a civil lawsuit, where 22 female plaintiffs across the U.S. alleged the website’s owners, operators and associated businesses exploited them after answering modeling advertisements on Craigslist. Ed and his team obtained a $20 million plus award after a 99-day bench trial in California Superior Court. In 2018, Ed obtained a $5.4 million jury verdict and award of attorney fees for Beth Burns, the winningest women’s basketball coach in San Diego State University’s history. Ed’s litigation acumen in this public jury trial that focused on SDSU’s Title IX violations highlights how even the most powerful institutions can be made to take responsibility for the damage they cause to individual’s careers and overall wellbeing. Previously, Ed was lead counsel for the chemical manufacturer involved in the noteworthy toxic tort litigation featured in the academy award winning movie, the Erin Brockovich Story. This case involved over 4,000 plaintiffs who claimed personal injury and wrongful death attributed to exposure to toxins at 3 sites in Southern and Central California.
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
Prior to joining Frantz Law Group, George Stiefel III was trusted with advising the top judges in the State of New York. He clerked at New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, for two years, gaining valuable insight into the thinking process of judges. Prior to that, he clerked at the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division. After clerking, Mr. Stiefel joined the New York State Executive Chamber and was quickly appointed as Freedom of Information Law Counsel, a senior staff position in the Governor’s office. These prior experiences have uniquely armed Mr. Stiefel with substantial knowledge and experience in a broad array of many substantive areas of law and a diverse set of skills. He has successfully parlayed these skills and experience to private civil litigation practice. He takes pride and passion in assisting the firm’s clients in obtaining a successful resolution of their claims through trial or settlement. His law and motion skills are unparalleled.
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
Jade S. Koller is a trial attorney at Frantz Law Group with extensive civil litigation experience including catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, fiduciary disputes, contract disputes, and mass tort cases. Ms. Koller plays an integral role in representing public entities across the United States in the JUUL multidistrict litigation. Ms. Koller also spent several years defending major insurance companies in personal injury matters, which provides her a full perspective into the litigation process on both sides. Ms. Koller graduated from the University of Kentucky where she received a B.A. in Political Science, and she received her law degree from Washington University in St. Louis Law School. Ms. Koller is licensed in California, Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky.
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Frantz Law Group Social Media Litigation Attorneys
Kristina Aghazaryan is an attorney at Frantz Law Group. Frantz Law Group specializes in litigating complex catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, and mass tort cases. Ms. Aghazaryan was instrumental in the JUUL vaping litigation in which Frantz Law Group represented nearly 1,000 school districts and public entities. Kristina has a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine, where she majored in Psychology and Social Behavior. She received her J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. During her time in law school, Kristina was the President of the Student Bar Association and Chair of Moot Court Honor Society.
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Frequently Asked Questions
• What legal claims do public entities have against social media companies? Cases against social media companies involving public entities are based on a cause of action that arises from the legal theory known as “public nuisance”. Public nuisance allows both government and private entities to hold companies liable for unique damages incurred as a result of the companies’ conduct. This cause of action has been successfully utilized by government and private entities to redress several similar public health epidemics, most notably the JUUL e-cigarette epidemic, the current opioid crisis, and the original tobacco litigation in the 1990’s. Social media companies have caused a youth mental health crisis that has significantly impacted schools. Utilizing the public nuisance liability theory allows public entities to hold social media companies accountable for their conduct and the damage caused. • How much of our staff’s time will this take? This is difficult to predict with certainty, but we anticipate minimal inconvenience and interruption. We understand that your school administrators are extremely busy, so we will do everything we can to make this process as efficient as possible. Because we anticipate your case may be consolidated in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) for pre-trial coordination, most of the litigation efforts will focus on issues common to all litigants. There will be some case-specific discovery in the MDL, but that would be mostly in the form of written discovery and document production. Given the expected large number of cases filed in the MDL, the number of cases selected for more in-depth discovery and trials is usually relatively small. However, if your case is selected for trial, more in-depth discovery would occur in the form of depositions of key administrators. • What are the costs/risks for public entities participating in this litigation? Frantz Law Group will work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you are not required to pay any legal fees or expenses unless there is financial compensation. All expenses associated with pursuing this claim will be advanced by the legal team. If there is a recovery, Frantz Law Group will be reimbursed for expenses and fees out of the amount of recovery. If the case is not successful,the public entity will not owe Frantz Law Group any legal fees or expenses whatsoever.
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Additional Resources to Review
Senators blast Big Tech companies over kids’ safety amid renewed push for legislation “Senators blast Big Tech and called for the passage of federal legislation to regulate tech platforms in the midst of a mental health crisis among young Americans. Opening a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, the panel’s chair, accused tech companies including Facebook and Snapchat of “doing everything they can to keep our kids eyes glued to the screens.” The hearing comes amid renewed attention on the impact social networks are having on their youngest users. In his State of the Union address on February 7, 2023, President Joe Biden called for Congress to pass legislation to protect kids’ privacy and safety online. Also, in February 2023, a New Jersey community was roiled when a 14-year-old student took her own life after a TikTok video showed she was attacked by several other teenagers.” https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/02/14/tech/senate-online-kids-safety/index.html Frances Haugen Written Testimony Former Meta product manager testifies before congress and reveals internal Meta research that provides evidence that the company was aware of how harmful their programs are to the mental health of children and young adult users. The company’s leadership knows there are ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer but haven’t made the necessary changes because they continue to place profits before the safety of children and young adults. Congressional action is needed now! We cannot resolve this crisis without your help. https://mcusercontent.com/b1d87c667d721eb097b269551/files/ee3533ed-749a-9bfe-833a- d069f7626231/Frances_Haugen_Written_Testimony.pdf
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Social Media Litigation
We would be honored to represent your public entity in this matter. Please review and sign up by using our electronic sign-up packet: FLG Social Media Litigation
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Email: socialmedia@frantzlawgroup.com Web: www.frantzlawgroup.com Toll Free: (855) 735-5945 Fax: (619) 525-7672
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© 2023 by Frantz Law Group, A Professional Law Corporation. All rights reserved. This document, and the designs and intellectual property contained herein, are the sole property of Frantz Law Group, APLC. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved. Any unauthorized copying, alteration, distribution, transmission, performance, display or other use of this material is prohibited.
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