Don is a senior trial attorney with more than three decades of courtroom experience. He focuses his practice on representing defendants in class actions and mass tort litigation. Don has represented defendants in a wide array of class actions in federal and state court, including in such areas as labor and employment, consumer fraud, product liability, environmental and toxic torts, antitrust, civil RICO, Medicare fraud and abuse, securities fraud, and truth-in-lending. He has represented clients in such industries as financial services, pharmaceuticals, automotive, retail, food and beverage, petroleum, chemical manufacturing, health care, high technology, and higher education. Don frequently publishes and lectures before national and local bar and industry organizations on topics including class action practice.
He has been appointed by the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court to serve as Special Discovery Master in complex litigation matters pending before the court. He is a past President of the Boston Bar Association.
Don began his career serving as a law clerk to United States District Judge Joseph L. Tauro in federal district court in Boston. In addition to class actions, he has extensive experience with environmental, toxic tort and product liability litigation. As a young attorney, he was part of the successful trial team for one of the defendants in the lawsuit memorialized in the book and movie, "A Civil Action." He later served as lead national counsel with respect to class certification and Daubert motions for pharmaceutical companies in the "Fen-Phen" diet drug litigation, and served as lead class certification counsel for a Fortune 50 retailer in wage and hour lawsuits in various state and federal courts.
Recent Experience
- Represented Fortune 50 retailer in national defense of state and federal wage and hour class actions
- Represents national retailer in defense of FLSA and state law class action alleging misclassification of exempt employees
- Represents private equity firm in WARN Act class action
- Won summary judgment for internet marketing companies in consumer fraud class action
- Represents building products company in consumer breach of warranty class action
- Represents financial services companies in putative class action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
- Represents bank in checking account overdraft class action
Honors & Distinctions
Don is the recipient of the Founders Award for Tireless Efforts Against Environmental Racism, Alternatives for Community & Environment, 2003. Don has been selected for inclusion in
The Best Lawyers in America® 2013 in the fields of Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions-Defendants. He has also been named to the Massachusetts
Super Lawyer list (2004-2005 and 2007-2012) and is rated AV® Preeminent™ 5 out of 5 by
Martindale-Hubbell. He was included among 26 attorneys selected for the
Boston Business Journal's inaugural listing of "Who's Who in Legal Services" in March 2011.
Professional Activities
Subcommittee Co-Chair, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee
President, Boston Bar Association, 2010-2011
Board of Trustees, Boston Bar Foundation, 2008-present
Board of Directors, New England Legal Foundation, 2007-present
Publications
Co-Author, AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion: Is Feeney Finis?, Boston Bar Journal, Fall 2011
Contributing Author, A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions, American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, 2010
Feeney v. Dell, Inc.: Consumer Class Actions and Public Policy, Boston Bar Journal, Winter 2010
Consumer Class Actions: An Unauthorized Biography, BNA Class Action Litigation Report, February 13, 2009
In Re IPO Securities Litigation: The Second Circuit Clarifies The Standards for Resolving Class Certification Motions, ABA Class Actions & Derivative Suits Committee Newsletter, Spring 2007
Class Certification and Class Settlements in Environmental Cases, American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee Newsletter, Spring 2005
Aspinall: Defining Injury in Consumer Class Actions, Boston Bar Journal, January 2005
Civic Activities
Board of Trustees, College of Wooster, 2007- present
Council of Overseers, Huntington Theatre Company, 2007-present