Craig Briskin joined the Washington, D.C. office of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC in 2007 and became a partner in 2009.
Mr. Briskin focuses his practice primarily on class actions related to consumer and mortgage fraud. He serves as co-lead counsel for the class in In re MagSafe Adapter Litigation, representing consumers who allege that their Apple MagSafe laptop adapters prematurely fray, break, spark, and cease functioning. The court granted final approval of a settlement in February 2012. He also serves as co-counsel for the class in Sonoda v. Amerisave, concerning alleged deceptive sales practices by a leading online mortgage broker. The court granted final approval to a $3.1 million settlement in February 2013.
Mr. Briskin is co-counsel with AARP in an action against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, concerning their alleged failure to protect seniors in the reverse mortgage program. Shortly after plaintiffs filed a preliminary injunction motion, HUD rescinded the guidance Plaintiffs challenged, with the result that spouses and family members can retain their family homes by paying 95% of the home’s current appraised value. Plaintiffs continue to litigate to enforce the protection from displacement for borrowers’ spouses. Mr. Briskin is co-counsel with AARP in a proposed class action against Wells Fargo and Fannie Mae regarding their alleged refusal to allow spouses and heirs of reverse mortgage borrowers to purchase their family homes for 95% of the home’s current appraised value, pursuant to federal statute and the mortgage contract.
Mr. Briskin is counsel for plaintiffs in Mackmin v. Visa, alleging an agreement to assess supracompetitive access fees to ATM customers. He also serves as co-counsel with Center for Science in the Public Interest in Hensley-McClean v. Safeway, concerning Safeway’s alleged failure to notify customers of Class I food recalls. Mr. Briskin was class counsel in a case alleging a brake defect in the Ford Focus, which was successfully settled in 2008.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Briskin prosecuted antitrust and commodities class actions at Labaton Sucharow, LLP in New York. Among other matters, Mr. Briskin represented a class of natural gas futures traders who claimed damages resulting from defendant natural gas traders’ manipulation of prices through false reporting to industry publications. Settlements with defendants, the last of which were approved in June 2007, were in excess of $100 million. Mr. Briskin also represented consumers and third-party payors in several successful antitrust actions alleging that brand-name drugmakers blocked generic competition and charged supracompetitive prices for their products, through abuse of the patent system and sham litigation.
Mr. Briskin serves as state co-chair for the District of Columbia chapter of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, and serves on the case development committee of Public Justice. He has spoken and moderated several panel discussions concerning consumer law and arbitration issues at the District of Columbia Bar.
From 1999-2001, Mr. Briskin was an Equal Justice Works fellow at New York Legal Assistance Group. He represented indigent and primarily immigrant clients in welfare, disability and immigration matters, in administrative hearings, and in state and federal court.
Mr. Briskin received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1998. He was a board member and student attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, and a senior editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He co-authored an article for that publication titled “The Waging of Welfare: All Work And No Pay?” 33 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 559 (1998). Mr. Briskin also interned for Public Citizen and the American Civil Liberties Union. Following law school, Mr. Briskin clerked for Justice Alexander O. Bryner of the Alaska Supreme Court.
Mr. Briskin graduated from Harvard College in 1994, with an A.B. cum laude in Psychology.
Email: cbriskin@findjustice.com