Michael von Loewenfeldt
Partner
Michael von Loewenfeldt, a partner in Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP, practices both trial and appellate litigation. He got his initial training as a defense attorney, but has steadily grown the firm’s plaintiff-side practice, and is currently focused on representing plaintiffs in consumer rights, employment, and insurance class actions. He has represented plaintiffs’ classes ranging from a few dozen employees to millions of consumers in both state and federal court. He is also an accomplished appellate lawyer, handling appeals for both parties the firm represented in the trial court as well as others who retain the firm as appellate counsel in a wide variety of cases on both a fee and contingency basis. He also has experience with municipal liability and civil rights, defamation, wrongful death, and other forms of complex litigation.
Michael graduated Phi Beta Kappa from San Diego State University in 1991 with a B.A. in Political Science. He received his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 1995 and was made a member of the Order of the Coif.
After law school, Mr. von Loewenfeldt served as a law clerk to the Honorable Saundra B. Armstrong, United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He was also a member of the California National Guard (Mechanized Infantry) from 1987 until 1994.
Upon completion of his clerkship with Judge Armstrong, he became an associate at the San Francisco office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. Michael joined Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP in November 1999 and became partner in February 2001. He is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court and all California state and federal courts, as well as the Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas and the District of Colorado, and is a member of the California Bar Association and the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Client Highlights
- Defended the City of San Rafael in a federal constitutional challenge to its mobile home rent control ordinance. He persuaded the judge to reverse his ruling on contract claims and then prevailed in a jury trial, sparing the homes of hundreds of mobile home residents.
- Assisted a well respected environmental law firm on behalf of a citizen’s group in Stockton, California that resulted in overturning a $600 million water privatization deal.
- Settled a consumer class action on behalf of 1.8 million current and former monthly members of 24 Hour Fitness. The plaintiffs alleged that 24 Hour Fitness improperly collected dues past the expiration of the members’ contracts and failed to give proper notice under California law. Settlement valued at $70 million.
Writings and Speaking Engagements
Michael has twice presented papers at the Annual Conference on Litigating Takings and Other Legal Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulation hosted by the Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Insitute, the Georgetown University Law Center, and the Stanford Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program at Stanford Law School. He has also been a National Business Institute panelist on employment law, and has taught Community Property as an adjunct assistant professor of law at the University of California, Hastings.