Ari N. Rothman
Partner
He handles matters involving a broad spectrum of advertising laws, including autorenewal and email marketing laws; consumer protection statutes; the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA); the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) and state laws following it, such as California’s Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law (Sherman Law); and others involving consumer purchasing experiences. With this experience, he offers a unique perspective when counseling clients and helping them find creative solutions to complex problems.
Ari’s practice includes:
- Advocating and litigating for clients in consumer class actions and individual actions brought under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act; the CAN-SPAM Act; state anti-spam statutes such as California Business & Professions Code 17529.5; California’s Proposition 65; and other state consumer protection laws
- Advocating and litigating business-to-business matters involving affiliate marketing and advertiser disputes, and partnership and contract disputes for companies involved in on-line marketing
- Representing clients in asset freeze cases brought under the Federal Trade Commission Act and Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA)
- Representing merchants in disputes with payment processors, ISOs, and acquiring banks concerning withheld reserves, fines imposed by credit card associations, MATCH and Terminated Merchant File listings, and payment processing agreements
- Defending actions involving money laundering, "structuring," and wire and mail fraud, and contributing to bankruptcy adversary proceedings
In addition, Ari:
- Drafts, revises, and updates marketing/advertiser agreements, advertising/affiliate network agreements, publisher agreements, and employee agreements, and represents clients in negotiations concerning those agreements
- Provides compliance advice regarding advertisements created, published, and/or hosted by the client, and dissemination of such advertisements by email, text messaging, and other methods
- Advises advertising networks, advertisers, and publishers concerning asset and technology protection, privacy issues, protection of client and pricing information, and other compliance and best practices matters
- Consults with clients concerning trademark and copyright matters
Related Practices
Related Industries
Experience
Experience
Representative Matters
- Obtained a jury defense verdict in a class action seeking an estimated $1.6 billion in damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
- Obtained a jury verdict in favor of affiliate networks and affiliates/publishers in actions brought under state email spam and consumer protection statutes, including California Business and Professions Code § 17529.5
- Defeated certification in class actions seeking remedies under the TCPA (47 U.S.C. § 227) and consumer protection statutes litigated to completion class actions across the country for violations of the TCPA
- Represented merchants against ISOs and acquiring banks concerning merchant account reserves, Visa and MasterCard fines, and MATCH/Terminated Merchant File (TMF) listings
- Represented credit card processors and ISOs in merchant and acquiring bank disputes
- Litigated and negotiated a favorable settlement for an ad network that sued a competitor for a misappropriation of trade secrets case involving consumer data/email lists
- Litigated and negotiated favorable settlements for advertisers and ad networks in consumer fraud actions initiated by FTC and state attorneys general, and by consumers in class actions
- Represented advertising networks in FTC and state attorney general investigations
- Litigated and negotiated a favorable settlement for an advertiser accused of infringing trademarks of a competitor through labeling products placed on shelves of major nationwide retailers
Insights
Insights
Credentials
Credentials
Education
- J.D. cum laude Case Western Reserve University School of Law 2002
- Anderson Publishing Company Book Award, Civil Clinic
- A.B. Kenyon College 1999
Bar Admissions
- California
- District of Columbia
- Nevada
- Ohio (inactive)
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
- U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
- U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Tax Court
Professional Memberships and Activities
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, California State Bar, Cyberspace Law Committee
- Member, California State Bar, Business Law Section
Recognition
Recognition
- Legal 500, Media, technology and telecoms - Advertising and marketing - Litigation, 2023
- Washington Lawyers’ Committee, Outstanding Achievement Award (Received for work on an election lawsuit in Florida)
Community
Community
Pro Bono
- Obtained judgment after trial against Duval County, Florida for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, where Duval County purchased voting equipment that was inaccessible to voters with manual impairments and voters with visual impairments