Gary Klinger

Practice Areas

Information Technology Litigation; Data Breach; Biometrics; Cybersecurity & Privacy; Antitrust & Competition Law; Class Action Lawsuits; Defective Products; Consumer Fraud; Dangerous Drugs & Devices

Career

Gary Klinger is one of the most well-known and respected data privacy attorneys in the United States, settling more than thirty class actions involving privacy violations as lead or co-lead counsel. In addition, Mr. Klinger is well-versed in both sides of class action litigation. Working with several big firms, serving as defense for Fortune 100 clients, he eventually discovered his desire to join the plaintiff’s side of the practice.

As Milberg Senior Partner, Mr. Klinger's privacy practice includes: data breaches, ransomware attacks, unlawful collection and/or disclosure of personal information, and violations of privacy statutes and/or laws, such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act, California Consumer Privacy Act, California Medical Information Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and General Data Protection Regulation.

Mr. Klinger also represents consumers in class actions and mass arbitration for claims involving false advertising, defective products, consumer fraud, violations of antitrust laws, and other torts.

Recently recognized as one of the 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, Mr. Klinger has won hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. Currently, he is pursuing his Masters of Laws (LLM) in Data Privacy and Cybersecurity from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

Professional Memberships

Certified Information Privacy Professional; International Association of Privacy Professionals

Work Highlights

Since its founding in 1965, Milberg has repeatedly taken the lead in landmark cases that have set groundbreaking legal precedents, prompted changes in corporate governance, and recovered over $50 billion in verdicts and settlements. Milberg has been instrumental in obtaining precedent setting decisions at every level, including at the United States Supreme Court. The firm pioneered federal class action litigation and is widely recognized as a leader in defending the rights of victims of large-scale wrongdoing. Milberg has been described by the New York Times as“[a] powerhouse that compelled miscreant and recalcitrant businesses to pay billions of dollars to aggrieved shareholders and customers.” Milberg is one of the largest plaintiffs’ class action firms in the United States and abroad. The firm currently is involved in some of the largest and most complex class action cases pending in the country and is particularly active in the field of data breach and privacy litigation. The firm is comprised of more than one hundred-twenty attorneys who work from offices across the United States and abroad. Milberg attorneys come from diverse backgrounds and reflect the diversity of the bar and the classes they seek to represent.

Milberg's Information Technology Practice Group has a proven track record of holding some of the largest corporations accountable for failing to protect data and privacy rights. The group's attorneys work at the cutting edge of technology and law, helping to create meaningful checks and balances against technology and the companies that wield it.

The group is led by Senior Partner Gary Klinger and Senior Partner David Lietz.

Industry Sector Expertise

Mr. Klinger is truly a "trail blazer” in the privacy space. Mr. Klinger led the way in bringing privacy class actions arising from the use of tracking technologies such as the “Meta Pixel.” He filed the first-ever privacy case in the healthcare setting for unlawful disclosure of private health information (Quinto v. The Regents of the University of California, Case No. 22-cv-012970). In the wake of the Quinto lawsuit, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued a bulletin on the requirements under HIPAA for online tracking technologies providing that “[r]egulated entities are not permitted to use tracking technologies in a manner that would result in impermissible disclosures of ePHI to tracking technology vendors or any other violations of the HIPAA Rules.” Since Mr. Klinger’s lawsuit, dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed against healthcare providers by plaintiffs’ class action firms across the country, numerous investigative articles have been published, and Congress even opened an inquiry into the issue.

Mr. Klinger led the way bringing similar lawsuits in connection with the use of tracking technologies under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) (Harris v. Pub. Broad. Serv., 662 F. Supp. 3d 1327, 1329; Belozerov v. Gannett Co., 2022 WL 17832185). Mr. Klinger’s work in developing favorable case law paved the way for dozens of similar lawsuits across country.

Education

Awards