Mike has more than 36 years of experience with class actions and other complex cases, including wage-hour class actions and collective actions, consumer products class actions, racketeering (RICO), and labor disputes with unions and employee groups.  He has tried more class actions and representative actions to verdict than perhaps any other attorney in the country. He has spent 215 trial days in court, including in a dozen class actions or other representative actions tried to verdict, the majority of which have resulted in zero recoveries by the plaintiffs.

Mike has earned multiple awards for his aggressive, innovative and successful track record, including The American Lawyer’s 2015 “Litigator of the Week,” The National Law Journal’s 2016 “Litigation Trailblazer” and Law 360’s 2016 “Class Action MVP.”

Mike helps his clients to avoid litigation but, if they are sued, to successfully navigate pretrial proceedings, trials and appeals. In many cases, he has successfully avoided trial by defeating class treatment or winning dismissal on the pleadings or on summary judgment.

Mike’s experience covers a broad spectrum and includes unmanned aircraft systems, antitrust law, bankruptcy, corporate takeover and valuation disputes and claims against former officers/directors, consumer products law, contract disputes, credit counseling law, foreign military sales, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, labor and employment law, media law, racketeering (RICO) and securities law.

Mike has litigated at all levels of the federal court system and in the state courts of California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. He is admitted to practice in the following jurisdictions: US Supreme Court; US Court of Appeals for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Circuits; US District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Middle, Northern, and Southern Districts of Florida, the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, and the Central and Northern Districts of Illinois. He held a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Avern Cohn, US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

A regular speaker and writer on the topics of class actions or RICO, Mike has been quoted and mentioned frequently in media coverage of litigation matters and has appeared on CNN and PBS. He is a contributing author to the firm’s retail industry blog.

Bar Admissions

Education
JD, University of Michigan Law School, cum laude, Managing Editor, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 1985

AB, University of Michigan, with highest distinction, Member, Phi Beta Kappa, 1982

• Lead counsel in more than 50 class actions for clients in various industries, including food processors, consumer products manufacturers and sellers, hospitals, restaurants, and airlines.
• Lead counsel in more than three dozen class-action and secretary of labor cases involving wage-hour rights of employees at a major restaurant chain and food processing companies.
• Lead trial counsel for a major food-processing company in an eight-week jury trial in an action brought by the US Secretary of Labor seeking back wages for “donning and doffing” by employees. Obtained a mistrial when jurors did not unanimously agree on verdict.
• Lead trial counsel for a major food-processing company in a class-action overtime case involving more than 500 plaintiffs; the case was subsequently listed in The National Law Journal’s “Defense Hot List” in 2006.
• Lead counsel in consumer products class actions against manufacturers and sellers relating to various home electronics devices and appliances.
• Lead counsel for a trade association in an action alleging Lanham Act and cyber-piracy violations based on fraudulent impersonation of association's personnel and web site.
• Led, for a multinational client, the domestic litigation strategy in response to a threatened international cyber-attack
• Served as co-counsel in a landmark trial of tort claims brought by a major supermarket chain against a television network for an undercover effort that resulted in a segment on PrimeTime Live.
• Defended at two trials the securities and racketeering claims made by investors against a major real estate developer.
• Served as counsel in a bankruptcy valuation trial for a major money-wire service.
• Served as defense counsel in a contracts trial against a major airline; the case involved two plaintiff classes and one defendant class in addition to the corporate parties.
• Argued interlocutory appeal before the Third Circuit of Appeals on an issue of first impression in the federal appellate courts. The case involved determining whether a district court can certify a class of employees under Rule 23's "opt out" provision in a manner inconsistent with Congress' specified “opt in” procedure for pursuing claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Represented both plaintiffs and defendants in numerous civil racketeering cases, including the defense of one of the nation's leading home builders and one of the nation's largest hospital chains.

• Former Chair, Litigation Committee, Bar Association of the District of Columbia
• Former Chair, Civil RICO Committee; Antitrust Section, American Bar Association
• Former Management Co-chair, Labor and Employment Law Section; Antitrust, RICO and Labor Law Committee, American Bar Association
• Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Civil RICO Report and the Advisory Board of the RICO and Securities Fraud Law Reporter
• Member, Federal Bar Association
• Member, Dade County Bar Association
• Member, Collier County Bar Association
• Member, Southwest Florida Federal Court Bar Association
• Master of the Bench, Michael R. N. McDonnell American Inn of Court (formerly Thomas S. Biggs American Inn of Court)
• Member, Florida Academy of Management Attorneys
• Bar Association of D.C. (Voluntary Bar)
• Tyson Foods, Inc. Preferred Legal Services Provider
• Collier County Women’s Bar Association
• Host Committee, National Parkinson Foundation of South Florida “Wines on the Bay”
• AUVSI (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International)

• Named among 52 Litigation Trailblazers, National Law Journal, 2016
• Selected as a Class Action MVP, Law360, 2015 (1 of 5 nationally)
• Selected as Litigator of the Week, American Lawyer, August 27, 2015
• Selected as a Super Lawyer for Class Action/Mass Torts, DC Super Lawyers magazine, 2007, 2013-2017. A description of the selection methodology can be found on Super Lawyers’ webpage.
• AV® Peer Review Rated in Martindale-Hubbell. A description of the selection methodology can be found on Martindale-Hubbell’s webpage.

• Hunton Retail Law Resource: Analysis and Insight in Retail Law

  By Michael Mueller |November 2020

• Aggregation Aggravation: Cappuccitti's Effect on CAFA, Class Action Law 360 (inaugural issue), Vol. 1, No. 1
• The Brave New World of Removal Practice Under the Class Action Fairness Act, Andrews Class Action Litigation Reporter, Vol. 12, No. 3, p.23
• Trial of an FLSA "Donning and Doffing" Class Action After IBP v. Alvarez, Andrews Litigation Reporter
• Tips For Defeating Claims Of Willful FLSA Violations, Law360
• Employer Trial Tips For Fighting Worker PPE Pay Claims, Law360
• Chapters on Trials and Statistical Sampling, A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions (2d edition), American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
• Is it a class action? Prove it!, Westlaw Journal Class Action
• Expert Analysis: How to Defend Against Multi-Model Product Class Actions, Westlaw Journal Class Action, Volume 23, Issue 12
• Second Edition of ABA Treatise Provides Expanded Advice on Federal Commercial Litigation, Hearsay (newsletter of BADC)
• "RICO and Labor Law," Chapter 30, The Developing Labor Law, 5th edition
• The Class Action Fairness Act and Exxon Mobil v. Allapattah: Congress and the Supreme Court Expand and Complicate Diversity Jurisdiction, 26 Class Action Reports 567
• Following on the FTC’s Heels, Plaintiffs’ Firms File Dozens of Class Actions Against Retailers and Manufacturers Alleging Technical Violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, Retail Industry 2022 Year in Review
• Dealing With Ethical Issues And Objectors In Class Action Settlements: An Overview And Bibliography, Future of Class Action Litigation in America, American Bar Association
• Amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Provide for Greater Court Over Control of Class Action Procedures, Martindale-Hubbell’s Counsel to Counsel Litigation Alert
• Trials Chapter, A Practitioner's Guide To Class Actions, American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
• Threading The Needle: Identifying And Preparing A Strong RICO Case, White Paper for Georgia ICLE
• Threading The Needle: Identifying And Preparing A Strong RICO Case, white paper for Georgia ICLE
• Chapters on Trials and Statistical Sampling, A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions (3d edition), American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
• Chapters on Trials and Statistical Sampling, A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions, American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
• Retaliation Bites: Got a whistle-blower on staff? Better not fire him. Thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley, he can now sue under RICO, Corporate Counsel
• Recap of Lawsuits Against Hotel Industry in Second-Half 2016: Are You Prepared to Protect Your Reputation and Profitability?, Greater Miami & Beaches Hotel Association Allied Upgrade Newsletter
• The Class Action Hurricane: Where Is The Storm Heading?, Law360
• Supplement section on antitrust and RICO claims in employment cases, William J. Holloway and Michael J. Leech, EMPLOYMENT TERMINATION RIGHTS AND REMEDIES (2d ed. BNA)
• 2018 Review of Hospitality Lawsuits & 2019 Predictions, Greater Miami & Beaches Hospitality Association Newsletter
• Don’t Overlook The 1^st Amendment in Labeling Litigation, Law360
• Report on second-half 2017 lawsuits against hospitality industry: business is up, and so are the lawsuits, Greater Miami & Beaches Hotel Association Allied Upgrade Newsletter
• Class Action Lawsuits on Rise, WardsAuto
• Winning Defense Verdicts in Wage-and-Hour Class Actions: Trial Strategies for Defeating Class-Wide Proofs, Westlaw Journal Employment
• USA - Washington D.C., Chapter 32, The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Class & Group Actions
• Facing Privacy Suits About Facial Recognition, International Law Office – IT & Internet Newsletter
• Watch for the Expansion of BIPA Claims to New Use Cases and Jurisdictions, Pratt’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Law Report
• Spokeo’s Impact and More, Westlaw Journal
• Recent developments under BIPA: Examining Spokeo’s impact and more, Westlaw Journal Computer and Internet
• 2nd Circ. Slack-Fill Ruling Makes Injunctive Relief Harder, Class Action 360