Katherine McBride
Partner, New York Office
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212 355-9500
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Katherine (Kara) McBride is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office specializing in complex class action, consumer fraud, and defective products litigation. Her recent and representative cases include:
- a class action in Miami federal court against truck manufacturer Hino alleging various types of emissions cheating. The parties agreed to settle the case for $237.5 million plus valuable extended and additional warranties.
- large multidistrict litigation pending in Los Angeles federal court pertaining to defective airbag control units in millions of vehicles. Plaintiffs allege certain automobile manufacturers and parts suppliers– including ZF-TRW, Hyundai-Kia, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Honda, and Fiat Chrysler – caused consumers to overpay for millions of cars that have defective airbag and seat belt systems. These defective safety systems have led to a number of deaths and serious injuries. Plaintiffs have reached settlements with Toyota and Mitsubishi; the litigation against many of the defendants continues.
- a class action in San Francisco federal court against various automakers who allegedly cheated fuel economy tests for certain gasoline-powered vehicles, and as a result, represented to regulators and consumers that the vehicles obtained better fuel economy than they actually did. Ms. McBride also represented a similar class against Porsche for fuel economy cheating.
- multidistrict litigation in Pittsburgh federal court against Philips Respironics and its parent companies. Plaintiffs alleged defendants manufactured and sold more than 10 million CPAP machines that were defective because of the potential health risks of defective sound-reducing foam that was found to degrade and expose patients to small foam particles and release toxic chemicals.
- other cases include False Claims Act qui tam lawsuits against major pharmaceutical manufacturers related to inaccurate regulatory price reporting and kickback schemes.
Prior to joining Lieff Cabraser, Katherine was a Law Clerk to the Honorable I. Leo Glasser of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Katherine earned her law degree from Stanford Law School. While there, she was a Levin Center Public Interest Fellow and participant in the Stanford Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, the Iraqi Legal Education Initiative, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project. Following graduation, she received a Ford Foundation Public Interest Fellowship to work with Human Rights First in New York.
Long form bio (click to open pdf).
