Gerald “Jerry” Maatman of Duane Morris LLP helped Papa John’s beat a California privacy class action involving about 1.7 million potential class members and roughly $4 billion in potential exposure, earning him a spot as one of the 2026 Law360 Class Action MVPs.
His Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year:
The Chicago-based chair of the firm’s class action defense practice group and longtime Northwestern University School of Law adjunct professor said his biggest recent win was for Papa John’s in a suit accusing the pizza chain of violating California consumers’ privacy rights under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, or CIPA.
Maatman said the case was the largest CIPA class action filed in California state court and centered on whether phone calls to Papa John’s call centers were recorded in a way that violated the statute.
“That case stands out because of the stakes and complexity involved,” he said. “The case required a combination of legal analysis, technical evidence, expert testimony and teamwork, with many people working together towards a common goal.”
The matter presented a number of novel issues, he said, as there were questions about what constitutes a communication device, what qualifies as a recording device and how consent should be analyzed under CIPA.
“It was an exceedingly complex kind of mosaic of communication devices and what a lawyer would call virgin issues, where a court had never opined on the stretch and content and obligations of the statute,” he said. “I was able to convince the court that the way in which Papa John’s went about it, the way in which it set up the call center, the way in which the calls were made didn’t implicate the statute … and that there was no viable cause of action. And the court ultimately agreed.”
Why He’s a Class Action Attorney:
“The defense of class actions is not for the faint of heart; they are very intellectually challenging, very big cases that involve lots of money and lots of moving parts,” he said. “They can be very transformative, either in a positive way or a negative way to a company and its leadership, so I became fascinated with the impact that class action litigation can have on organizations and executives and boards of directors and all the moving parts because they [can] affect tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands and, in the Papa John’s case, millions of people.”
Maatman said class action cases are incredibly challenging and, at the same time, exceedingly interesting.
“The outcomes often shape policy and business practices on a nationwide basis,” he said. “I enjoy helping companies navigate these very difficult situations, and it’s particularly rewarding when decisions that are made and strategic decisions that are mapped out and undertaken can help an organization avoid these problems or create better situations for them.”
What Motivates Him:
Maatman says he wakes up every day excited about solving clients’ problems.
“Companies typically are calling when they’re facing some of the most significant legal challenges in their history or in the life cycle of a company, and they are relying on my judgment and my advocacy,” he said. “That’s what motivates me to do the best job I can do.”
Maatman said he is also motivated because he believes the biggest case of his career is just on the horizon.
“Everything I’ve done in my career has been preparation for that future challenge,” he said, adding that he expects such a case to materialize within the next couple of years.
“I think it will be a privacy allegation involving a nationwide class in the millions [of people] and the money will be worth in the billions and will be a very complex situation on the cutting edge of the law,” he said. “I’ve handled the biggest [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] lawsuit that was ever filed in the history of the agency with 77,000 workers and I think I handled the largest wage and hour cases ever filed in the states of Illinois, Florida and New York. Those were really big, bone-crushing cases, but I think the biggest case that I’m ever going to file is still in my future.”
His Advice for Junior Attorneys:
“Become an excellent writer because strong legal advocacy involves strong writing skills, and it remains one of the most valuable skill sets that a litigator can develop,” he said.
Maatman also advised young lawyers to be “relentlessly prepared” and become good at solving problems.
“Those two ingredients, preparation and problem-solving, are the two most important ingredients for success in the courtroom because there’s no substitute for mastering the facts at issue and understanding the details of the case and being able to solve the problem that the case presents to a company,” he said.
Doing so will help one build credibility with judges, clients and opposing counsel, he added.
“Your word can be trusted, and you become a zealous and effective advocate,” he said.
Finally, stay intellectually curious and never stop learning, he advised.
“The types of cases I’m seeing now didn’t exist when I was a young lawyer,” he said. “And I think you need to learn the law and to follow an area and never stop learning.”
Law360’s MVPs are attorneys who have distinguished themselves from their peers over the past year through high-stakes litigation, record-breaking deals and complex global matters. A team of Law360 editors selected the 2026 MVP winners after reviewing nearly 1,000 submissions.
Reprinted with permission of Law360.
