Ronald J. Aranoff received his bachelor’s degree in 1992 from Yeshiva University, graduating magna cum laude, and received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was a David Berg academic scholar.
Mr. Aranoff joined the Firm in 2002 and concentrates his practice on antitrust and consumer class action litigation. In November 2009, Mr. Aranoff won a $14.7 million jury verdict for a class of Connecticut independent automobile repair shops against The Hartford Fire Insurance Company (“The Hartford”). The case was litigated for over six years in the Connecticut Superior Court (Stamford-Norwalk Division), including a three-week jury selection process and a four-week jury trial. The verdict provided a recovery for a class of approximately 1,500 independent auto body shops whose labor rates for work performed on automobiles insured by The Hartford had been suppressed for years.
Mr. Aranoff is one of the co-lead counsel in In re Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, No. 08-MD-2002 (E.D. Pa.), which involves antitrust claims brought on behalf of direct purchasers of shell eggs and egg products. Partial settlements have already been entered into with a number of the defendants, resulting in a $25 million recovery for the class. In addition to the monetary settlement, the settling defendants have agreed to provide information and documents concerning meetings and discussions with the remaining defendants regarding price-fixing efforts.
In additon, Mr. Aranoff was a member of the legal team that successfully persuaded the New York State Court of Appeals, in a majority opinion, to reinstate a 2007 class action complaint for rent overcharges that had been filed by tenants of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village rental apartment complexes in Manhattan; the decision is reported in Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties, L.P., 13 N.Y.3d 270 (2009). The class action complaint, brought on behalf of thousands of affected tenants in these two complexes, asserted that for many years the landlords have illegally charged market-rate rents for apartments that should have been rent stabilized under New York City’s Rent Stabilization Law.
Currently, Mr. Aranoff is representing clients in a wide range of matters, including, most recently, deceptive and anti-competitive conduct in the food industry (In re Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, No. 08-MD-2002 (E.D. Pa.), Four In One Co. v. SK Foods, L.P., No. 08-CV-3017 (E.D. Cal.), Brigiotta’s Farmland Produce & Garden Center v. United Potato Growers, No. 10-CV-00307-CWD (E.D. Idaho)); railroad industry (In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation, No. 07-MC-0489 (D.D.C.)); automotive industry (Artie’s Auto Body, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co., No. 08-CV-03-01916141S (Conn. Super. Ct.), and A&R Body Specialty v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., No. 07-CV-0929 (D.D.C.)); real estate industry (Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties, L.P., No. 100956/07 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.), and Doerr v. London Terrace Gardens L.P., No. 603696/09) (N.Y. Sup. Ct.)); and polyurethane foam industry (In Re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation, No. MDL 2196 (N.D. Ohio)).
Other representative matters have concerned requiring the manufacturer of an ovulation predictor kit to re-label its product so that it would accurately reflect the product’s limitations (Wagner v. Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., No. 03-CV-404-J-20 (M.D. Fla.)); and requiring a prominent computer manufacturer to compensate consumers for a defective power adapter (Gordon v. Apple Computer Inc., No. 06-CV-5358 (N.D. Cal.)). He is currently representing a proposed class of plaintiffs who own Keurig Brewing Systems that do not function as advertised in Green v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. and Keurig, Inc., 2:11-CV-02067-SDW-MCA (D.N.J.), a consumer class action pending in the District Court of New Jersey.
Before joining the Firm, Mr. Aranoff served as an assistant district attorney in Kings County, Brooklyn, New York, where he tried numerous cases to verdict. Thereafter, he was associated with Slotnick, Shapiro & Crocker, LLP (now part of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC), where he represented corporate, institutional and individual clients in civil, criminal and administrative matters. For example, Mr. Aranoff was part of the defense team that defended an accused Colombian national of leading an international money laundering scheme. He also defended a prominent adult home in a civil trial alleging administrative violations levied by the State of New York.
Mr. Aranoff is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third and Eleventh Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
