Robert J. Gralewski, Jr. is a partner based in San Diego and manages our California office. Mr. Gralewski has dedicated his entire 24-year legal career to obtaining economic justice for businesses and consumers victimized by price fixing, monopolistic practices, consumer fraud, privacy violations, and unfair employment practices.  He has successfully prosecuted a wide variety of federal and state court class actions against multinational conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies in industries including technology, food, automotive, consumer services, and healthcare, including at trial.

Mr. Gralewski has significant experience deposing CEOs, presidents, and other senior executives in high-stakes litigation, including in foreign languages.  For example, Mr. Gralewski has first-chaired apex depositions of Samsung, StarKist, and Foster Farms executives in the In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation, the In re Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, and the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation matters, respectively.
 
In addition to his class cases, Mr. Gralewski maintains an active pro bono practice.  Working with Casa Cornelia since 2018, he has succeeded in helping four separate refugees obtain asylum after direct examinations in contested administrative proceedings.  In recognition of his dedication and accomplishments, Casa Cornelia awarded Mr. Gralewski its Pro Bono Publico Award in 2019.  He is also helped establish COSAL’s (The Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee on which he previously served.
 
Mr. Gralewski was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds after his senior year in high school but elected to attend college instead.

Some of Mr. Gralewski's recent work includes:
 

• Ongoing representation of a proposed class of Division I college coaches whose wages were illegally fixed at $0 in Colon v. National Collegiate Athletic Association.  Recently, the federal judge overseeing the case overruled the NCAA’s motion to dismiss the case.  The litigation seeks to recover years of back wages on behalf of thousands of hard-working employees who were not paid due to a conspiracy among the NCAA and its member schools.
• Mr. Gralewski leads the KM team as one of the core firms in In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation, an indirect purchaser antitrust case against some of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world. The case has resulted in settlements on behalf of end payers exceeding $575 million, and the firm continues to pursue one remaining defendant with a trial set to commence in early 2024. The Special Master in the CRT litigation noted that, “Kirby played an integral role in this case and assumed significant risk . . . Kirby’s work was at a very high level [and] Kirby’s work greatly benefited the Class.”

• Representation of a class of purchasers in In re: Hard Disk Drive Suspension Assemblies Antitrust Litigation, a case alleging that defendants fixed the prices of suspension assemblies (a critical component of hard disk drives) which artificially increased the prices of computers throughout the U.S.  Through the course of his work on the case, Mr. Gralewski has taken several foreign-language depositions of high-level witnesses in Thailand.

• Serving as counsel on behalf of a certified class of retaurants and other commercial and institutional businesses in In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, a case alleging that numerous poultry producers, such as Tyson and Perdue Farms, conspired to limit production and increase the price of broiler chickens, one of the most common menu items everywhere.

• One of the core firms representing a certified class of everyday-consumers in In re Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation. This case alleges that StarKist, Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, and their parent companies, conspired to fix the price of packaged tuna. StarKist, Bumble Bee and some of their executives have already pleaded guilty, and Bumble Bee’s former president was convicted of price fixing by a jury. This case seeks damages for increased prices of this food staple.

• First-chaired numerous arbitration hearings on behalf of employees of a nationwide fast casual chain who were subject to a mandatory arbitration provision.  Relying upon JAMS’ Employment Arbitration Minimum Standards, he convinced many arbitrators to order broad e-discovery concerning the respondent’s practices despite the relatively low-dollar value of the individual proceedings. Ultimately, Mr. Gralewski and KM obtained economic justice for thousands of minimum-wage employees.

• For over a decade, Mr. Gralewski represented classes of businesses and consumers in monopoly cases against Microsoft Corporation in several states and served as consulting and advisory counsel to Canadian lead counsel in a similar Canadian class action.  He was an integral member of the trial teams in the Minnesota and Iowa Microsoft class actions which both settled for more than $350 million after months of hard-fought jury trials.  During both trials, Mr. Gralewski was responsible for the evidence and argued evidentiary issues before the trial judges daily.  Ultimately, he helped recover more than $2 billion in the aggregate for businesses and consumers alleged to be overcharged as a result of Microsoft’s monopolistic practices.