Overview
Taeva Shefler is an associate in Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s San Francisco office and focuses her practice on consumer and securities fraud litigation. Along with other Robbins Geller attorneys, Taeva worked on behalf of cities and counties around the country in In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation. In 2022, Taeva participated on the trial team in a federal bench trial in San Francisco in a case that had been selected as a bellwether in the multi-district litigation. The trial has resulted in combined settlements of over $350 million for San Francisco, including a nearly $230 million settlement with Walgreens, and more than $50 billion nationally from multiple pharmaceutical companies who were defendants in the national litigation.
Taeva also worked to address the opioid crisis on behalf of cities and counties across the country in another multi-district litigation, In re McKinsey Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation, seeking to hold McKinsey & Co., Inc., one of the world’s leading business consultants, accountable for playing a “central role in the unfolding, propagation, and exploitation of the opioid crisis by advising multiple opioid manufacturers and other industry participants how to sell as many opioids as conceivably possible,” according to the complaint. On February 2, 2024, the court granted final approval over a $230 million settlement between McKinsey, government subdivisions, and school districts to resolve claims about its role in facilitating the U.S. opioid crisis.
Taeva was also part of the team on the national Juul litigation, In re Juul Labs, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices, and Product Liability Litigation. On September 19, 2023, the plaintiffs, for which Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP serves on the steering committee, secured final approval of a $255 million class action settlement with JUUL Labs, Inc. in the e-cigarette youth vaping predatory advertising, fraud, addiction, and injury multi-district litigation. The settlement with JUUL is part of a series of settlements on behalf of class, personal injury, and subdivision plaintiffs with cases in the multi-district litigation. Separately, a $235 million settlement with Altria received final approval in March 2024. The settlement was reached shortly after the plaintiffs’ case was presented in a bellwether trial in San Francisco.
Before joining Robbins Geller, Taeva spent years representing whistleblowers in cases alleging fraud against federal and state governments in the areas of environmental cleanup, government contracting, and healthcare. She has also represented public and private water suppliers in mass tort cases alleging contamination of drinking water due to the use of toxic chemicals in agricultural areas across California.
Taeva is a member of the San Francisco Bar Association and, through its Justice and Diversity Center, has taken a pro bono case on behalf of an incarcerated self-litigant alleging constitutional violations while in prison. She has been selected by Northern California’s Super Lawyers Magazine as a Rising Star and has been included in the 500 X - The Next Generation Lawdragon guide. She has also been listed as a Best Lawyer in America: One to Watch by Best Lawyers®.
Taeva earned her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Oregon Clark Honors College. She received distinguished honors for successfully completing and defending a linguistics thesis. Taeva received her Juris Doctor degree cum laude from New York University School of Law. While in law school, Taeva competed on the Moot Court Team, served as the Treasurer for the Public Interest Law Foundation, and was awarded the Eric Dean Bender Convocation Prize for her commitment to public service.