Jason Rathod

Jason Rathod joined the firm as an associate in 2010.  He litigates complex class actions across the firm's traditional areas of practice, including consumer protection, worker rights, and civil rights.  Mr. Rathod represents homeowners across the American Southeast whose homes contain defective Chinese drywall in a multidistrict litigation (MDL).  He is also involved in an MDL against major car manufacturers and the maker of a vehicle telecommunications system, alleging consumer fraud.

Mr. Rathod dedicates significant time to workers' wage and hour claims.  For example, he represents assistant managers and manager trainees in a class action against Pizza Hut, alleging that the workers were improperly denied overtime pay.  Mr. Rathod is involved in similar actions against Avis, H&R Block, and Rite-Aid.

Mr. Rathod's civil rights practice focuses primarily on individuals who have been strip searched following their arrest for minor crimes, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.  He recently assisted in a settlement that could reach $5.5 million on behalf of 30,000 class members subject to a strip search policy in Bexar County, Texas.  He is also involved in litigation against mortgage-servicing giant GMAC for allegedly depriving homeowners of their right to due process under color of state law by producing false affidavits in foreclosure proceedings.  

Mr. Rathod graduated from Grinnell College in 2006 (B.A. with honors in Political Science and Religious Studies).  After college, he traveled to Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname on a Watson Fellowship, studying the Indian Diaspora.  He attended law school at the Duke University School of Law in 2010, where he was an Articles Editor of the Duke Law Journal.  In law school, he also worked for the Self-Employed Women's Association in Ahmedabad, India on behalf of street vendors seeking an injunction against the city government for unlawful harassment and evictions.  He is the author of a law review note and article on racial discrimination.  Mr. Rathod is admitted to practice in Illinois and is supervised by the partners of the firm pending his admission to the Washington D.C. bar.