Thiago M. Coelho is a partner at Wilshire Law Firm, PLC, and serves as the Chair of the Consumer and Data Privacy Class Action departments. He represents large classes of consumers in complex, large-scale litigation in both state, federal, and appellate courts across the United States. His litigation experience has earned him significant recognition, including being named 2024 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) by The Daily Journal.
Thiago has litigated over 300 cases, and has extensive experience across all stages of litigation, including appellate and trial. Notably, he secured a landmark California Appellate decision in Moore v. Centrelake Med. Grp., Inc., 83 Cal. App. 5th 515, 519 (2022), review denied (Dec. 14, 2022), which overturned the trial court’s dismissal in a data privacy class action against a medical facility provider. This case set a precedent in several key data privacy areas, including the standard for acceptable credit monitoring costs theory and the acceptance of the benefit of the bargain damages theory under the UCL and breach of contract. In another significant case, Thiago vacated the denial of class certification in a consumer class action in the Ninth Circuit after prevailing in an interlocutory appeal of the denial of a class action. Mier v. CVS Health, No. 22-55665, 2023 WL 4837851 (9th Cir. July 28, 2023). In Peters, et al. v. Apple Inc. No. 19STCV21787 (Cal. Super. Ct.), he recovered 90% of the maximum value for a common fund settlement of $25 million. Further, in 2024, Thiago secured the second-highest settlement in history for a class action lawsuit against a fashion retailer within a specialized practice area.
His dedication to excellence has been recognized by industry peers and has received numerous legal accolades. Thiago has been nominated as Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Super Lawyers, Top 40 under 40, Top 25 Class Action Attorney, and the Top 10 Data Privacy Attorney. He is also a member of the Data Breach Committee of the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) which works closely to refine and develop legislation to keep pace with the ever-changing data privacy landscape. In addition to Thiago’s legal expertise, he is a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).  Thiago is currently appointed by the Honorable Allison D. Burroughs of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts as one of two attorneys on the expert committee in the In Re: MOVEit Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, a data breach impacting over 40 million consumers.
Practice Areas
- Class Actions
- Mass Actions
- Unfair Competition Actions
- Consumer Protection
- Data Privacy
- Investment Fraud
- Qui Tam Claims
- Antitrust
Education
- J.D., University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
- B.S. with Honors, University of Central Florida
Accolades & Professional Affiliations
- California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY)
- Super Lawyers
- Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch
- The Class Action Trial Lawyers – Top 25, NTL
- Data Privacy Trial Lawyers – Top 10, NTL (former appointed president for 2021, and 2022).
- Top 40 under 40 Civil Plaintiff Lawyers, NTL
- Data Breach Committee Member, Consumer Attorneys Of California (CAOC)
- Member of the Class Action Division, American Association for Justice (AAJ)
- Member, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA)
- Member, Impact Fund
- Member, American Bar Association
Publications & Appearances
- “Citizens Policing the Police: An Evaluation of Citizens Recording Police Officers and Eavesdropping Laws,” 51 No. 1 Crim. Law Bulletin ART 6 (2015)
- “Mass Arbitration and Automation,” Speaker at National Trial Lawyers Summit
  
 
