Karla Gluek

Karla was elected Firm Manager in 2020 becoming the first woman to serve in that role.  She has twice been selected as a Minnesota “Attorney of the Year” and has spent thousands of hours representing individuals on a pro bono basis as part of her commitment to justice for all. 

Karla has been practicing in the areas of antitrust and consumer protection class action litigation since 1995, after serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Gary Larson, District Judge, Fourth Judicial District of Minnesota.  In May 2003, Karla joined Dan Gustafson in forming Gustafson Gluek PLLC, where she has continued her practice in the area of complex litigation, antitrust and consumer protection taking on corporations such as Medtronic, Syngenta, 3M, the National Football League, to name a few. 

In 2020, Karla was elected to become the Firm Manager, the only other manager following Dan Gustafson who had held that role since the Firm’s inception, and is actively involved in the day to day operations of the Firm and is a mentor to the more junior attorneys in the office. 

Karla is an active member of the Federal Bar Association and Minnesota Women’s Lawyers. Karla also serves on the Board for the Fund for Legal Aid. She has been recognized several times as a North Star Lawyer for providing at least 50 hours of pro bono legal services in a calendar year to individuals with need. She has assisted in the representation of pro se litigants through the Federal Bar Association’s Pro Se Project in addition to those referred to Gustafson Gluek by other sources.  She was part of the team at Gustafson Gluek that represented a class of civilly committed sex offenders challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota’s commitment statutes in Karsjens et al v. Jesson (D. Minn.).  

Karla has been designated Law & Politics magazine as a Minnesota “Super Lawyer” from 2011-2023 and has twice been selected as one of Minnesota Lawyer’s Attorneys of the Year. 

For more information regarding Karla and a list of her representative cases, see below.

More About Karla

    • William Mitchell College of Law, cum laude, J.D. (1993)

    • University of St. Thomas, B.A. (1990)

    • Minnesota State Bar

    • U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

    • Selected as a Minnesota Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine in the field of antitrust litigation (2011 – 2023)

    • Selected as an Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer (2014, 2017)

    • Recognized as a North Star Lawyer by the Minnesota State Bar Association (2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020)

  • In addition to managing the Firm, Karla is currently involved in several proposed class actions representing individual who purchased certain dog and cat foods alleging that various defendants misrepresented the quality of the pet foods and, as a result, overcharged consumers. These cases are being litigated in several states including Reitman v. Champion Petfoods (C.D. Cal.), Weaver v. Champion Petfoods (E.D. Wis.), , Colangelo v. Champion Petfoods (N.D.N.Y); Rydman v. Champion Petfoods (W.D. Wash.).

    Karla is also representing individuals who used 3M combat arms earplugs, both for military and non-military purposes, in cases against 3M, including those consolidated in the Northern District of Florida in 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litig. (N.D. Fla.), and those brought in Minnesota State Court, including Graves v. 3M Company, et al. (Minn.).

    Karla was part of the trial team that represented Minnesota corn farmers against Syngenta, Inc. related to their marketing of certain GMO corn, in In re Syngenta Litig. (Minn). This case settled on a nationwide basis for over $1.0 billion dollars. Additionally, Karla was an integral part of the litigation team that represented individuals with Sprint Fidelis heart leads against Medtronic, alleging that the leads were defective. The case ultimately settled for over $220 million dollars and Karla oversaw the seven-year claims period resulting from that settlement. (In re Medtronic Inc. Sprint Fidelis Leads Prod. Liab. Litig. (D. Minn.)).

    Other Representative Cases:

    Thomas v. Beech-Nut (N.D.N.Y)

    • In re Opana ER Antitrust Litig (N.D. Ill.)

    • Ciofoletti et al. v. Securian Financial Group, Inc. (D. Minn.)

    • Dryer et al. v. Nat’l Football League (D. Minn.)

    • In re Wellbutrin SR/Zyban Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Pa.)

    • KBA-Giori, North America, Inc., v. Muhlbauer, Inc. (E.D. Va.)

    • Spine Solutions, Inc. v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. (W.D. Tenn.)

    • INO Therapeutics Inc. v. SensorMedics Corp. (D. N.J.)