California Gift Cards After SB 22: Class Action Exposure and Compliance Strategies

Christina Tusan, Founding Partner | Tusan Law, PC

Christina Tusan is a nationally recognized trial attorney and the Founding Partner of Tusan Law, P.C., where she has devoted her career to protecting consumers, whistleblowers, and vulnerable communities from fraud, deception, and abuse. With more than 27 years of experience litigating complex consumer protection, privacy, and unfair competition cases, Christina has secured over $1 billion in judgments and settlements on behalf of the public. Before founding Tusan Law, she served in high-level public enforcement roles at the Federal Trade Commission, the California Attorney General’s Office, and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

• Education & Credentials

Christina earned her J.D. from USC Law School, where she served on the Law Review, and her B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and is admitted to the State Bar of California, the Washington State Bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for all four districts of California.

• Recognition & Leadership

Christina has received the FTC’s Janet D. Steiger Award, the California Attorney General’s Award for Excellence, the California Lawyers’ Association’s Consumer and Unfair Competition Law Award (2024), the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association SIRIS Award (2023), and recognition for securing one of the Top 10 Bench Verdicts in California (2023).

• Professional Involvement

Christina serves on the California Lawyers Antitrust and Unfair Competition Executive Committee. She authored “New Programs and Rulings May Impact Whistleblowers’ Willingness and Ability to Stop Fraudulent Practices” in the Daily Journal (2024) and “Courts Are Increasingly Wary of Feel-Good Green Marketing Claims” in the Daily Journal (2023), and has spoken at FTC Common Ground Conferences, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and AARP Town Halls on data breaches.

• Experience

Christina led the FTC’s $100 million settlement with DeVry University, secured a $478 million judgment in a major “get rich quick” scheme enforcement, and co-led a student loan fraud case against Premier Student Loan Center that won $280 million in relief. She is currently co-lead counsel in a federal privacy class action against BetterHelp and previously led privacy litigation against TaxAct over improper data sharing with Meta and Google.

James G. Ryan, Member | Bailey Cavalieri

James G. Ryan (“Jamie”) is a Member of Bailey Cavalieri LLC, where he has 40 years of experience in commercial lending, unclaimed property, and commercial transactions. He focuses on commercial lending transactions for national and regional lenders, asset-based transactions, and specialized lending transactions. Jamie also provides legal advice to retailers, insurance companies, manufacturers, and distributors on minimizing liability for unclaimed funds and assists them in audits by the states, and serves as corporate counsel to privately held companies on operating agreements, equity issuance, mergers and acquisitions, and contract negotiation.

• Education & Credentials

Jamie earned his J.D., cum laude, from The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law (1985), and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dayton (1982). He is admitted to practice in Ohio.

• Recognition & Leadership

Jamie has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2003 and named a Columbus CEO Top Lawyer (2024–2025). He holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

• Professional Involvement

Jamie is a member of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section and Unclaimed Property Subcommittee, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the Columbus Bar Association, and serves on the Government Relations and Advocacy Committee of the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization (UPPO). He is a frequent speaker on unclaimed property issues at national conferences, including the UPPO 2018 annual meeting on “Virtual Realities and Real Unclaimed Property Issues” and the UPPO 2017 annual meeting on “Privilege and Privacy in Audits.” He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Buckeye Ranch Foundation and the Columbus Crew SC Foundation.

• Experience

Jamie represents numerous retailers operating in all 50 states and numerous foreign countries on point-of-sale, advertising, sales audit, gift card, and unclaimed property issues. He has practiced in the unclaimed property area for over 30 years, advising on planning alternatives to minimize liability for unclaimed funds and the related accounting reserve issues, and represents many large life and property and casualty insurance companies in unclaimed property audits and related matters. Jamie has served as an expert witness in unclaimed property litigation, including The State of Delaware v. Card Compliant, L.L.C. on unclaimed property issues related to gift cards.

SESSION 1 – California Gift Card Law After SB 22 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Overview the California gift card framework under Civil Code § 1749.5 and the SB 22 amendments, then examine litigation under § 1749.5(b)(2), settlement structures, government enforcement, dual-track liability, and repeat litigation against previously settled defendants.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – SB 22 Compliance Roadmap and Multi-State Gift Card Program Risks | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

Provide a compliance roadmap for retailers under SB 22, including employee training, POS audits, electronic gift card workflows, defensive documentation, consumer-facing terms, and the impact of the new $15 threshold on FinCEN’s 2016 de minimis guidance.