Ruddy S. Abam

Overview

Ruddy’s state and federal court practice emphasizes a depth of experience with consumer protection laws, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), and state and local financial services statutes, and is supported by a disciplined, dedicated team approach in data-intensive matters.

A national consumer protection litigator, Ruddy delivers thoughtful, business‑minded defenses in consumer-related matters. She represents creditors, debt buyers, financial servicers, and other consumer‑facing companies in individual and putative class actions. She also advises on regulatory compliance—particularly automatic‑renewal requirements and consumer-consent issues—with a focus on minimizing individual or class-wide litigation exposure. Ruddy provides concierge-level legal representation and manages coordinated, multi‑jurisdictional matters from early case assessments through sophisticated dispositive motion practice and class discovery. She showed it when her rigorous attention to research and relentless analyses of defense theories resulted in winning a key discovery ruling, limiting liability to individual claims rather than proceeding with nationwide TCPA class discovery.

Ruddy also handles regulatory and enforcement matters including civil investigative demands, subpoenas, and assists clients by anticipating how regulatory trends—such as Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission rulemaking, as well as state legislative amendments—translate into litigation risk.  Ruddy is a member of Benesch’s False Advertising Task Force, and has been substantively involved in pitching and advising major national retailers and Fortune 500 companies on advertising and consumer litigation arising under California’s False Advertising Law (“FAL”), the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”), the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), the Commercial Electronic Mail Act (“CEMA”), and related state consumer protection statutes.

When not providing high-touch legal representation to clients, Ruddy is deeply committed to grassroots service and regularly offers pro bono legal assistance across a range of matters. Prior to joining Benesch, she served as a Guardian ad Litem in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, advocating in court for the best interests of minors. She has also contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community as a curator for the State of Alaska and previously served as a legislative intern for former U.S. Senator Mark Begich.