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Mealey's Class Actions

  • March 27, 2025

    Judge Denies Norfolk Southern’s Motion To Dismiss Securities Fraud Class Action

    ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern Corp. and its principal’s motion to dismiss investors’ securities fraud class action relating to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was denied by a federal judge in Ohio, who found that the investors’ allegations raised an “overwhelming” inference of scienter.

  • March 27, 2025

    Federal Worker Appeals Firing, Seeks Processing Before MSPB As Class Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government’s use of a reduction-in-force (RIF) to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees throughout the government violated RIF procedures and was unlawful discrimination based on sex and/or race as well as political affiliation, the former deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) argues in an appeal of their termination and request for processing their appeal as a class one filed March 26 in the Merit Systems Protection Board.

  • March 27, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Securities Class Action Regarding Alleged Emissions Misstatements

    CLEVELAND — A federal judge in Ohio dismissed a securities fraud class action brought by investors against a company, its executives, selling shareholders and underwriters for allegedly  making a series of misstatements regarding the company’s effort to control the emission of ethylene oxide, finding that the investors failed to plead misstatements that trigger the defendants’ liability.

  • March 27, 2025

    $525,000 Settlement Of Philadelphia Inquirer Data Breach Suit Gets Final OK

    PHILADELPHIA — Five months after preliminarily approving a $525,000 settlement of privacy and negligence class claims over a 2023 data breach experienced by the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC, a Pennsylvania federal judge granted a motion for final approval of the settlement.

  • March 26, 2025

    Class Claims For School’s Nondisclosure Of Sexual Misconduct Fail, Panel Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action brought against a school for failing to disclose that three of its employees engaged in sexually abusive or inappropriate conduct, finding in part that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring a claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) as they were not directly harmed by the conduct.

  • March 25, 2025

    Judge Approves Settlement Of Consolidated Privacy Suit Over Photo Database

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted final approval to a settlement of claims against the creator and curator of a massive digital photo database under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), finding that the settlement fund being based on the startup company’s equity is appropriate given the defendant’s “precarious” financial situation.

  • March 25, 2025

    State Secrets Privilege Invoked After TRO Upheld In Immigrant Removal Class Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government will provide no additional details regarding two flights that left the United States on March 15 with immigrants being deported under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) potentially in violation of an order issued that day enjoining the government from removing the individuals, the federal government stated in a March 24 notice filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia in which it invoked the state secrets privilege; the notice was filed after a federal judge that day issued an opinion declining to vacate a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the class suit brought by the removed immigrants.

  • March 24, 2025

    Apple Misled Consumers As To IPhone 16’s ‘AI-Driven’ Functions, Consumer Says

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A consumer filed a putative class action lawsuit in California federal court accusing Apple Inc. of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other state consumer laws by misleading millions of consumers into buying its latest iPhone models by misrepresenting the artificial intelligence capacities that the iPhone 16’s “Apple Intelligence” and Siri software would offer.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies 3 Class Tolling Petitions Filed By Union Pacific

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied three petitions filed by Union Pacific Railroad Co. challenging rulings by three different federal circuits, which all held that American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah tolling ends for class members only when they have been “unambiguously excluded” from the class.

  • March 24, 2025

    Texas Seeks To Hold 3M Accountable For ‘Persistent Misrepresentations’ About PFAS

    DALLAS — The state of Texas has filed a brief in Texas federal court arguing that the court should deny a motion to dismiss its lawsuit against 3M Co. and other makers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) because “3M must be held accountable for its failure to meet its obligations to Texans, who — along with the legitimate business community operating in Texas — were negatively impacted by 3M’s persistent misrepresentations and omissions in marketing its products in the Texas economy.”

  • March 24, 2025

    $4M Deal Proposed To Settle Lawsuit Challenging ESOP Transaction

    PEORIA, Ill. — An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) lawsuit would be resolved on a class basis for $4 million, according to a motion for preliminary settlement approval that the named plaintiff filed in Illinois federal court; the development comes as briefing remains suspended in an interlocutory appeal concerning whether the plaintiff can pursue planwide relief in a representative capacity given that class certification was denied due to intraclass conflict.

  • March 21, 2025

    Amended Class Action Alleges Dental Floss Contains Multiple PFAS Chemicals

    NEW YORK — A plaintiff has filed a second amended class complaint in New York federal court arguing that dental floss made by Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) contains multiple chemicals that fit under the classification of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) based on direct testing of the product, which renders P&G’s claim that its products are healthy “false and misleading.”

  • March 20, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Fraud Class Action Against Amazon For Failure To Plead Scienter

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington dismissed investors’ consolidated securities fraud class action against Amazon.com Inc. and several of its executives, finding that they failed to adequately plead scienter when bringing claims that the company made misrepresentations regarding the exploitation of third-party sellers and misrepresentations about Amazon’s infrastructure and fulfillment capacity.

  • March 20, 2025

    Wiretapping, Chatbot Class Suit Against Kroger Tossed As Lacking ‘Plausible’ Claim

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action suit against The Kroger Co., a U.S.-based company that operates retail grocery stores, for alleged violations of California’s wiretapping statute by using third-party software to purportedly eavesdrop on chat-based conversations on Kroger’s website, finding that the plaintiff’s “allegations do not render plausible her claim of violation” of the wiretapping statute.

  • March 20, 2025

    Progressive, Insureds Settle Actual Vehicle Value Class Lawsuit For $48M

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $48 million class settlement between insureds and vehicle insurance companies, ending a lawsuit accusing the auto insurers of paying less than the actual cash value of vehicles deemed total losses.

  • March 20, 2025

    NBA Asks Supreme Court To Decide If VPPA Harm Requires Public Disclosure

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Appealing a ruling by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that revived a putative class claim against it for violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (VPPA), the National Basketball Association (NBA), in a petition for certiorari, asks the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the standards for when a plaintiff has standing to bring a VPPA claim.

  • March 19, 2025

    Judge Rebuffs Appointments Challenge In ERISA Benefits Suit Over Spinoff

    PHILADELPHIA — After conducting a bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits and issuing a mixed December ruling as to liability, a Pennsylvania federal judge on March 18 denied a motion in which the defendants sought emergency relief regarding his appointment of “an independent technical adviser on ERISA” and a special master as to remedies.

  • March 19, 2025

    9th Circuit Vacates Remand Order In Wage Class Suit Against Funeral Home

    PASADENA, Calif. — A trial court judge failed to properly evaluate an employer’s violation-rate assumption in a wage-and-hour putative class suit, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating an order sending the case back to state court.

  • March 19, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit Against GEICO After Parties File Joint Notice Of Dismissal

    CHICAGO — The same day the parties filed a joint notice of dismissal, an Illinois federal judge dismissed with prejudice insureds’ lawsuit alleging that auto insurers violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by charging “excessive” premiums during the COVID-19 pandemic that failed to account for a dramatic reduction in driving.

  • March 19, 2025

    9th Circuit Denies Petition In Attorney Fee Challenge After Voluntary Dismissal

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for writ of mandamus filed by consumers who argued that their voluntary dismissal of their class complaint alleging underfill of lower calorie ice cream could not be hinged on their payment of attorney fees to the defendants or limits on refiling.

  • March 19, 2025

    Biometric Privacy Claims Over Neutrogena Online Skin Analysis To Proceed

    TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (J&J) must face putative claims under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), a New Jersey federal judge held, denying the company’s second dismissal motion centering on its online Neutrogena Skin360 skin assessment product.

  • March 18, 2025

    Camp Lejeune Plaintiff Wants ‘Conspicuous Notice’ Posted On Defendant’s Website

    WHEELING, W.Va. — A woman suing law firms alleging that they engaged in illegal phone calls soliciting clients for mass tort cases relating to toxic water exposure at Camp Lejeune has moved in a West Virginia federal court for approval of a class notice plan and an order from the district court requiring one of the firms to post “conspicuous notice of the lawsuit and a copy of the Class Certification order” in a banner at the top of each page of its website.

  • March 18, 2025

    Costco: Baby Wipes Case Fails Because Studies Do Not Show Harmful Effects Of PFAS

    SAN FRANCISCO — Costco Wholesale Corp. has moved in California to dismiss a class action alleging that Kirkland Signature Baby Wipes contain unsafe levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), arguing that the plaintiffs do not cite “any state or federal regulations prohibiting or restricting the specific substances” at issue and do not point to a single study that purports to find harmful effects from those substances in humans.

  • March 18, 2025

    Consumers Tell High Court Federal Food Laws ‘Expressly Permit’ California Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two parents filed an opposition brief to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should deny a baby food company’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s decision allowing the company to be sued for violating California consumer protection laws by allegedly violating federal labeling rules, writing that federal law does not preempt states from adopting “‘identical’” labeling rules.

  • March 18, 2025

    6th Circuit: ‘Inherently Transitory’ Exception Applies To Mooted Bail Class Claims

    CINCINNATI — An arrestee’s putative class claims over having to prove bail bond funding sources prior to being released may have been mooted by his release, but the “inherently transitory” exception applies, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a trial court’s finding of mootness and clarifying “that a class-certification motion need not be pending” for the exception to apply.