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Mealey's Class Actions

  • January 14, 2025

    Judge Affirms Discovery Orders Involving DOL Common Interest Agreement

    DENVER — Saying that a decision by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) not to file a challenge “ends the issue” but that she addressed objections anyway “out of caution,” a Colorado federal judge on Jan. 13 upheld related discovery rulings concerning a common interest agreement (CIA) in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging a deal.

  • January 14, 2025

    AI Voice Cloning Company Voice Actors Brief Motion To Dismiss

    NEW YORK — Responding to an artificial intelligence company’s contention that voice actors’ claims were time-barred and suffered from other defects, two named class action plaintiffs told a federal judge in New York that they own the rights to their voices and that the ongoing use of cloned voices sold under different names places the case within the applicable time frame.

  • January 14, 2025

    Florida Furniture Retailer Will Pay $1.48M To Settle EEOC Gender Bias Class Claims

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida-based furniture retail company will pay $1,482,748 and provide equitable relief to end a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the company had a policy of not hiring female applicants for driver and warehouse positions, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in Florida.

  • January 14, 2025

    High Court Urged To Find Federal Food Laws Preempt California Consumer Law Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A baby food company filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling finding that putative class claims may be brought against it for violating California consumer protection laws by allegedly failing to comply with federal labeling rules, writing that the ruling conflicts with high court precedent and creates a circuit split.

  • January 14, 2025

    Walmart’s $5.2M Class Settlement Approved In Workers’ COVID-19 Screening Case

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $5.2 million class settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. to end a case by workers who alleged that the retailer’s policy requiring nonexempt workers in that state to undergo a COVID-19 screening each shift without pay violated state and federal wage-and-hour laws, as well as California’s unfair competition law.

  • January 13, 2025

    High Court Seeks Response To Review Bid For ERISA Ruling On Burden-Shifting

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 requested a response to a certiorari petition in which 401(k) plan participants ask the high court to weigh in on “whether, consistent with trust law, burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 13, 2025

    Review Bid Fails For 6th Circuit Effective Vindication Ruling In ERISA Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 13 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the latest of several certiorari petitions seeking review of decisions applying the effective vindication doctrine in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases; this one focused on a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a putative class action over management of defined-contribution retirement plans.

  • January 13, 2025

    Certiorari Denied In Meta’s Advertising Fraud Damages Class Certification Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Meta Platforms Inc. seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the certification of a damages class in a suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment related to Meta’s online advertising services.

  • January 13, 2025

    After Trial, Judge Finds Disloyalty In ERISA Suit Over Fund Manager’s ESG Efforts

    FORT WORTH, Texas — In a Jan. 10 ruling issued after a bench trial in a class action over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, a Texas federal judge found that American Airlines Inc. and its employee benefits committee breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty but not their duty of prudence.

  • January 13, 2025

    Appellees To 9th Circuit: Uphold Dismissal Of ERISA Suit Over Severance Benefits

    SAN FRANCISCO — Urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm dismissal of a putative class case filed by former Twitter employees and reject arguments that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) makes as amicus curiae, Elon Musk and related entities argue in part in a Jan. 10 brief that precedent supports the ruling that the workers didn’t plausibly allege that a purported severance plan is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 10, 2025

    Magistrate Won’t Sanction Google For Destroying Files It Had No Clear Duty To Keep

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Finding that the plaintiffs in a consolidated lawsuit over Google Inc.’s purported data sharing via its real-time bidding (RTB) process failed to establish that the internet giant had a duty to preserve and produce particular files in an unencrypted format, a California federal magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion for contempt and sanctions against Google.

  • January 10, 2025

    Privacy Suit Over Zillow’s Disclosure Of Watched Videos May Proceed

    SAN DIEGO — Rejecting Zillow Group Inc.’s contention that it is not “a video tape service provider,” a California federal judge found that the online real estate platform operator engaged in activities that qualify it as such under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), leading her to deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss a putative privacy class complaint against it for purportedly sharing the video-viewing history of users of its app and website.

  • January 10, 2025

    Consumer’s Putative Class Suit For Audible Subscription Without Notice May Proceed

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied a motion by Amazon.com Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Audible Inc. to dismiss putative class claims alleging that they violated California consumer protection laws, including the state’s unfair competition law (UCL), by enrolling a consumer in an Audible subscription and charging her renewal fees, allegedly without notice.

  • January 10, 2025

    Negligence Suit Over Theft Of Genetic Data Settles For $8.9 Million

    ATLANTA — Finding a settlement fund of $8.9 million to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate” to resolve class claims brought against two cancer treatment health care companies that were affected by a 2021 ransomware attack, a Georgia federal judge granted final approval to an agreement that allows for payments of up to $1,000 or $5,000 and releases all claims against the defendants.

  • January 10, 2025

    After Revival, Defendants Win ERISA Disclosure Case With Release Agreement

    NEW YORK — After the putative class action over annual benefit statements provided after a traditional defined benefit retirement plan was converted to a cash balance plan was partly revived on different grounds, a New York federal judge ruled against the plaintiff on all remaining claims, which she said were “barred by the release the plaintiff executed in exchange for receipt of his severance package.”

  • January 10, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms That Amended ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Complaint Was Futile

    NEW YORK — Citing a different panel’s recent ruling in Singh v. Deloitte LLP, which had “substantially the same claims,” a  Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order and judgment affirming denial of leave to file a third amended complaint in a putative class action challenging a retirement plan’s record-keeping fees.

  • January 10, 2025

    2nd Circuit Again Upholds A Refusal To Compel Arbitration In An ERISA Case

    NEW YORK — Granting a motion based on Cedeno v. Sasson, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel summarily affirmed a ruling that an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) arbitration clause is not enforceable because it conflicts with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 09, 2025

    Hospice Provider Can’t Dodge Wiretapping, Privacy Lawsuit

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A customer of an end-of-life care provider sufficiently alleges that the company’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) software to record clients’ telephone conversations without their consent violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a California federal judge found Jan. 8, denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

  • January 09, 2025

    Content Creators Say PayPal Used ‘Honey’ Browser Extension To ‘Steal’ Profits

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Jan. 8 deferred ruling on an administrative motion to relate four putative class actions brought by influencers and content creators active on YouTube and Instagram who accuse PayPal Inc. of interfering with prospective economic relations and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a popular browser extension to redirect their profits from market affiliate links to itself.

  • January 09, 2025

    Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $15.25 Million Securities Settlement

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — A medical device and pharmaceutical company and its shareholders received final approval of a settlement by a federal judge in North Carolina, ending a case brought by the shareholders, who alleged that they sustained financial losses based on false or misleading statements about securities offered by the company.

  • January 09, 2025

    4th Circuit Vacates Certification Of Bojangles Wage Class For Abuse Of Discretion

    RICHMOND, Va. — A trial court abused its discretion when it certified two classes of Bojangles’ Restaurants Inc. shift managers in a wage-and-hour complaint as “it employed an inappropriately high level of generality when” it identified the policies allegedly related to the claim and when it created “overly broad class definitions,” a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating the certification order and remanding.

  • January 09, 2025

    Chicken Growers’ $100M Compensation Suppression Pact With Pilgrim’s Pride Approved

    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma granted final approval of a $100 million plus interest settlement between a nationwide class of growers and one of the poultry processors accused of conspiring to suppress their compensation in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act and granted a motion for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.

  • January 09, 2025

    Final Approval Granted To U.S. Portion Of Fracking Securities Global Settlement

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to the approximately $7 million U.S. portion of a global settlement in a case brought by investors alleging that an oil and gas exploration company violated securities laws.

  • January 09, 2025

    Vice Chancellor Addresses Privilege Claims In DUFTA Case Discovery Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor ordered plaintiffs to produce some documents they had argued were privileged and to pay for additional depositions in a putative class suit over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits.

  • January 08, 2025

    $52.8 Million Settlement Approved In New York City Prison Confinement Case

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a more than $52.8 million settlement between New York City and prisoners who alleged that they were housed in “stealth isolation confinement facilities indefinitely” and denied due process.