Mealey's Class Actions : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Class Actions

January 08, 2025
Amicus Argument Granted In High Court Case Over ERISA Pleading Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. —The U.S. Supreme Court in a Jan. 8 order list granted the government’s request to be allowed to participate as amicus curiae in divided Jan. 22 argument concerning what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for a prohibited transaction between a retirement plan and a party in interest.
January 08, 2025
Decade-Long Amazon Wage- And-Hour MDL Dismissed After $11.1M Settlement Approved

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky dismissed with prejudice a multidistrict litigation accusing Amazon.com Inc. and related parties of failing to pay workers for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings stating that all matters had been resolved; the order was filed a little over two weeks after an $11.1 million settlement between the online retailer and California workers was granted final approval.
January 08, 2025
$4.95M ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Deal Proposed In Case That Preceded Recent Wave

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A suit filed months before a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plans’ tobacco surcharges would be resolved for $4.95 million under a class settlement to which the plaintiff has asked a Missouri federal court to grant preliminary approval.
January 08, 2025
After Revival, Settlement Of Almost $1.5M Is Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Suit

DALLAS — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act fees and funds challenge that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived in an unpublished opinion would be resolved for $1,475,000 under a class settlement the plaintiffs have asked a Texas federal court to grant preliminary approval.
January 08, 2025
Home Depot’s $9.5 Million Meal, Rest Period Settlement Granted Final Approval

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington in a pair of orders granted final approval of a $9.5 million class settlement by The Home Depot Inc. and Home Depot USA Inc. (together, Home Depot) in a complaint by workers who alleged that the companies owed unpaid wages and compensation for rest and meal breaks the workers were denied and approved the requested attorney fees, costs and incentive awards.
January 08, 2025
Class Certification Denied In Amazon Driver’s Expenses, Misclassification Case

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington denied a renewed motion for class certification filed by an Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon Logistics Inc. (together, Amazon) driver who alleges that he and other have been misclassified and were made to pay for business expenses and dismissed the driver’s Massachusetts Wage Act claim “for failure to state a viable claim.”
January 08, 2025
Wal-Mart Applicant Seeks Rehearing After Dismissal Of Cannabis Use Suit Upheld

PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority erred in upholding a ruling finding that a New Jersey law prohibiting the firing of workers for cannabis use does not create a private cause of action as the “novel question of state law” needed to be certified to the New Jersey Supreme Court, the majority’s analysis of the case “conflicts with decisions of the Supreme Court and” the Third Circuit and the majority’s “interpretation effectively nullifies core employment protections that the New Jersey Legislature enacted, agues a job applicant whose job offer was rescinded after testing positive for cannabis in a petition for rehearing.
January 07, 2025
$6.9M Settlement Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Case Over Fees And Funds

CHICAGO — Seeking preliminary approval of a $6.9 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit involving record-keeping fees and proprietary target date funds (TDFs), retirement plan participants on Jan. 6 told an Illinois federal court that the gross amount is “approximately 12% to 38% of damages” estimated by their expert.
January 07, 2025
Federal Magistrate Judge OKs $17.75 Million Settlement In Securities Dispute

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California issued an order granting final approval to a $17.75 million settlement in a case brought by investors who alleged that a company provided several misleading omissions and misrepresentations in a proxy registration statement to secure a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
January 07, 2025
Fracking Wells At Issue In Groundwater Case Belong To Other Party, Defendants Say

PITTSBURGH — Defendants in a class action over allegations that fracking waste fluid has contaminated residents’ water supply have filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed with regard to both parties because the plaintiffs “unambiguously plead” that only the other defendants own and operate the hydraulic fracturing wells at issue.
January 07, 2025
Protective Order Violations Alleged In ERISA, RICO Suit Over Repricing Method

OAKLAND, Calif. — After the defendants alleged violation of a protective order in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit over alleged underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health treatment claims, saying in part that a government regulator not involved sent a confidential document from it in communications about a separate matter, the plaintiffs requested more time to respond and a California federal judge issued a text-only order.
January 07, 2025
11th Circuit ERISA Ruling Rejecting Burden-Shifting Is Focus Of Certiorari Bid

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Home Depot Inc. and related respondents have waived their right to respond to a certiorari petition in which 401(k) plan participants ask the U.S. Supreme 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 07, 2025
Class Certified In Worker’s WARN Act Case Against Digital News Company

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York certified a class of workers terminated by a now-defunct news organization, The Messenger, who allege that the mass layoff by JAF Communications Inc. violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
January 07, 2025
N.J. Federal Judge Partially Dismisses Claims In Amended Insulin Pricing Dispute

NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a motion to strike a fourth amended complaint alleging that three drug manufacturers engaged in an unfair and unconscionable pricing scheme for their analog insulin products but agreed to dismiss certain claims.
January 06, 2025
More Than $60M In Settlements Preliminarily OK’d In No-Poaching Class Case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut on Jan. 3 granted preliminary approval of more than $60 million in settlements reached in a class case by workers who accuse aerospace engineering firms and executives of conspiring to not solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval or otherwise compete for engineers and other skilled employees.
January 06, 2025
Texas Ranch Owner Dismisses Class Suit Over Smokehouse Creek Fire

AMARILLO, Texas — A Texas ranch owner and the three utility companies he accuses of controlling or maintaining an electrical line pole that snapped due to high winds and caused a February 2024 fire that burned more than 1 million acres in the Texas panhandle filed Jan. 3 in a federal court in that state a stipulation of voluntary dismissal of the class complaint.
January 06, 2025
Meta, Users Oppose Objector’s Certiorari Bid Over Service Awards, Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A class member who initially objected to the $90 million settlement of a privacy class action over the use of tracking cookies by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) did not present any questions meriting attention by the U.S. Supreme Court in his petition for certiorari protesting service awards and attorney fees that were approved as part of the settlement, Meta and the lead plaintiffs argue in briefs opposing certiorari.
January 06, 2025
U.S. As Amicus Supports Health Company In Appeal Over FCC Orders

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the position of a medical supply company that argues that the Hobbs Act provides courts of appeal the jurisdiction to decide whether an order by the Federal Communications Commission concerning what constitutes faxes prohibited by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) “is correct.”
January 06, 2025
Apple Settles ITunes Gift Card Scam Class Suit For $35 Million

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $35 million settlement to be paid by Apple Inc. and Apple Value Services LLC (together, Apple) to end a class complaint alleging that the company knowingly participated in an iTunes gift card scam and kept stolen money for itself was granted final approval by a federal judge in California.
January 03, 2025
Respondents, Amici Urge High Court To Affirm 2nd Circuit ERISA Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Jan. 3 amicus curiae briefs have been filed in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the respondents on the question of what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for a prohibited transaction between a plan and a party in interest.
January 03, 2025
Standing Is Among Issues Raised In Motion To Dismiss ERISA Suit Over Surcharges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Arguing in part that the plaintiffs lack standing, a company sued over surcharges imposed on participants in its self-funded health plan for tobacco use and for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has moved in North Carolina federal court for dismissal.
January 03, 2025
RTX’s $34M Settlement In No-Poaching Class Case Brings Total To More Than $60M

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Workers who accuse aerospace engineering firms, senior executives and managers of conspiring to not solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval or otherwise compete for engineers and other skilled employees filed a motion in a federal court in Connecticut seeking preliminary approval of a $34 million settlement with RTX Corp., Pratt & Whitney Division.
January 03, 2025
Trimmed Class Certification Motion In Blackbaud Data Breach MDL Rejected

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Seven months after a South Carolina federal judge declined to certify several subclasses in a privacy multidistrict litigation against a data maintenance firm, he denied the lead plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a renewed certification motion, finding that they had “not offered sufficient grounds for reopening class certification and further postponing resolution of [the] matter.”
January 02, 2025
$2.45M Class Settlement In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case Wins Final Approval

MILWAUKEE — A class of about 500 individuals whose joint survivor annuity (JSA) benefits were calculated using a 1971 mortality table and 6% interest rate will receive increased benefits under a $2.45 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act settlement that a Wisconsin federal judge granted final approval.
January 02, 2025
Siri Users Seek Initial Approval Of $95 Million Eavesdropping Claims

OAKLAND, Calif. — A proposed $95 million settlement with Apple Inc. over the purported unauthorized recording of private conversations of Apple device users by its digital assistant Siri represents “the product of more than five years of litigation and months of negotiations” and merits preliminary approval, a group of plaintiffs tells a California federal judge in a Dec. 31 motion, in which they call the agreement “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”