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Mealey's Class Actions

  • April 01, 2025

    Opt-Out Class Certified For 3 Issues In Multiemployer Health Plan ERISA Case

    CHICAGO — Saying in part that “common questions predominate over questions of liability but subside over questions of damages,” an Illinois federal judge on March 31 granted certification of an opt-out class “for only the issues of liability and injunctive relief, but not monetary damages” in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case against the trustees of a nationwide multiemployer health plan over expenses and allocations.

  • April 01, 2025

    Consumer Claims Over Watery ‘Buttery Spread’ Dismissed By Judge

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action lawsuit accusing a butter alternative maker of deceiving consumers by manufacturing the product with higher-than-normal quantities of water and flaxseed oil, which apparently led to thousands of consumer complaints and some sales of “rancid” products, finding that the plaintiff failed to sufficiently allege a violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.

  • April 01, 2025

    Immigrant Removal Class Seeks Denial Of Government’s Application From High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An application to vacate a temporary restraining order (TRO) and for administrative stay filed by the United States, President Donald J. Trump and other federal government officials and agencies in a class case over the removal of immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) should be denied by the U.S. Supreme Court as the TRO is not an appealable order and the federal government has not shown harm, the provisionally certified immigrant class argues in its April 1 opposition.

  • April 01, 2025

    Fan Waives Response To NBA’s Certiorari Petition Over Privacy Of Online Viewing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man who sued the National Basketball Association (NBA) for sharing his nba.com video-viewing history with Facebook and had the dismissal of his putative class claim under the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (VPPA) reversed by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opted against responding to the NBA’s petition for certiorari over the matter, in which it asked the U.S. Supreme Court to answer questions regarding harm and standing under the act (National Basketball Association v. Michael Salazar, No. 24-994, U.S. Sup.).

  • April 01, 2025

    Expert Can Opine On Class Certification Processes In TCPA Case, Judge Says

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge deemed testimony of an expert retained in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case admissible in opining on how to provide notice to potential class members.

  • April 01, 2025

    6th Circuit Sets Argument In 2 ERISA Pension Appeals Concerning Mortality Tables

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for May 8 in two appeals that involve use of decades-old mortality tables and whether part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires “reasonable assumptions” in calculating certain pension benefits.

  • March 31, 2025

    $7.5M Beyond Meat Protein Content Class Settlement Approved

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval of a $7.5 million class settlement between Beyond Meat Inc. and consumers who alleged that the plant-based meat substitute company inflated protein content and overstated the quality of the protein in its products.

  • March 31, 2025

    Negligence Claim Dismissed From Class Suit Over Pa. Borough’s Towing Of Cars

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania borough accused in a putative class suit of towing, impounding and disposing of vehicles without providing owners with basic due process protections of a notice and hearing has immunity from the suit’s negligence claim only, a federal judge in that state ruled, declining to dismiss the remaining pending claims.

  • March 31, 2025

    Wash. Noncitizen Resident’s Class Suit Alleges Bond Denials By Immigration Judges

    SEATTLE — A Washington resident who is a noncitizen and is being detained at the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center (NWIPC) filed a class complaint in a federal court in that state alleging that “a unique, draconian policy adopted by immigration judges (IJs) at the Tacoma Immigration Court” prolongs the detentions of him an others as all bond requests are denied.

  • March 31, 2025

    Retirees’ PRT Case Against Lockheed Martin Survives Dismissal

    GREENBELT, Md. — The same day a similar suit was dismissed without prejudice in a District of Columbia federal court, retirees beat a dismissal motion in another one of the recent set of putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), with a Maryland federal judge ruling in their favor on March 28.

  • March 31, 2025

    Judge Stays Deceptive Marketing Class Claims Against Zyn Maker Due To Earlier Suit

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on March 28 stayed a putative class action against Swedish Match North America LLC (SM) for allegedly deceptively marketing Zyn nicotine pouches as nicotine cessation products in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws after finding a similar suit is already pending and applying the “first-to-file rule.”

  • March 31, 2025

    23andMe Agrees To Proceed With Data Breach Settlement, Files Bankruptcy Notices

    SAN FRANCISCO — Two days after 23andMe Inc. informed a California federal court that it would be proceeding with a settlement of negligence, privacy and unfair competition claims over a 2023 data breach, which had been preliminarily approved in December, the troubled DNA testing company filed three notices of bankruptcy, staying the multidistrict litigation.

  • March 31, 2025

    Defendants In 1 PRT Suit Win Dismissal For Lack Of Standing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Defendants won one of the first two rulings on dismissal motions in a recent set of similar putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), with a District of Columbia federal judge on March 28 dismissing a case filed by Alcoa USA Corp. retirees on the grounds that they lack standing.

  • March 31, 2025

    Judge: EEOC’s ‘Nudge’ Saves Disability Bias Class Claims From Dismissal

    PHILADELPHIA — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may proceed with disability discrimination claims against certain Pennsylvania hospital entities accused of discriminating against employees who took medical leave by requiring them to reapply and compete for employment opportunities when returning from leave, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled, partially granting and partially denying a motion to dismiss the amended complaint, explaining that “[w]hile the Court would have preferred that the EEOC decisively push its claims across the line from conceivable to plausible in its Amended Complaint, just a nudge will do.”

  • March 28, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Class Suit Alleging Infant Formula Contained Heavy Metals

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on March 24 granted an infant formula company’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by allegedly concealing the presence of heavy metals in its formula products, finding that the plaintiff failed to allege that the amounts of heavy metals in the products pose a safety.

  • March 28, 2025

    Federal Government Seeks Stay Orders, Vacate TRO In Immigrant Removal Class Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. president through Article II of the U.S. Constitution rather than the judiciary through temporary restraining orders (TROs) is “who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in the” United States, President Donald J. Trump and other federal government officials and agencies argue in a March 28 application filed in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an immediate administrative stay of a TRO and provisional class certification order and to vacate the TRO in a class case brought by immigrants who were deported under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).

  • 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.