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

Mealey's Class Actions

August 12, 2024
Pet Owners To U.S. High Court: Amended Complaint Eliminated Federal Jurisdiction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An amended putative class complaint accusing two pet food companies of misleading consumers on the quality and value of prescription pet food belongs in state and not federal court as keeping a case in federal court where all references to federal law have been eliminated “upsets the federal and state court balance,” the consumers argue in a respondent brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to overturn Grable & Sons Metal Products, Inc. v. Darue Engineering & Manufacturing.
August 12, 2024
TPA Urges 9th Circuit To Reverse ACA Discrimination Ruling Over Exclusions

PASADENA, Calif. — In a reply brief urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a ruling that it violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care, a third-party administrator (TPA) argues in part that it “‘exercised no control’ over the plan design.”
August 12, 2024
Following Belknap, Judge Dismisses ERISA Annuity Row Over Mortality Assumptions

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Agreeing with the reasoning of a 2022 decision the plaintiffs called an outlier, a Georgia federal judge granted dismissal of a putative class suit in which Southern Company Services Inc. retirees argued that using outdated, “unreasonable” assumptions and mortality tables to calculate pension benefits violates actuarial equivalence requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
August 09, 2024
D.C. Circuit Tosses Class Certification Denial Appeal In Medicare Coverage Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal by Medicare beneficiaries of a district court’s denial of class certification, finding that the appellants, who received a favorable ruling from the lower court that deemed their continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) covered under Medicare, lacked standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to sue as class representatives.
August 09, 2024
Class Suit Filed Against Delta Over CrowdStrike Crash Causing Flight Cancellations

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines passengers whose flights were canceled as a result of an automatic update to CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software that caused computers, including those used by Delta, to crash filed a putative class action suit in a Georgia federal court, asserting that Delta violated its policies to provide flight refunds, hotel accommodations and related expenses when flights were canceled by breaching its contract with customers, resulting in them spending additional funds for alternative transportation methods.
August 09, 2024
Judge Denies Roblox’s Bid To Arbitrate Couple’s ‘Child Exploitation’ Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Aug. 8 denied online video game developer Roblox Corp.’s motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims that it violates California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by intentionally addicting children to its online game, which requires purchases of in-game currency to play, writing that Roblox did not show that the parents who filed the suit ever read or consented to its arbitration agreement.
August 09, 2024
TikTok Data Collection Claims Will Move Forward In California Federal Court

LOS ANGELES — A man who accessed an educational website that allegedly collected his personal information through software created by TikTok properly stated his data privacy claims against the website’s owner under California law, a California federal judge found in denying the owner’s motion to dismiss.
August 09, 2024
California Appeals Court: Minor Established Privacy Claims In Data Breach Suit

VENTURA, Calif. — A California appeals panel reversed a lower court’s decision to sustain a demurrer without leave to amend a putative class complaint brought by an 11-year-old who said an educational consulting company did not do enough to prevent his medical information from being accessed in a data breach, with the panel holding that the company is subject to two state data privacy acts.
August 09, 2024
Not ‘Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs’: Couple Says Cereal Brand’s Products Contain Lead

MINNEAPOLIS — A couple has filed a putative class action in Minnesota federal court seeking punitive damages that it projects as being more than $5 million against cereal maker General Mills Inc., contending that several of its products, including the iconic Cocoa Puffs cereal, are “unfit for consumption” because they contain high levels of lead.
August 08, 2024
Wash. High Court Answers Certified Questions On Amazon Pandemic Price Increases

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Price gouging may be an unfair act under Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA), but a 15% price increase during a declared emergency is not automatically prohibited, the Washington Supreme Court majority ruled Aug. 8, answering reformulated questions certified by a Washington federal court in a putative class suit over Amazon.com Inc.’s price increases during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
August 08, 2024
7th Circuit Affirms Parity Act Ruling For Insurer In Autism Treatment Coverage Row

CHICAGO — Affirming summary judgment for an insurer in a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA or Parity Act) suit over autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatments, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said a key shortcoming of the appellants’ argument was that their comparison focused only on pediatric chiropractic care while the statutory provision says “substantially all medical and surgical benefits.”
August 08, 2024
Federal Judge: Musk Rehashes Arguments In Bid For Judgment On Investors’ Claim

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California denied Elon Musk’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a putative class complaint brought by investors in the company formerly known as Twitter who say Musk attempted to manipulate the company’s stock price before his takeover, holding that Musk makes nearly identical arguments as he did in a previously denied motion to dismiss.
August 08, 2024
Impacted Air Travelers Sue CrowdStrike For Causing ‘Catastrophic’ Outage

AUSTIN, Texas — A group of airplane travelers filed a putative class complaint in Texas federal court against tech company CrowdStrike Inc. accusing it of harming them by failing to properly test its cybersecurity software before issuing an update that allegedly caused 8.5 million computers and devices to go offline, including at airports, delaying their flights in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.
August 08, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc After Race Bias Ruling For Uber

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel unanimously denied a petition for rehearing en banc and no judge of the full court requested a vote following a June opinion in a race bias class complaint against Uber Technologies Inc. in which the panel determined that a survey of Uber drivers conducted by attorneys representing a former driver who brought the complaint “fail[ed] to provide any plausible basis for finding a ‘disproportionately adverse effect on minorities.’”
August 08, 2024
California Laundry Facility Pays $1.1M To Settle EEOC Hiring Discrimination Claims

LOS ANGELES — A California laundry facility’s $1.1 million settlement of discriminatory hiring claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and approved by a federal judge in California brings the total settlement for a class of workers who the EEOC said were not hired based on their race and national origin or were subjected to segregated jobs based on their gender to $3.3 million as the temporary staffing agency used by the laundry facility settled the claims against it in April.
August 08, 2024
9th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of ERISA Case Over Structured Alpha Funds

SAN FRANCISCO — Reversing dismissal of a putative class action against the fiduciaries of union carpenters’ retirement plans, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in an unpublished memorandum disposition that the carpenters “have sufficiently alleged a relative loss based on” investments “in two volatility hedge funds managed by Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC.”
August 08, 2024
Restaurants’ Lanham Act Claims Against Grubhub Largely Survive Dismissal Motion

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois said seven of nine restaurants who brought trademark violation claims in a putative class complaint against Grubhub Inc., alleging that the company included their names and logos on its food delivery app without the restaurants’ permission, failed to show that they have a protectible trademark interest, while the claims from the remaining two restaurants are adequately pleaded.
August 07, 2024
$9.39M White Castle Finger Scan Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval to a $9,394,440 settlement to be paid by White Castle System Inc. to end a class complaint by an employee who alleged that the fast food company’s finger scan policy violated the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
August 07, 2024
Wash. Judge Issues Clarifying Order After 3 Post-Verdict Orders In Wage Class Suit

SEATTLE — A Washington judge on Aug. 6 clarified one of three post-verdict orders issued July 31 following an April $98 million jury verdict for health care workers in a wage and hour class suit and a May judgment of more than $229 million and denied supplemental judgment pending resolution of the total costs awarded.
August 07, 2024
J&J Tells 3rd Circuit Asbestos-Talc Securities Class ‘Reverse-Engineered’ Case

PHILADELPHIA — An asbestos-talc securities class produced none of the type of new and corrective disclosures required for class certification and instead “reverse-engineered” their case by working backward from price drops and identifying media reports and verdicts supporting the case, Johnson & Johnson and its executives told the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in urging reversal of class certification.
August 06, 2024
Applebee’s Accused Of Charging Online Customers Hidden Fees In Putative Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A customer filed a putative class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accusing Applebee’s Restaurants LLC and its parent company of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by charging delivery order customers a “carefully concealed” 11% service fee.
August 06, 2024
Judge: Investors Cite Only Opinions, Not Falsehoods, In Medical Stock Drop Suit

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted a pharmaceutical company’s motion to dismiss a putative class complaint brought against it by investors who claimed the company and certain of its executives issued misleading statements about a drug it was developing for a kidney disease; the judge found that “nearly every one” of the statements cited by the investors was an unactionable forward-looking statement.
August 05, 2024
Former Employees Say Philadelphia Inquirer Liable For Breach Of Records

PHILADELPHIA — In a consolidated putative class complaint filed in a Pennsylvania federal court, three employees or former employees of the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC bring claims against the newspaper, saying it is liable for damages caused by a data breach the newspaper did not disclose to subscribers and employees for nearly a year.
August 05, 2024
NFL Granted Judgment After $4.7 Billion Verdict For ‘Sunday Ticket’ Classes

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted a motion for judgment as a matter of law filed by the National Football League Inc. (NFL), NFL Enterprises LLC and individual teams following a $4.7 billion jury verdict for classes of residential and commercial subscribers to DirecTV LLC’s “NFL Sunday Ticket” on Sherman Act claims, opining that the testimony of two experts should have been excluded “based on their flawed methodologies” and that without those testimonies “no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages.”
August 05, 2024
3rd Circuit Appeal Filed Over Summary Judgment, Exclusion Ruling In ERISA Fees Row

PHILADELPHIA — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees is being taken to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, with the named plaintiff filing a notice of appeal regarding a denial of summary judgment ruling that involved excluding an expert whose testimony has had mixed fates under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals challenges in other courts.