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

Mealey's Class Actions

October 25, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Class Suit Over Citric Acid In Cape Cod Potato Chips

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part two food companies’ motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit accusing them of concealing the presence of citric acid in its Cape Cod brand potato chips product from consumers in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes, rejecting its argument that the ingredient is used for flavor, not as a preservative.
October 25, 2024
Alexa AI Voice Plaintiffs Seeking Class Certification Point To Recent BIPA Ruling

CHICAGO — A federal judge recently certified a class action after finding that finger scans fell within the definition of fingerprints and were governed by the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), plaintiffs in a federal court in Illinois challenging the capture and use of voices for training the Alexa artificial intelligence said in an unopposed motion for leave to file supplemental authority.
October 24, 2024
Fracking Royalty Owners Seek Class Certification, Say Case Is Not Too Complex

WHEELING, W.Va. — The plaintiffs who are suing Southwestern Energy Co. and Southwestern Production Co. LLC (collectively, Southwestern) alleging that they paid diminished royalty payments regarding hydraulic fracturing mineral rights have filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court in support of a motion for class certification, contending that Southwestern takes “a time-honored but unremarkable approach in its argument, largely insisting that this case is far more complex than it really is and that untold numbers of individualized inquiries requiring endless ‘mini-trials’ stand firmly in the way of certifying the proposed class.”
October 24, 2024
Chauffeurs Appeal 6 Orders After $2.5M Wage Settlement Granted Final Approval

PHOENIX — Chauffeur drivers who brought a class and collective action wage-and-hour complaint in a federal court in Arizona filed a revised and corrected notice of appeal as to six 2023 orders; the filing came a month after the drivers’ $2.5 million settlement with their employers was granted final approval.
October 24, 2024
Challenge To Summary Judgment, Exclusion Ruling In ERISA Fees Row Is Dropped

PHILADELPHIA — An appeal of a summary judgment and expert exclusion ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees has been dismissed with prejudice under a stipulation filed in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
October 24, 2024
11th Circuit Vacates Class Certification In University Pandemic Closure Suit

ATLANTA — A trial court’s predominance analysis when granting class certification in a lawsuit by the parent of an Emory University student was an abuse of discretion, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a per curiam opinion, vacating and remanding the case in which the parent seeks money back after classes and services were impacted due to the COVID-19.
October 24, 2024
Driver’s Claims For Larger COVID-19 Refunds Properly Dismissed, 9th Circuit Told

SAN FRANCISCO — GEICO in an Oct. 23 appellee brief tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a federal judge properly granted summary judgment on an insured driver’s class action claim against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by providing drivers an insufficient rebate on premiums after COVID-19, arguing that its rebate was fair under the relevant policy and state insurance regulations.
October 24, 2024
$92M Attorney Fee Award Entered In ACA Row Between Health Insurers And Government

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pursuant to the opinion and order issued by a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge granting class counsel’s renewed motions for approval of attorney fee requests, the clerk of court entered a judgment of $92,424,335.84 to class counsel in a risk-corridor payment dispute under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that is related to a similar suit involving insurers in liquidation also seeking compensation under the ACA.
October 23, 2024
ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M

Class settlements below $5 million have been finalized or proposed in 27 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between May and mid-October.
October 23, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Investors’ $500M Class Claims Against Wells Fargo

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action in which two investors sought more than $500 million in damages from Wells Fargo Securities LLC for abruptly liquidating a portfolio of investments, finding that the investors failed to allege that Wells Fargo owed them a duty and failed to allege a contractual relationship that Wells Fargo breached.
October 23, 2024
Adequacy Challenges Fail, Class Is Certified In ERISA Fees, Funds Lawsuit

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Rejecting arguments that the named plaintiff and his counsel don’t meet adequacy requirements, a North Carolina federal judge granted certification of a mandatory class of more than 55,000 retirement plan participants in a lawsuit challenging the plan’s record-keeping and administrative fees and share classes.
October 22, 2024
Judge Partly Dismisses Class Claims Against Walmart Over Fish Oil Health Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part Walmart Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting the health benefits of its store brand fish oil supplement, finding certain claims preempted by federal regulation but rejecting Walmart’s argument for dismissal based on the doctrine of primary jurisdiction.
October 22, 2024
6th Circuit Again Uses Effective Vindication Doctrine In An ERISA Lawsuit

CINCINNATI — In an Oct. 21 unpublished opinion noting a different panel’s recent conclusion that “arbitration clauses that forbid participants from obtaining plan-wide remedies under [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act] are unenforceable,” a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed dismissal of a putative class action over allegedly imprudent management of a retirement plan.
October 22, 2024
Iowa Federal Judge Denies Motion To Exclude Expert In FLSA Bench Trial

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — An Iowa federal judge said that because a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) dispute will be resolved through a bench trial, excluding certain testimony from an expert witness retained to opine on damages is unnecessary.
October 21, 2024
Magistrate Reduces Data Sample Google Must Produce In Assistant Eavesdropping Row

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on Oct. 18 resolved a two-year-old discovery dispute in a class action over Google LLC’s purported eavesdropping of users of its Google Assistant (GA) app, reducing the number of user query samples the defendant must provide to the plaintiffs in light of a subsequent ruling certifying only a single class claim for unfair competition.
October 21, 2024
Judge Remands Suit Over Sugary Snacks, Citing ‘Abstention Doctrines’

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted a putative class plaintiff’s motion to remand her suit accusing a fruit snack maker of deceiving consumers as to the sugar content of its products, ruling that while the defendant’s removal was proper, remand is required under century-old precedent because the federal court lacks jurisdiction over any of the plaintiff’s claims.
October 21, 2024
9th Circuit Won’t Rehear Appeal Where It Reversed Dismissal Of ERISA Case

SAN FRANCISCO — With no substantive explanation for why it chose to let the unpublished memorandum disposition reversing dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit stand, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected petitions for panel or en banc rehearing that drew two supporting amicus curiae briefs.
October 21, 2024
Plaintiffs Settle Data-Sharing Suit With Univision After Class Certification Denied

MIAMI — Two months after a Florida federal judge denied a motion to certify a class action against the operator of the Univision NOW website for its purported sharing of private video viewing information of the site’s users, the same judge administratively closed the lawsuit the same day the three named plaintiffs announced that they had reached a settlement with the defendant.
October 21, 2024
Papa John’s Website User Asks 3rd Circuit To Rethink Jurisdiction Ruling

PITTSBURGH — One month after a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of a wiretapping lawsuit related to purported tracking of website activity by Papa John’s International Inc., the lead plaintiff in the putative class action filed a petition for rehearing, maintaining that he sufficiently established Pennsylvania jurisdiction over the pizza chain and contending that the majority’s ruling conflicted with Third Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
October 18, 2024
Temple University’s $6.9M Pandemic Closure Settlement Given Preliminary OK

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania preliminarily approved a $6.9 million settlement to be paid by a Philadelphia university to end a consolidated class complaint by students accusing the school of unjust enrichment and breaching its implied contractual duty to provide in-person education and access to campus services when it shut its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 18, 2024
Standing, Deference Are Among Disputes In Bid For 9th Circuit To Rehear ERISA Case

PASADENA, Calif. — Focusing on claims not at issue during a bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action, the appellant urged the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny a petition for panel or en banc rehearing that is supported by an amicus curiae brief.
October 18, 2024
10th Circuit Backs Dismissal Of Overstock Shareholder’s Market Manipulation Suit

DENVER — Affirming dismissal of a putative class action in which a shareholder asserted securities fraud claims against an online retailer and some executives, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in part “that an open-market transaction may qualify as manipulative conduct, but only if accompanied by plausibly alleged deception,” noting that it was an issue “of first impression for this court.”
October 18, 2024
At Least 7 Recent ERISA Putative Class Actions Target Tobacco Surcharges

In the past month, at least seven putative class actions targeting surcharges that tobacco or nicotine users allegedly must pay to maintain health insurance have been filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
October 18, 2024
U.S. High Court Asked To Review Big ERISA Multiplan Opt-Out Class Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three service providers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision they say “raises serious constitutional concerns as to the allowable breadth of class actions brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of participants in thousands of unrelated employer-sponsored [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] benefit plans.”
October 18, 2024
Google Defendants Want Pair Of AI Copyright Suits Consolidated

SAN FRANCISCO — Two cases challenging the data used to train artificial intelligence share sufficiently similar parties, facts and overlapping classes and should be consolidated, Google LLC and its parent Alphabet Inc. told a federal judge in California.