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

Mealey's Class Actions

February 28, 2025
Class Representative In Oil, Gas Royalty Settlement Opposes Attorney Fee Challenge

DENVER — Parties objecting to the more than $17.3 million in attorney fees awarded as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement have failed to show that final approval was granted in error, the class representative, Chieftain Royalty Co., argues in an appellee brief filed in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 27, 2025
Judge Certifies Class Accusing Loan App Operator Of Concealing Fees

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge certified a class of California residents accusing a consumer loan app operator of concealing certain fees while operating as an unlicensed lender in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and California finance laws, denied the app operator’s motion to exclude a plaintiffs’ witness and granted in part the defendant’s motion for summary judgment as to claims regarding its performance fees.
February 26, 2025
Attorneys Get A Third Of $7.1M Settlement Of Class Action Over ESOP Deal

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge on Feb. 25 granted final approval to a $7.1 million class settlement resolving a suit over 2012 and 2013 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deals, awarding the requested 33% attorney fees that total $2,366,666.67 in the case where the plaintiffs said the lodestar based on their counsel’s “reasonable hourly rate” was more than $6.8 million.
February 26, 2025
Class Certification Denied In Moderator Suit Against TikTok For Lack Of Standing

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion for class certification in a putative class action regarding the alleged negligence by TikTok Inc. and its parent company in failing to protect content moderators from harm, finding in part that the plaintiff, a former TikTok moderator, lacks standing for failure to provide evidence showing that “no monitor would remain in the job long enough to pursue a class action.”
February 26, 2025
‘Wholesome’ Claim On High-Sugar Bars Not Puffery, Judge Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a snack maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit brought against it by a consumer who accuses it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by labeling its fig bar products as healthy and “wholesome” when they in fact contain high levels of sugar, finding that “the word ‘wholesome,’” as used on the defendant’s labels “is not puffery.”
February 26, 2025
Data Location Privacy Class Alleges Violations Of Washington My Health My Data Act

SEATTLE — Mobile applications using the software development kit (SDK) from Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon Advertising LLC (together, Amazon) allow for Amazon to harvest location data directly from consumers’ devices without prior notice in violation of consumers’ privacy rights, a Washington woman alleges in a class complaint filed in a federal court in that state and purported to be the first complaint filed under Washington’s My Health My Data Act (MYMD), which was signed into law in 2023.
February 25, 2025
Louisiana High Court Refuses To Review Ruling In Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court on Feb. 25 denied an insured’s application for writ of certiorari seeking review of a First Circuit Louisiana Court of Appeal panel majority’s holding that a lower court properly interpreted the state Legislature's amendment of Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 22:1892(H) by Act 290 to be a procedural change that applied retroactively and, as a result, eliminated any class action for damages, including bad faith penalties, brought against the state’s insurer of last resort.
February 25, 2025
Putative Class Members Seek Intervention, Stay In Deferred Compensation Row

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Arguing ongoing impairment of their right to arbitration, seven former Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. financial advisers moved in North Carolina federal court to intervene and to stay all proceedings in a putative class action in a dispute that the plaintiff argues concerns deferred compensation.
February 25, 2025
Split U.S. High Court: No Attorney Fees For Preliminary Injunctive Relief

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Parties who won preliminary injunctive relief before a case was mooted due to a change in the law are not “‘prevailing part[ies]’” eligible for attorney fees under 42 U.S. Code Section 1988(b) as they have not been “grant[ed] enduring relief on the merits that alters the legal relationship between the parties,” a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 25 in a putative class case over a now-repealed Virginia statute regarding automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for failure to pay certain court fines and fees.
February 25, 2025
Judge Partially Dismisses Claims In UCL Class Suit Over App Cyberbullying

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge partially dismissed a putative class suit against YOLO, a company that designed an anonymous messaging app that allegedly failed to monitor content, purportedly resulting in cyberbullying and the death of one user, finding that the motion to dismiss for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) is granted due to the plaintiffs’ failure to show that they have an inadequate remedy at law.
February 25, 2025
Nike Workers Who Filed Biased Pay, Promotions Suit File Notice Of Settlement

PORTLAND, Ore. — Four named Nike Inc. workers who brought a class and collective complaint accusing the athletic footwear and apparel company of “devalu[ing]” and “demean[ing]” female employees by paying them less than their male counterparts and passing them over for promotions filed a notice in a federal court in Oregon that they have finalized a settlement agreement as to their individual claims.
February 25, 2025
Judge Denies Motion To Certify Class Of Timeshare Purchasers, Bars Rebuttal Witness

ORLANDO, Fla. — An expert testifying on behalf of a timeshare company can testify that class certification is unnecessary for military members who allege that the timeshare contract violated the law, but the expert retained by those miliary members is barred because his report was untimely, a Florida federal judge ruled, also denying the motion for class certification.
February 24, 2025
7 Suits Over Insurer’s Data Breach Remanded To Wisconsin State Court

MADISON, Wis. — A health insurance company did not establish that federal jurisdiction existed over seven putative class actions that it removed to Wisconsin federal court, a judge held, granting a motion to remand the suits over a 2024 data breach to state court, finding that exceptions to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) defeated federal jurisdiction.
February 24, 2025
U.S. High Court Denies County, Sheriff’s Petition On Standing, Class Service Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an Illinois county and sheriff accused by a former detainee of denying him and others sufficient dental care and asking the justices to decide whether the detainee as a putative class representative has standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to continue the litigation and seek an incentive award after receiving relief on his individual claims.
February 24, 2025
Netflix Wrongful Death Class Petition Granted; Order Affirming Dismissal Vacated

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari presenting jurisdictional questions in a putative class complaint filed by the estate and family members of a minor who died by suicide who accuse streaming service Netflix Inc. of strict liability, wrongful death and negligence in connection with its release of a show depicting a suicide; the high court vacated the judgment and remanded to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for further consideration in light of the ruling in Royal Canin U.S.A., Inc. v. Wullschleger.
February 21, 2025
Imprudence Claim Survives Dismissal In Suit Over ESOP’s Cash-Equivalent Strategy

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Feb. 20 dismissed a prohibited transaction claim but ruled that an imprudence claim asserted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act survives in a putative class action filed by former and current employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participants who say that about 20% of the plan’s funds have been kept in cash equivalents — money market funds and short-term certificates of deposit — since at least 2009.
February 21, 2025
Carnegie Mellon’s $4.8M Pandemic Closure Settlement Preliminarily Approved

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted preliminary approval of a $4.8 million settlement between Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and students who accuse the school of depriving them of the education and services for which they paid when it halted in-person learning in spring 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
February 21, 2025
4th Circuit Denies Rehearing Sought By Mortgagors After Class, Damages Ruling

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc filed by borrowers who allege that they were required to pay for “worthless” home appraisals after the appellate panel considered for a second time class certification and damages for the borrowers and the majority ruled that there was no showing of concrete harm.
February 20, 2025
Judge Permits ‘Mass Opt-Out’ From Eavesdropping Class Action Against Google

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge stated that she had “little hesitation” denying Google LLC’s motion to reject a “mass exclusion request” by nearly 70,000 Google Assistant (GA) users who seek to opt out of an unfair competition class action over Google’s purported eavesdropping via the digital assistant app and pursue arbitration of their privacy claims against the company instead.
February 20, 2025
5 Federal Workers’ Class Suit Alleges Info Access Is Largest Breach Since Watergate

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal officials’ decision to allow individuals from outside the U.S. government to access the “personal sensitive information” (PSI) of millions of federal workers “is the biggest breach of American trust by political actors since Watergate,” five federal employees allege in a class complaint filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.
February 20, 2025
Preliminary Approval Of $1.15M Lane Bryant Wage Class Settlement Denied

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California denied preliminary approval of a $1,150,000 class and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) settlement in a case against a plus size clothing retailer, opining that the parties “artificially lowered” the potential value of the PAGA claim and failed to provide sufficient information for the court to determine whether preliminary approval was appropriate.
February 20, 2025
Mortgagors Seeks Rehearing After 4th Circuit Class Certification, Damages Ruling

RICHMOND, Va. — Borrowers who allege that they were required to pay for “worthless” home appraisals as part of refinancing their mortgage loans filed a petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc after the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals considered for a second time class certification and damages for the borrowers and the majority ruled that there was no showing of concrete harm.
February 19, 2025
Final Approval Of Settlement Granted In Stock-Drop Suit Against Holding Company

ALBANY, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to an $850,000 settlement ending a class action filed by stockholders against a bank holding company for allegedly failing to disclose that the company maintained defective disclosure controls that increased the risk that it couldn’t timely file required financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission and become delisted from the NASDAQ, ultimately causing the stock price to drop after the alleged misrepresentations were disclosed.
February 19, 2025
Penn State’s $17 Million Pandemic Closure Class Settlement Given Final OK

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Feb. 18 granted final approval of a $17 million class settlement between The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and students who accused the school of charging money for in-person education and on-campus access and services but failing to deliver them in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
February 18, 2025
TRO Denied In Federal Workers’ Privacy Suit Over OPM ‘Test’ Emails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal workers suing under pseudonyms who accuse the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of failing to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before allegedly sending out “test” emails the workers claim are being used to collect information on them failed to show “that they are likely to incur some irreparable injury” without a temporary restraining order (TRO), a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled Feb. 17, denying a renewed TRO motion in the putative class case.