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

Mealey's Class Actions

February 18, 2025
Lead Claims Against Tampon Makers Dismissed In Part By Judge

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge issued two substantially similar rulings dismissing in part two putative class action lawsuits brought against tampon makers by women who accuse the companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by concealing the presence of lead in their tampons, finding that the claims should not be dismissed pending a Food and Drug Administration review of lead in tampons but also finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege that the tampons they bought contained dangerous levels of lead.
February 18, 2025
Class Action Alleges Allstate Collected, Sold Data Without Plaintiffs’ Consent

CHICAGO — A class action complaint filed in Illinois federal court alleges that The Allstate Corp. and its subsidiaries collected and sold the plaintiffs’ personal data and “‘trillions of miles’ worth of ‘driving behavior’” data without their consent.
February 18, 2025
Carnegie Mellon Students Seek Preliminary Approval Of $4.8M Pandemic Closure Pact

PITTSBURGH — Students who accuse Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) of depriving them of the education and services for which they paid when the school halted in-person learning in spring 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic filed a motion for preliminary approval of a $4.8 million settlement on Feb. 14.
February 14, 2025
Class Complaint Alleges Computer Fraud, Privacy Violations By Musk, Agencies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six U.S. citizens filed a putative class complaint in District of Columbia federal court over purported privacy violations by the access to government systems and citizens’ personal data given to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
February 14, 2025
9th Circuit Rejects Appeal Of $725 Million Facebook Data-Sharing Suit Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — More than a year after a trial court approved the $725 million settlement of a consolidated class action over the 2015 sharing of Facebook users’ profiles with Cambridge Analytica, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 13 affirmed the approval over an appeal of the settlement and attorney fees amounts by two class members.
February 14, 2025
False Advertising Claims Over Walmart Avocado Oil Inadequate, Judge Says

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on Feb. 13 granted Walmart Inc.’s motion to dismiss a consumer’s putative class action accusing it of deceptively labeling its avocado oil product as pure avocado oil in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding that the plaintiff failed to allege that the product is labeled in a way that would deceive a consumer as to the purity of its oil.
February 14, 2025
Insurer’s Dismissal Motion Partially Denied In Suit Alleging It Illegally Employs AI

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota on Feb. 13 granted in part and denied in part an insurer’s motion to dismiss a class complaint alleging it illegally uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deny elderly insureds medically necessary care based on a model that the insurer knows “has a 90% error rate,” allowing breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing claims to proceed.
February 14, 2025
Plaintiffs Sue W.L. Gore For Greenwashing, Hiding PFAS Content Of Its Clothing

SPOKANE, Wash. — Plaintiffs have filed a class action against W.L. Gore & Associates in Washington federal court alleging that it has violated numerous state consumer protection laws and has fraudulently concealed the fact that its water-repellant Gore-Tex fabric contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are then shed into the environment upon use. The plaintiffs argue that Gore is guilty of greenwashing by using PFAS but “purporting to be highly committed to environmental responsibility.”
February 13, 2025
Woman Seeks Class Status For PFAS Case Alleging Carpet Makers Were Deceptive

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A woman filed an unopposed motion in Tennessee federal court on Feb. 12 to file a second amended class complaint against a carpet manufacturing company and its affiliates that she says are liable for knowingly using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to add stain-resistance to its carpets. She argues that the companies “had exclusive knowledge” that its carpets contained PFAS and they “deceptively marketed and/or omitted material information” about that from the public.
February 13, 2025
Preliminary Approval Given To $95 Million Settlement Of Siri Eavesdropping Suit

OAKLAND, Calif. — A class action accusing Apple Inc. of collecting unauthorized recordings of Apple device users via its digital assistant Siri moved closer to resolution, with a California federal judge granting preliminary approval to a proposed $95 million settlement of the 5-1/2-year-old lawsuit.
February 13, 2025
6th Circuit Won’t Revisit 2-1 Revival Of ERISA Suit Challenging TDFs

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 12 briefly denied a petition for rehearing en banc that six amicus curiae entities supported in a combined brief; the 2-1 decision at issue revived an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s retention of the passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes.
February 13, 2025
7 Union Pacific Workers File Consolidated Brief Opposing Class Tolling Petitions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rulings by three different federal circuits in several disability bias cases brought by Union Pacific Railroad Co. workers after class decertification that all found that American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah tolling ends for class members only when they have been “unambiguously excluded” from the class are correct, and the U.S. Supreme Court should not grant Union Pacific’s three petitions challenging those rulings, seven workers argue in a consolidated respondent brief filed Feb. 12.
February 12, 2025
Precious Metals Company Data Breach Class Claims Dismissed By Plaintiff

DALLAS — A putative class action plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in Texas federal court of his lawsuit accusing a Texas-based precious metals refiner of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other consumer protection laws by failing to take cybersecurity measures to stop a data breach that allowed access to the personally identifiable information (PII) of himself and class members.
February 12, 2025
Fortra Data Breach MDL Judge OK’s 1 Settlement, Stays Case For Global Settlement

MIAMI — The Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 software app data breach granted final approval to the settlement of one of the MDL’s tracks on Feb. 11, while staying proceedings for the remaining parties while details of an announced global settlement are finalized.
February 12, 2025
$22.6M FBI Basic Training Gender Bias Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A joint stipulation to file a sixth amended complaint in a gender bias case by female employees of the FBI was filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia one business day after a judge in that court granted final approval of a $22.6 million class settlement over those claims in the case that alleged gender bias during basic training.
February 12, 2025
Government: Cases In ACA Reinsurance Dispute Were Properly Ruled Untimely

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that U.S. Supreme Court precedents foreclose equitable tolling of the statute of limitations in Tucker Act class actions, the U.S. government urged the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that group health plans’ consolidated cases challenging exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) were untimely.
July 22, 2024
Claims Trimmed From Remanded Crypto Wallet Data Breach Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A cryptocurrency wallet firm and two of its business partners saw their motions to dismiss a suit over a 2020 data breach partly granted, as a California federal judge found some claims to be preempted by a forum selection clause and others to be insufficiently pleaded.
February 12, 2025
Judge Dismisses Contractor, Allows Only UCL Claim In Crypto Wallet Data Breach Row

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a subcontractors’ motion to dismiss claims against it related to a crypto wallet data breach incident after finding the claims fall under a forum selection clause requiring exclusive jurisdiction in France despite it being a nonsignatory to the contract, but declined to dismiss the plaintiffs’ putative class claim accusing the French parent company of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
February 12, 2025
Final Attorney Fees Award Granted In Decade-Old Defective Flooring Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — More than four years after a class action settlement over defective bamboo flooring sold by Lumber Liquidators Inc. received final approval, a California federal judge granted a motion by class counsel for a final attorney fees award of $863,919.82, representing 25% of the value of store vouchers redeemed by class members in the last two years.
February 11, 2025
Rehearing Sought After Minimum Wage Ruling Against Detention Center Operator

SEATTLE — A for-profit company that runs the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center (NWIPC) filed a petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc after a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the application of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (WMWA) to voluntary work programs (VWP) for federal immigration detainees housed at NWIPC does not violate the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, the state law is not preempted by federal law and the NWIPC operator does not have derivative sovereign immunity.
February 11, 2025
AI Employment Discrimination Plaintiffs Seek Conditional Certification

SAN FRANCISCO — Job seekers who claim they were discriminated against by an artificial intelligence hiring tool asked a federal judge in California to approve conditional certification of the collective action, saying the move will help protect prospective class members and ensure efficient resolution of the case.
February 11, 2025
Enforcement Of Settlement, Attorney Fees In GoDaddy TCPA Class Case Denied

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama denied a motion to enforce a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement with GoDaddy.com LLC, writing that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 2024 opinion vacated the District Court’s settlement approval as well as its ruling on attorney fees, clearing the way for the web hosting company to terminate the agreement.
February 10, 2025
Class Suit Alleges 2 Genders-Only Passport Policy Violates U.S. Constitution

BOSTON — The removal of the option to designate “X” on passports for those individuals who do not identify as female or male or who wish to keep a specified gender off their passport in response to a Jan. 20 executive order (EO) violates the U.S. Constitution, seven U.S. citizens allege in a putative class complaint filed Feb. 7 in a federal court in Massachusetts.
February 10, 2025
Woman Seeks To Represent Nationwide Class Against Toxic Embryo Solution Maker

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A woman who alleges that her developing embryos were destroyed by a toxic solution used during fertility-related treatments that was later recalled filed a putative nationwide class action in a Connecticut federal court against the manufacturer of the solution.
February 10, 2025
TRO Ruling Deferred After Government Agrees Not To ID FBI Workers On Trump Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government will not publicly release the identities of Federal Bureau of Investigation workers involved in investigating two events involving President Donald J. Trump at least until after ruling is issued on anticipated motions for a preliminary injunction in two cases seeking to stop such disclosures, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in the District of Columbia on Feb. 7.