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

Mealey's Class Actions

October 17, 2024
Residents Tell 5th Circuit That City Introduced ‘Poison’ In Jackson, Miss., Water

JACKSON, Miss. — Residents of Jackson have filed an opening appeal brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking reversal of a lower court’s dismissal of some of the claims in their drinking water contamination lawsuit against the city on grounds that the court erred in its conclusion that the plaintiffs’ allegations do not shock the conscience. The residents argue that “the City introduced a poison into the water supply, pumped that water into residents’ homes, and then coerced them to drink it by lying about its safety.”
October 17, 2024
Consumers Amend Claims Against Baby Bottle Maker For Undisclosed Microplastics

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of plaintiffs filed an amended putative class action complaint in California federal court accusing a maker of baby bottles of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by failing to disclose the risk that its products “leach harmful microplastics directly into the food and drink of vulnerable babies and young children.” The same plaintiffs previously filed suit in the same court against a different bottle manufacturer.
October 17, 2024
2nd Circuit Finds NBA Website User Is A Consumer And May Proceed With VPPA Suit

NEW YORK — Reversing a trial court’s dismissal of a putative class action against the National Basketball Association (NBA) under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel concluded that the lead plaintiff qualifies as a consumer under the statute and that he has standing to sue for the NBA’s purported sharing of his personal viewing information (PVI) related to videos he watched on the NBA’s website.
October 17, 2024
Counsel Seeks Final Approval Of $316.5M PFAS Deal Between Water Providers And BASF

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Class counsel for public water systems (PWS) in numerous municipalities has moved in South Carolina federal court for final approval of a $316.5 million class settlement between multiple drinking water providers and BASF Corp. related to BASF’s manufacture of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are ingredients in the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF).
October 17, 2024
Amicus Bid In 11th Circuit ERISA Effective Vindication Case Draws Opposition

ATLANTA — An advocacy organization’s request for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class action where the lower court applied the effective vindication doctrine has drawn opposition, with the appellants telling the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the proposal doesn’t add “to the arguments already before this Court” and “is tainted by the financial interests of counsel for Plaintiffs-Appellees.”
October 17, 2024
Hormel Settles Pork Direct Purchasers’ Price-Fixing Claims For More Than $4.8M

MINNEAPOLIS — Hormel Foods Corp. will pay $4,856,000 to settle class claims by direct purchaser plaintiffs (DPPs) who have accusing various pork suppliers in a multidistrict litigation of conspiring to stabilize and increase the price of pork, according to an order granting final approval filed by a federal judge in Minnesota.
October 16, 2024
Over-The-Counter Pill Labeled Maximum Strength Was Not, Man Alleges In Complaint

NEW YORK — A New York man filed a complaint in New York federal court seeking to represent a class action of consumers who purchased Target Corp.-branded gas relief pills and were led to believe that the product was “maximum strength” when in fact stronger products are on the market.
October 16, 2024
Objectors File Briefs In 3 Appeals Challenging Real Estate Commissions Settlements

ST. LOUIS — Objectors to settlements between home sellers, The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and real estate franchises found by a jury to have conspired to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions have filed a trio of appellant briefs in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
October 15, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Putative Class Suit Against Snapple For ‘ALL NATURAL’ Labels

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied a beverage-maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by falsely marketing its beverages as “ALL NATURAL” when they in fact contain citric acid and artificial colors.
October 15, 2024
10th Circuit: Untimely Removal Of Class Wage Suit Against Wendy’s Supports Remand

DENVER — A fast food franchisor’s removal of a wage-and-hour complaint to federal court following class certification was untimely, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, opining that the company was given notice that the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA) $5 million threshold was met in two letters sent months earlier demanding unpaid wages.
October 15, 2024
Arbitration Ordered In Class Suit Accusing Labcorp Of Sharing Health Info

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted a motion to compel individual arbitration in a putative class lawsuit accusing Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp) of intercepting individually identifiable health information from its website users and sending the information to Google, which analyzes the data, matches the information to individuals and then shares its analysis with Labcorp.
October 15, 2024
Judge Tosses Class Action Alleging Insurance Provider Failed To Prevent Data Breach

NEW YORK — One day after a plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice of her class action complaint alleging that a financial organization that offers insurance, retirement and investment services primarily to teachers failed to prevent a May 2023 data breach that resulted in the theft of the personally identifiable information (PII) of its current and former clients, a New York federal judge ordered the case dismissed.
October 15, 2024
New York Times’ Auto Renewal Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $2,375,000 nonreversionary cash settlement to be paid by The New York Times Co. to end a class complaint accusing the newspaper publisher of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme on its website and mobile application for The New York Times newspaper, approved the award of attorney fees, costs and expenses of $791,666.66 and approved a class representative incentive award of $5,000; the approval followed additional settlement negotiations after the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed final approval of a settlement that included $1.65 million in cash plus “coupons.”
October 15, 2024
Reconsideration Of Latest Postjudgment Ruling Denied In ERISA Conversion Case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge has denied a motion that she said asked her “to reconsider and reverse virtually every aspect of” a postjudgment ruling for Cigna Corp. and its pension plan (together, Cigna); the motion was filed by the class that earlier achieved some success in a challenge to the plan’s 1998 conversion.
October 15, 2024
Temple University Agrees To $6.9M Class Settlement In Pandemic Closure Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia university has agreed to pay $6.9 million 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 coronavirus pandemic, according to an unopposed motion for preliminary settlement approval filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania.
October 14, 2024
Fan’s Suit Over Mets’ Use Of Biometric Identifiers Removed To Federal Court

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The company that owns the New York Mets removed a putative class action over the alleged violation of a New York City biometrics law to federal court, citing jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).
October 14, 2024
Appeal And Attorney Fee Bid Are Dropped In ERISA Imprudence Case

SANTA ANA, Calif. — An appeal filed after defendants won on all claims after a bench trial in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) fees and funds has been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a stipulation, and the defendants told a California federal court they are withdrawing a fee award request and an application to tax costs.
October 14, 2024
Privacy Claims Over Health Care Provider’s Use Of Facebook Pixel May Proceed

OAKLAND, Calif. — Mostly denying a health care organization’s motion to dismiss putative class privacy claims against it, a California federal judge found that a plaintiff sufficiently alleged most of her claims that the defendant’s use of Facebook Pixel to forward URLs and other information from her use of the company’s website to the social media company violates California law and the state’s constitution.
October 11, 2024
Another ERISA Effective Vindication Ruling Gets Certiorari Petition Treatment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 10 filing, an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participant waived his right to respond to a certiorari petition in which the plan’s trustee urges the U.S. Supreme Court to address what it says is a circuit split on whether to “recognize the availability of individual arbitration for [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] claims.”
October 11, 2024
Judge Makes Tentative Findings In ERISA Row Over Spin-Off, Retirement Benefits

PHILADELPHIA — Following a six-day bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over corporate restructuring that affected early retirement and optional retirement benefits, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Oct. 10 issued tentative findings of fact regarding liability issues and a related procedural order.
October 11, 2024
11th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Short Squeeze Investor Suit Under N.Y. Law

ATLANTA — Saying in an unpublished per curiam opinion that retail investors “failed to show that [securities broker-dealer Apex Clearing Corp.] is liable for its actions under New York law,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of a putative class case that was part of multidistrict litigation over the January 2021 halting of retail investor trading in certain meme stocks.
October 10, 2024
Judge Dismisses PFAS Diaper Class Action, Says Allegations Not Plausibly Alleged

NEW YORK— A federal judge in New York has dismissed a putative class action lawsuit brought by a woman who contended that the maker of diapers falsely advertised that its product was free from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which the plaintiff said induced her to spend more money on the diapers. The judge held that the complaint failed to plausibly allege that the diapers were mislabeled.
October 10, 2024
Judge Largely Denies Bid To Seal Order Certifying Class In Gun Barrel Defect Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion to seal his recent order certifying a class action accusing the manufacturers of Glock handguns of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by failing to warn consumers of an alleged barrel defect, agreeing to seal one sentence but finding that the other disputed information in the ruling was already “discussed in the public hearing.”
October 10, 2024
Wiretap, Privacy Claims Over TikTok’s In-App Browser Largely Survive Dismissal

CHICAGO — Mostly denying a motion to dismiss by TikTok Inc., an Illinois federal judge found that most of the claims over the purported collection of personally identifiable information (PII) by the company’s in-app browser (IAB) were sufficiently pleaded by the named plaintiffs at this stage of a multidistrict litigation against the social media firm.
October 09, 2024
Final Approval Granted To $75M Settlement, Fees In Investor Suit Against Tech Firm

SAN DIEGO — In a securities class action, a California federal judge granted final approval to a $75 million settlement and awarded the plaintiffs’ counsel 23% of the settlement fund for attorney fees, bringing an end to claims brought by investors in Qualcomm Inc. against the company and certain of its executives alleging that the company issued false claims to investors about certain company practices.