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Mealey's Class Actions

October 10, 2024
9th Circuit Unseals Driver’s Brief Challenging GEICO’s ‘Unfair’ COVID-19 Rebates

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unsealed a brief filed by a driver appealing a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on her class action claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to GEICO for allegedly unfairly retaining an estimated $238 million in additional premium relief the driver says it owed insureds after the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 10, 2024
Meta Asks High Court To Review Class Certification Ruling In Advertising Fraud Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Meta Platforms Inc. filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the certification of a damages class in a suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment related to Meta’s online advertising services, asserting that review is necessary because “the Ninth Circuit applied a one-sided deference regime that stacks the deck in favor of class certification, in conflict with all other circuits” except the Second Circuit.
October 09, 2024
7th Circuit Determines Showing For Class Certification Under Rule 23(c)(4)

CHICAGO — Certifying a class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(4) requires both a showing that “common questions predominate” as to the certified issues and a showing that certification of those issues is “the most practical and efficient way to resolve the litigation,” a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s decertification of a Rule 23(c)(4) class of workers in a wage-and-hour dispute.
October 09, 2024
$6 Million Settlement Of MDL Over Health Care Firms’ Data Breach Gets Final OK

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Six months after he preliminarily approved a $6 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation over a 2020 data breach experienced by a pediatric medical services provider, a Florida federal judge granted a motion by the plaintiffs for final approval of that settlement, as well as an accompanying motion for attorney fees and costs.
October 09, 2024
NCAA, Conferences’ NIL Agreement With Student-Athletes Preliminarily Approved

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted preliminary approval to an amended settlement agreement in a lawsuit by college athletes who have accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and five conferences of violating the Sherman Act by restricting compensation for the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses; the student-athletes report that the revisions to the NCAA rules will result in an estimated “$20 billion more flowing to student-athletes over the next ten years.”
October 09, 2024
Case Alleging Company Used Meta Tools To Collect Patient Data Moves Forward

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge allowed a proposed class action against a health care system to proceed after finding that the patients sufficiently asserted claims that the company used Meta Platform Inc.’s collection tools to share their health care data.
October 09, 2024
$490M Settlement Between Apple, Investors Over IPhone Sales Gets Final OK

OAKLAND, Calif. — Finding it “fair, adequate, and reasonable,” a federal judge in California granted final approval of a $490 million settlement in a class complaint brought by investors in Apple Inc. who say the company’s CEO issued misleading statements about Apple’s sales of iPhones in China and awarded class counsel $107.8 million, or 22% of the settlement fund, in attorney fees.
October 09, 2024
Labor Union Denied Early Appeal Of Partial Dismissal In Data Breach Suit

NEW YORK — Deeming a labor union’s reading of controlling case law to be “plainly wrong,” a New York federal judge declined to certify for interlocutory appeal his previous ruling that permitted most of the plaintiff union members’ claims related to a 2023 data breach to proceed.
October 08, 2024
U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Preliminary Injunction And Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A preliminary injunction is nothing more than “a threshold prediction of the likelihood of success based on a truncated record” and can’t make a plaintiff a prevailing party for the purposes of awarding attorney fees, an attorney representing the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles argued Oct. 8 before the U.S. Supreme Court.
October 08, 2024
E-Cig MDL Plaintiffs Seek Authorization To Distribute $201M To 842K Class Members

SAN FRANCISCO — The plaintiffs in a California federal court multidistrict litigation who settled class personal injury and consumer protection claims against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries for approximately $300 million filed a motion asking the court to authorize the distribution of $201 million in settlement funds to satisfy more than 842,000 valid claims.
October 07, 2024
U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Jurisdiction After Amended Class Complaint

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ determination that an amended class complaint no longer belonged in federal court after all references to federal law have been eliminated “is an extreme outlier” and “conflicts with the text and structure of [28 U.S. Code] Section 1367 and with more than a century of precedent,” an attorney representing the makers of prescription pet food argued Oct. 7 before the U.S. Supreme Court.
October 07, 2024
Settlement With ‘Landmark’ $10M Recovery Gets Initial OK In Mortality Table Row

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal granted preliminary approval to a class settlement including what retirees said would be a “landmark recovery” of $10 million on Oct. 4; the proposal in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans also includes up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Debtor’s Petition On Intangible Harm, Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a debtor’s petition for a writ of certiorari concerning standing in a lawsuit over the transmission of debtors’ personal data to a third party.
October 07, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Weigh In On Class Arbitration, Severing Claims Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 declined to answer questions presented in a petition by the operator of household rental stores that concern a court’s right to refuse to sever and compel arbitration of individual portions of a claim.
October 07, 2024
Negligence Claims Against Indiana University To Proceed In Data Breach Incident

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A federal judge in Indiana determined that claims of negligence and breach of contract alleged against a private university in a data breach suit can proceed because the plaintiffs seek damages for more than just economic losses and because dismissal of the breach of contract claim would be premature.
October 07, 2024
2 California Municipalities: Energy Companies Conspired To Violate Antitrust Law

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two California municipalities sued multiple oil and gas companies in New Mexico federal court contending that they have engaged in a conspiracy with Wall Street investors, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and others to restrict the production of crude oil, which the municipalities say constitutes a “per se unlawful restraint of trade under numerous state antitrust and competition laws.”
October 04, 2024
Consumer Says Synthetic Nicotine E-Cig Maker Deceptively Marketed To Youth

NEW YORK — An e-cigarette consumer filed a putative nationwide class action against the manufacturer of Puff Bar e-cigarettes in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, arguing that it unfairly markets its flavored, disposable, synthetic nicotine products to young people and deceptively labels the nicotine content of its products.
October 04, 2024
Panel Affirms No Coverage Owed For Class Actions Alleging Employees Were Underpaid

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 3 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling that an insurance policy’s “wage and hour violation” exclusion barred coverage for two underlying class lawsuits alleging that the insured conducted an unlawful scheme of underpaying some of its employees.
October 04, 2024
High Court Will Review 2nd Circuit ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted a certiorari petition regarding a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling involving what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim for a transaction between a plan fiduciary and a party in interest.
October 04, 2024
U.S. High Court Grants Chiropractic Practice’s TCPA FCC Rule Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted a chiropractic practice’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking a decision on whether the Federal Communications Commission’s interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) prohibited faxes must be accepted.
October 03, 2024
Retirees: $10M Would Be ‘Landmark Recovery’ In Actuarial Equivalence Case

CHICAGO — Saying it would be a “landmark recovery,” retirees who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans on Oct. 2 asked an Illinois federal court for preliminary approval of a $10 million class settlement plus up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
October 03, 2024
Putative Class Plaintiff Drops Defendant From Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Suit

HARTFORD, Conn. — A consumer bringing a putative class action suit accusing Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) of violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising Zyn nicotine pouches as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking” on Oct. 2 filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of co-defendant Swedish Match North America LLC after it moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
October 03, 2024
Judge Orders Further Briefing In OnlyFans Unfair Renewals Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 2 directed putative class plaintiffs accusing an adult entertainment website of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by improperly charging them automatic renewal fees to file an amended complaint modifying their allegations regarding the defendants’ purposeful targeting of California, which the judge will consider before ruling on a motion to dismiss.
October 03, 2024
Judge Strikes Renewed Jury Demand In ERISA Suit Over NYU Retirement Plans

NEW YORK — Striking a jury demand asserted in a second amended complaint filed in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over New York University (NYU) retirement plan fees and funds, a New York federal judge ruled in part that the amendments did not revive the plaintiffs’ right to a jury trial.
October 03, 2024
Vermont Health Provider Pays $540,000 To Settle Data Breach Class Claims

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont granted final approval of a $540,000 settlement to be paid by an integrated health provider in that state, ending a class suit by a patient over a 2022 data breach that allegedly exposed the personal information of more than 60,000 people.