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

Mealey's Class Actions

January 17, 2025
Judge Tentatively OKs $7.5M ‘Virtual Diamonds’ Refund In Gambling App Settlement

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge at a Jan. 16 hearing presented his tentative ruling granting a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement between a mobile casino games developer and a putative class represented by two players who accused the developer of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and state gambling laws, deeming “fair” the settlement, which is projected to require an in-game currency refund to players worth a total of $7.5 million, injunctive relief purportedly worth $163.2 million and attorney fees greater than $1.4 million.
January 17, 2025
$4.95M Class Settlement Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Suit

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge on Jan. 16 granted preliminary approval to a $4.95 million class settlement proposed in a suit that was filed months before a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plans’ tobacco surcharges.
January 16, 2025
‘ZzzQuil’ Maker Accused Of Misleading ‘Natural’ Marketing In Putative Class Suit

SAN DIEGO — A consumer filed a putative class action against The Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) in California federal court claiming that it misleadingly markets a sleep aid as providing benefits “naturally” in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) because it is actually made with “synthesized” artificial ingredients.
January 16, 2025
Microsoft Browser Extension ‘Steals’ Affiliate Links For Profit, App Operator Says

SEATTLE — An app operator and online content creator that earns funds from online marketing filed a putative class action complaint in Washington federal court against Microsoft Corp. contending that its in-browser shopping extension “systematically steals commission payments from their rightful owners,” writing that Microsoft knowingly takes affiliate links posted by marketers and redirects their expected profits to itself in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
January 16, 2025
Unspecified Deal Reported Just Before Bench Trial In ERISA Suit Over TDFs

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Saying she was notified by email “that the Parties have settled this matter,” a Pennsylvania federal judge on Jan. 15 adjourned “all trial-related proceedings” in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action against electricity provider PPL Corp. and related defendants challenging the inclusion of Northern Trust target date funds (TDFs) in four defined-contribution pension benefit plans.
January 15, 2025
Judge Orders Distribution Of Funds In $15 Million Zillow Securities Settlement

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington ordered the distribution of a $15 million class action settlement in a case brought by investors against online real estate marketplace provider Zillow Group Inc. alleging that the provider concealed the development of a co-marketing program that violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and encouraged such violations in violation of federal securities laws.
January 15, 2025
Attorney Fees Of Over $4.2M Awarded in $14.5M Settlement Of ESOP Deal Challenge

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Jan. 14 granted final approval to two class settlements that the plaintiffs said sit “at the high end of the range of settlements resolving” similar employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claims, with a combined recovery of $14.5 million that averages “about $35,109 per Class Member before fees, costs, and expenses.”
January 15, 2025
Plaintiffs Fight Bid For Disclosure Log In Suit Over Repricing Method

OAKLAND, Calif. — Alleging ulterior motives and arguing that they have a common interest agreement (CIA) with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that “embodies the protections of [a protective order] and ensures the confidentiality of documents is maintained,” plaintiffs in a suit over alleged underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health treatment claims urge a California federal court to deny an administrative motion.
January 15, 2025
Unanimous High Court: Federal Jurisdiction Lost When Federal Claims Are Deleted

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal court’s supplemental jurisdiction over state law claims is lost when a plaintiff amends a complaint and deletes the federal claims that enabled removal from a state court, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled Jan. 15 in a putative class case accusing two pet food companies of misleading consumers on the quality and value of prescription pet food.
January 15, 2025
$450,000 Class Settlement Proposed In Newspaper Subscription Calls TCPA Case

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia woman moved in a federal court in Pennsylvania for preliminary approval of a $450,000 class settlement proposed by a telecommunications company to end her complaint alleging that she and a certified class received more than one newspaper subscription phone call in the last four years despite being on the National Do-Not-Call Registry (DNC) and not having established business relationships with the defendant.
January 15, 2025
3rd Circuit Denies Rehearing After Dismissal Of Cannabis Use Suit Upheld

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing filed by a job applicant after the panel majority upheld a ruling finding that a New Jersey law prohibiting the firing of workers for cannabis use does not create a private cause of action.
January 15, 2025
Final Approval Given To $2 Million Insurance-Funded Settlement Of Data Breach Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — Five months after preliminarily approving a $2 million settlement of a class action over a marketing execution firm’s 2022 data breach, an Oregon federal judge granted final approval, deeming the approval “fair, reasonable, and adequate” and in accord with the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.
January 14, 2025
Judge Affirms Discovery Orders Involving DOL Common Interest Agreement

DENVER — Saying that a decision by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) not to file a challenge “ends the issue” but that she addressed objections anyway “out of caution,” a Colorado federal judge on Jan. 13 upheld related discovery rulings concerning a common interest agreement (CIA) in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging a deal.
January 14, 2025
AI Voice Cloning Company, Voice Actors Brief Motion To Dismiss

NEW YORK — Responding to an artificial intelligence company’s contention that voice actors’ claims were time-barred and suffered from other defects, two named class action plaintiffs told a federal judge in New York that they own the rights to their voices and that the ongoing use of cloned voices sold under different names places the case within the applicable time frame.
January 14, 2025
Florida Furniture Retailer Will Pay $1.48M To Settle EEOC Gender Bias Class Claims

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida-based furniture retail company will pay $1,482,748 and provide equitable relief to end a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the company had a policy of not hiring female applicants for driver and warehouse positions, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in Florida.
January 14, 2025
High Court Urged To Find Federal Food Laws Preempt California Consumer Law Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A baby food company filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling finding that putative class claims may be brought against it for violating California consumer protection laws by allegedly failing to comply with federal labeling rules, writing that the ruling conflicts with high court precedent and creates a circuit split.
January 14, 2025
Walmart’s $5.2M Class Settlement Approved In Workers’ COVID-19 Screening Case

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $5.2 million class settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. to end a case by workers who alleged that the retailer’s policy requiring nonexempt workers in that state to undergo a COVID-19 screening each shift without pay violated state and federal wage-and-hour laws, as well as California’s unfair competition law.
January 13, 2025
High Court Seeks Response To Review Bid For ERISA Ruling On Burden-Shifting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 requested a response to a certiorari petition in which 401(k) plan participants ask the high court to weigh in on “whether, consistent with trust law, burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
January 13, 2025
Review Bid Fails For 6th Circuit Effective Vindication Ruling In ERISA Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 13 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the latest of several certiorari petitions seeking review of decisions applying the effective vindication doctrine in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases; this one focused on a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a putative class action over management of defined-contribution retirement plans.
January 13, 2025
Certiorari Denied In Meta’s Advertising Fraud Damages Class Certification Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Meta Platforms Inc. 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.
January 13, 2025
After Trial, Judge Finds Disloyalty In ERISA Suit Over Fund Manager’s ESG Efforts

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a Jan. 10 ruling issued after a bench trial in a class action over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, a Texas federal judge found that American Airlines Inc. and its employee benefits committee breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty but not their duty of prudence.
January 13, 2025
Appellees To 9th Circuit: Uphold Dismissal Of ERISA Suit Over Severance Benefits

SAN FRANCISCO — Urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm dismissal of a putative class case filed by former Twitter employees and reject arguments that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) makes as amicus curiae, Elon Musk and related entities argue in part in a Jan. 10 brief that precedent supports the ruling that the workers didn’t plausibly allege that a purported severance plan is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
January 10, 2025
Magistrate Won’t Sanction Google For Destroying Files It Had No Clear Duty To Keep

OAKLAND, Calif. — Finding that the plaintiffs in a consolidated lawsuit over Google Inc.’s purported data sharing via its real-time bidding (RTB) process failed to establish that the internet giant had a duty to preserve and produce particular files in an unencrypted format, a California federal magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion for contempt and sanctions against Google.
January 10, 2025
Privacy Suit Over Zillow’s Disclosure Of Watched Videos May Proceed

SAN DIEGO — Rejecting Zillow Group Inc.’s contention that it is not “a video tape service provider,” a California federal judge found that the online real estate platform operator engaged in activities that qualify it as such under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), leading her to deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss a putative privacy class complaint against it for purportedly sharing the video-viewing history of users of its app and website.
January 10, 2025
Consumer’s Putative Class Suit For Audible Subscription Without Notice May Proceed

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied a motion by Amazon.com Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Audible Inc. to dismiss putative class claims alleging that they violated California consumer protection laws, including the state’s unfair competition law (UCL), by enrolling a consumer in an Audible subscription and charging her renewal fees, allegedly without notice.