Archives: Class Action Trends

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BakerHostetler Releases Insurance Class Action Quarterly Report – 2022 Q4

Photo of BakerHostetlerBy BakerHostetler on Posted in Class Action Trends
BakerHostetler released its Insurance Class Action Quarterly Report for 2022 Quarter 4, devolving trends in the insurance class action space from the past quarter. We witnessed further development of total loss, uninsured/underinsured motorist and COVID-19 premium rebate class actions, along with movement in new(er) property and casualty class actions involving discrimination in claims adjusting and … Continue Reading

The Demand Curve Problem for UCL Class Actions

Photo of Brian TroyerBy Brian Troyer on Posted in Class Action Trends
A recent opinion from a California federal court, Mier v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. et al., No. 8:20-cv-01979-DOC-ADS, slip op. (C.D. Cal. May 9, 2022), touches on an aspect of econometric modeling that class action defense counsel should understand, particularly in consumer fraud cases under California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and similar laws with restitution as … Continue Reading

2018 Class Action Landscape

Photo of BakerHostetlerBy BakerHostetler on Posted in Class Action Trends
In 2016, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, resolving a circuit split on whether an unaccepted offer of judgment pursuant to Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure could moot a named plaintiff’s individual claim, thus dooming the class claims. The decision – which held that an unaccepted … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Adds to Circuit Split About the Enforceability of Class and Collective Action Waivers in Employment Arbitration Agreements

Photo of Xakema HendersonBy Xakema Henderson on Posted in Class Action Trends
The Sixth Circuit just became the third federal court of appeals to hold that an arbitration provision requiring employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to arbitrate individually all employment-related claims is not enforceable. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd. v. Alternative Entm’t, Inc., No. 16-1385, 2017 WL 2297620, at *9 (6th Cir. May 26, … Continue Reading

House Passes Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017

Photo of Jessica GreenbergBy Jessica Greenberg on Posted in Class Action Trends
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 (H.R. 985) (the Act). The Act – introduced by Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte – makes several significant changes to class action practice. In passing this Act, the House asserted these changes were intended to “diminish … Continue Reading

The Unwelcome Guest at the Class Settlement Table: Serial Objectors

Photo of James MorrisonBy James Morrison on Posted in Class Action Trends
Finally, the end is in sight. After motions to dismiss, discovery, hearings, a highly contested motion for class certification and mediation, the parties have reached a class settlement. The parties are relieved to end the uncertainty and burdens of a class action, and now turn their attention to obtaining court approval. But suddenly the settlement … Continue Reading

Newsfeeds and Notice – How Social Networks Might Affect Class Action Litigation

Photo of James A. ShererBy James A. Sherer on Posted in Class Action Trends
The resources from which people obtain, and choose to obtain, information have changed dramatically. A recent and highly publicized discussion of how information is exchanged might be the so-called filter bubble that many social media users experience. This bubble has reportedly caused “autonomous decision-making,” which hypothesizes that people pay attention to only those sources of … Continue Reading

“Yes, I Agree”: With a Click, Uber Drivers Can Waive Right To Bring Class Action Suits

Photo of Andrew SerraoBy Andrew Serrao on Posted in Class Action Trends
Recently, in a major win for employers and companies that transact business on the internet, the Ninth Circuit upheld the use of arbitration class-action waivers in so-called clickwrap agreements. These types of agreements are commonplace—consumers installing software or signing up for a service are presented with a company’s terms and conditions on their screen, and … Continue Reading

Third Circuit Sets Framework for Numerosity Requirement

Photo of Robert J. TuckerBy Robert J. Tucker on Posted in Class Action Trends
Yesterday, in In re Modafinil Antitrust Litig., 3d Cir. No. 15-3475 the Third Circuit provided a framework for analyzing the oft-overlooked numerosity requirement of Rule 23(a)(1)..  The court’s decision both clarified and seemingly bolstered the numerosity threshold. The district court had certified a class of 22 direct purchasers of the drug Provigil that alleged a … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Vacates Class Settlement, Finding that Sealed Documents Prevented Objectors from Assessing Settlement’s Fairness

Photo of Ann YackshawBy Ann Yackshaw on Posted in Class Action Trends
This summer, the Sixth Circuit rejected class action litigants’ filing of the bulk of their class settlement documents under seal. Shane Grp., Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mich., 825 F.3d 299 (6th Cir. 2016). The Sixth Circuit’s decision here is another indication of the increasing scrutiny that federal courts are taking with respect … Continue Reading

Signed, sealed, delivered, but not dismissed: the Sixth Circuit takes on Campbell-Ewald’s offered vs. delivered distinction

By Stanley Ball on Posted in Class Action Trends
Following the Supreme Court’s January decision in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 136 S. Ct. 663 (2016) that a defendant cannot moot a plaintiff’s individual claim by simply offering to satisfy the plaintiff’s demand before a motion for class certification is filed, but must instead deliver that relief, the lower courts have struggled to identify when … Continue Reading

Post-Tyson Foods, Defendants Should Take the Offensive in Discovery Sampling

Photo of Trischa Snyder ChapmanBy Trischa Snyder Chapman on Posted in Class Action Trends
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Tyson Foods and in light of the greater emphasis on proportionality in the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, defendants can expect to see an increase in the use of sampling in class action discovery as plaintiffs attempt to use statistical evidence to establish both liability and damages. But … Continue Reading

Price Comparison Class Actions Against Retailers Heat up in New York

Photo of Jacqueline MatthewsBy Jacqueline Matthews on Posted in Class Action Trends, Consumer Class Action
The common retail practice of comparing an item’s current price with a higher “original,” “regular,” or “MSRP” price has recently come under increasing fire from consumers, who say the higher comparison price is often fictitious and misleads shoppers into believing they are getting a better bargain than they really are. Over the past two and … Continue Reading

Arkansas Federal Court to Consider Sanctioning Attorneys for Using Federal Jurisdiction as “Bargaining Chip” in Negotiating State-Court Class Settlement

Photo of Andrew SamuelsBy Andrew Samuels on Posted in Class Action Trends, State Class Action Law
In Adams et al. v. United Services Automobile Ass’n et al., W.D. Ark. No. 2:14-cv-02013, Chief District Judge P.K. Holmes III of the Western District of Arkansas will soon decide whether to sanction attorneys who negotiated a class settlement in federal court and then dismissed and refiled in state court, where the case originated, for … Continue Reading

JCPenney Advertising Class Settlement Calls for $50 Million Payment for a California-Only Class

Photo of Rand L. McClellanPhoto of Jacqueline MatthewsBy Rand L. McClellan and Jacqueline Matthews on Posted in Class Action Trends, Class Certification
Retailers have been under siege, particularly in California, by putative class actions involving allegations of “false or misleading” advertising practices. Generally, the crux of the allegations is that retailers are inducing customers to make purchases by overstating or fabricating the amount that a customer will save by purchasing an item. In the past two years, … Continue Reading

2015-16 Supreme Court Term – Is it Finally the End for Class Actions as We Know Them?

Photo of Paul KarlsgodtBy Paul Karlsgodt on Posted in Class Action Trends
Editor’s Note: The following blog post was originally published by ClassActionBlawg.com. It is republished with permission. The October 2015 United States Supreme Court Term is already well underway, and there are several cases on the docket that could have a significant impact on class action practice.  Here is a summary of the three cases this … Continue Reading

Class Action Disgorgement Case Dismissed Against PG&E as Remedy Sought Would Interfere with Filed Rates

Photo of Casie CollignonBy Casie Collignon and Matthew C. Baisley on Posted in Class Action Trends
Companies in regulated markets, such as insurance and energy, are increasing litigating issues surrounding the “filed rate doctrine,” or in other words, whether they can be sued in a class action where the remedy sought necessarily challenges the rates that are required or approved by the relevant regulators.  Pacific Gas & Electric is a great … Continue Reading

Genzyme First Circuit Decision

By David M. McMillan on Posted in Class Action Trends, Consumer Class Action, Securities
First Circuit Sides with Pharmaceutical Manufacturer in Dismissing Shareholder Class Action In a huge victory for Massachusetts-based biologics manufacturer Genzyme Corporation, the First Circuit Court of Appeals on June 5, 2014 affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of a multi-million dollar shareholder class action stemming from allegedly misleading statements regarding the approval prospects for one of … Continue Reading

California Supreme Court Pounds Another Nail into the Coffin of “Trial by Formula” in Class Actions

Photo of Paul KarlsgodtBy Paul Karlsgodt on Posted in Class Action Trends, Employment
Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally posted on ClassActionBlawg.com. It is reproduced with permissions. The California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Duran v. U.S. Bank National Association yesterday, addressing the use of statistical sampling as a way of evaluating aggregate liability and damages in a class action. Although Duran is a wage … Continue Reading
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