On February 14, 2014, the Seventh Circuit ruled that a plaintiff’s attorney was bound by the terms of a class action settlement involving alleged malfeasance in the laying of fiber-optic cables by telecommunications companies on certain landowners’ property even though the attorney never signed the final settlement agreement. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the Illinois federal court judge’s … Continue Reading
On March 27, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, Case No. 11-864, which tightened class certification requirements in two respects. First, Behrend requires plaintiffs to show a method by which class-wide damages can be commonly calculated in Rule 23(b)(3) antitrust class actions. Second, the decision confirmed that the Court’s “rigorous analysis” … Continue Reading
In a recent motion filed in Monroe v. FTS USA, LLC, No. 2:08-cv-02100 (D.E. 441-1), defendants Unitek USA, LLC and its subsidiary, FTS USA, LLC, (collectively “UniTek”) asserted that a $3.8 million judgment awarded to a class of cable technicians should be tossed in light of the Seventh Circuit’s ruling in Espenscheid, v. DirectSat USA, … Continue Reading