Tag Archives: class action settlement

Global Fitness Not in Shape to Pay Fees and Expenses, Held in Contempt for Failing to Comply with Final Approval Order

By Robert J. Tucker on September 26, 2017 Posted in Settlements

Last month, Global Fitness Holdings LLC and its four managers were held in civil contempt for failure to comply with a final order approving a class action settlement. Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings, LLC, S.D. Ohio No. 2:11-cv-436 (Aug. 8, 2017). Global Fitness entered into a class action settlement resolving claims that it had engaged … Continue Reading

The Unwelcome Guest at the Class Settlement Table: Serial Objectors

By James Morrison on March 3, 2017 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

Australian Thalidomide class action settled

By Darren Crook and Patrick T. Lewis on December 5, 2013 Posted in Consumer Class Action, Settlements

More than 50 years after the morning sickness drug Thalidomide was first released to the market, the drug’s British distributor announced on Monday, December 2nd that it has agreed to settle an Australian class action in the Victorian Supreme Court over birth defects linked to the drug. The legal team representing the class claimed that Australia … Continue Reading

Judge Slashes Attorneys’ Fees and Incentive Awards in Defective Laptop Class Action

By Stephanie Osterman on November 18, 2013 Posted in Consumer Class Action, Settlements

In a consumer class action settlement involving allegedly sluggish Acer notebook computers, a Northern California federal judge sua sponte slashed the attorneys’ fees award sought by plaintiffs’ lawyers from the requested $2,542,246 to $943,217. Wolph v. Acer Am. Corp., Case No. 3:09-cv-0-1314-JSW (N.D. Cal. Oct. 21, 2013). The named plaintiffs accused Acer of selling notebook … Continue Reading

California Rejects a Class that Includes Uninjured Class Members

By Julian Perlman on October 31, 2013 Posted in Class Action Trends, Class Certification, Class Definition, Settlements

A California federal court has rejected a proposed settlement to a class action over alleged material omissions in Option Adjustable Rate Mortgage Loan documentation (Order Denying Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Settlement Approval in Peel, et al. v. BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp., et al.). Lead plaintiffs and defendants, which included several divisions of Washington Mutual, agreed to … Continue Reading

$40 Million Skechers Toning Shoe Settlement Receives Final Approval

By Nicole Skolout on May 22, 2013 Posted in Settlements

On May 10, 2013, Judge Thomas B. Russell of the Western District of Kentucky granted final approval of the $40 million settlement in In Re: Skechers Toning Shoe Products Liability Litigation, No. 3:11-md-02308, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67441 (W.D. Ky.). The court also approved an award of $5 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. The … Continue Reading

Call Centers Increasingly Targeted in Class Action Lawsuits for Statutory Penalties Under Decades-Old California Law

By Paul Karlsgodt on October 23, 2012 Posted in Data Breach

Editor’s Note – This article is a joint submission to the Baker Hostetler Class Action Lawsuit Defense Blog and Data Privacy Monitor. Be sure to check out the Data Privacy Monitor for the latest news, trends, and analysis on data privacy issues. Companies that provide call center services to consumers are increasingly being targeted in class action … Continue Reading

Courts Preliminarily Approve Settlements in Netflix and Blockbuster Video Privacy and Protection Act Class Actions

By Erica Gann Kitaev on August 10, 2012 Posted in Data Breach

Editor’s Note – This article is a joint submission to the Baker Hostetler Class Action Lawsuit Defense Blog and Data Privacy Monitor. Be sure to check out the Data Privacy Monitor for the latest news, trends, and analysis on data privacy issues. Two Federal District Courts recently approved settlements in two significant class actions brought … Continue Reading

The Importance of a Carefully Worded Class Action Settlement Release

By Casie Collignon on June 4, 2012 Posted in Settlements

Obtaining a release of liability from every class member that has not opted out of a class settlement is the defendant’s ultimate goal in settling a class action. However, it is easy for the release to be an afterthought in negotiating a settlement. This is, at worst, a mistake, and at best, a lost opportunity … Continue Reading

First Circuit Lays Down Ground Rules for Cy Pres Awards

By Paul Karlsgodt on May 2, 2012 Posted in Settlements

What to do with unclaimed settlement funds is a common problem facing class action litigants. There are at least four methods of distributing unclaimed settlement funds: (1) reversion of unclaimed funds back to the defendant; (2) payment to those claimants who did make claims on a pro rata basis; (3) letting the funds escheat to the … Continue Reading

The Importance of a Defendant’s Active Participation in Class Action Settlement Administration

By Casie Collignon on April 22, 2012 Posted in Practice Pointers, Settlements

A class action settlement has been reached. The agreement is inked. You have preliminary approval. A class action settlement administrator has been hired. In many respects, the hard part is over, but that does not mean that either the defendant or defense counsel can become complacent. There are still a variety of steps that must … Continue Reading

Northern District of California Decision Highlights Impact of Prior Settlements on Subsequent Related Class Actions

By Benjamin D. Pergament on March 29, 2012 Posted in Civil Procedure, Issue and Claim Preclusion, Settlements

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California recently issued an order demonstrating the effects that a release in a settlement in one class action may have on claims in subsequent class actions. In McNeary-Calloway v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., Case No. C-11-03058 JCS, United States Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero … Continue Reading

Second Circuit Holds Separate Class Representatives With Separate Counsel Required Under Amchem and Ortiz

By Deborah Renner on January 2, 2012 Posted in Adequacy of Representation, Rule 23 Requirements

In a recent decision, the Second Circuit determined that in a class action settlement that capped total compensation, separate categories of claims must each have separate class representatives and separate counsel. In In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation, 654 F.3d 242 (2d Cir. 2011), the Second Circuit found representation in a class … Continue Reading