The Eastern District of Michigan recently certified a class of plaintiffs suing under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), rejecting the defendants’ arguments that: (1) there would be “significant issues” identifying class members because the faxes at issue were sent nearly a decade ago; and (2) some putative class members may have had prior business relationships with the defendants and thus may have consented to receipt of the faxes. The defendants had hired a ... Keep Reading »
Seventh Circuit Affirms Approval of Class Action Coupon Settlement Despite “Clear Sailing” and “Kicker” Clauses and Potential Conflict of Interest
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a class action coupon settlement involving “clear sailing” and “kicker” clauses and a fee award based on the lodestar analysis rather than the value of the redeemed coupons, and notwithstanding a potential conflict of interest concerning the class, class counsel (Joseph Siprut), and one of the two representative plaintiffs (Adam Levitt, an attorney who served as co-counsel with Siprut in another class action). The plaintiffs asserted breach ... Keep Reading »
Representative Action Under California’s Private Attorneys General Act Not Waived Through Employment Agreement’s Arbitration Provision
The Central District of California held that a waiver of representative actions in an employment agreement’s arbitration provision did not preclude a former employee from pursuing in court a claim under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). The court further held that the PAGA claim could only be brought in court and not in arbitration. The plaintiff asserted, on behalf of a putative class, several claims against his former employer for the alleged ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Holds That State Court’s Class Certification Order Creates New Occasion for CAFA Removal
The Ninth Circuit held that a state court's certification order, under which CAFA's amount in controversy would be met, created a new basis for defendant to remove the case to federal court. The plaintiff had filed a putative class action against Dollar Tree in California Superior Court alleging violations of the California Labor Code and California Business and Professions Code, Section 17200, based on Dollar Tree's purported failure to provide required paid rest breaks ... Keep Reading »
Second Circuit Vacates Class Certification Order, Applying Various State’s Laws Precludes Finding Of Predominance And Superiority
The Second Circuit vacated a class certification order issued by the Southern District of New York, finding that Rule 23(b)(3)'s predominance and superiority requirements could not be met given the necessity of applying 27 states' laws to putative class claims for breach of fiduciary duty, legal malpractice and breach of contract. The case involved a "novel approach to dispute resolution that continues to provoke a debate among experts in legal ethics." The plaintiffs ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Issues Companion Cases Addressing Evidence Required To Show That The Amount In Controversy Requirement Has Been Met When Challenged on Removal
Through a pair of opinions issued the same day, the Ninth Circuit attempted to clarify the evidence required for a defendant to meet its burden of showing that the amount in controversy exceeds CAFA’s $5 million threshold when a plaintiff moves to remand. In the first opinion, Ibarra v. Manheim Investments, Inc., the plaintiff filed suit in state court seeking to represent a class of employees allegedly injured by the defendant’s "pattern and practice of failing to pay ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Confirms That A Notice Of Removal Requires Only A “Plausible Allegation” That The Amount In Controversy Has Been Met
The Supreme Court has held that a notice of removal requires only a “plausible allegation that the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional threshold,” and confirmed that a notice of removal need not include evidence establishing the amount in controversy. In Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens, the plaintiff alleged that defendants, Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. and Cherokee Basin Pipeline, LLC, underpaid royalties owed to putative class members and ... Keep Reading »
Court Denies Motion to Remand, Rejecting Application of Home State and Local Controversy Exceptions to CAFA
The plaintiff filed a putative class action in Pennsylvania state court against two Pennsylvania defendants and one Virginia defendant, claiming that the defendants preyed on non-English speakers, illegally coercing them to enter into franchise agreements that circumvented the obligations of what were properly classified as employment relationships. The defendants removed under CAFA, and the plaintiff sought remand pursuant to CAFA’s home-state and local-controversy ... Keep Reading »
Correlation Is Not Causation: Class Certification Denied Because Experts’ Methodologies Fail To Show Predominate Antitrust Injury For Either Direct Or Indirect Purchasers Of Optical Disk Drives
A California federal district court denied certification of two nationwide classes, each asserting a price-fixing conspiracy for optical disk drives (“ODD”), because the plaintiffs’ experts failed to provide a viable methodology for establishing class-wide antitrust injury. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants colluded to fix prices for ODDs, thereby preventing ODD prices from declining as quickly or as far as they would have absent the defendants’ anticompetitive ... Keep Reading »
Third Circuit Affirms District Court’s Denial Of Certification Of Nationwide Class Of Plaintiffs Alleging Consumer Fraud And Unjust Enrichment
Plaintiffs alleged in their putative nationwide class action complaint that Quest Diagnostics was liable for consumer fraud, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act for overbilling putative class members and, in some instances, sending them improper written demands from debt collectors. The district court denied certification, holding that the fraud claims implicated the various laws of numerous states, making a class action ... Keep Reading »