On February 29, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review in Mullins v. Direct Digital, LLC, No. 15-1776, an ascertainability case we previously covered when it was decided in the Seventh Circuit. In Mullins, a panel of the Seventh Circuit expressly split from decisions in the Third and Eleventh Circuits and held that a class plaintiff is not required to demonstrate the “administrative feasibility” of ascertaining a class. Instead, the panel applied a weaker ... Keep Reading »
Move Along; Nothing to See in Ninth Circuit’s TCPA Opinion
On February 3, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision affirming summary judgment in favor of the defendant on a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claim in Baird v. Sabre, Inc., ---F.App’x,---, 2016 WL 424778 (9th Cir. Feb. 3, 2016). The short opinion was designated by the panel as unpublished. Nonetheless, because of the relative paucity of published circuit court decisions on highly specific TCPA issues, district courts ... Keep Reading »
2015 Food Industry Decisions With Bite
Food for Thought is a review of significant court decisions affecting the food, beverage, dietary supplements and personal care products industry. Although many cases in this edition focus on cases pertaining to class certification, we have also included other cases relating to summary judgment decisions. Florida District Court Rejects Motion to Strike But Allows Pre-Certification Standing Challenge in Snack Food Labeling Case Bohlke v. Shearer’s Foods, LLC, No. ... Keep Reading »
Seventh Circuit Weighs In On One-Way Intervention
Does plaintiff’s contemporaneous filing of a motion for summary judgment and a motion for class certification violate the rule against one-way intervention? In Costello, plaintiff filed his motions for summary judgment and class certification contemporaneously. The lower court first denied class certification and then granted the motion for summary judgment. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit found that the rule against one-way intervention was not violated. The court, ... Keep Reading »
Limits of Ascertainability Reached in Class Allegations Against Equifax
Plaintiff, hoping to recover from Equifax for issuing a credit report with "incorrect and damaging information," sought to represent a class of "all persons who disputed an Equifax credit report and where Equifax failed to apply the proper and appropriate [Fair Credit Reporting Act, (“FCRA”)] procedures." On defendant's motion to strike these class allegations, the federal district court in New Jersey said, "this Court would never grant a motion for class certification ... Keep Reading »
No Party for IRS: Court Certifies Class of Conservative Nonprofits
If you thought that the political controversy over alleged IRS targeting of Tea Party organizations was confined to the media, think again – the issue has reached the courts. The Southern District of Ohio recently granted class certification in a lawsuit brought by organizations alleging they were targeted by the IRS. Plaintiff groups, which applied for exemption from federal taxes under 26 U.S.C. §§ 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4), claim that the IRS improperly flagged their ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court’s Amgen Order Confirms That Fifth Third Bancorp’s ERISA Stock-Drop Pleading Standard Has Teeth
In a recent per curiam order granting the plan fiduciaries' petition for certiorari and reversing the Ninth Circuit, the United States Supreme Court made clear that it expects lower courts to faithfully apply the pleading requirements for ERISA "stock-drop" cases as articulated in the Court's earlier opinion in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, 134 S. Ct. 2459 (2014). This is welcome news for stock-drop defendants, who should still have a meaningful opportunity to ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Rules Unaccepted Rule 68 Offer of Judgment Cannot Moot Class Action
A divided Supreme Court ruled today in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857, that an unaccepted Rule 68 offer of judgment by a defendant cannot moot a putative class action. The decision settles a reserved question from Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk and resolves a circuit split on the issue. Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion holds that an unaccepted Rule 68 settlement offer “has no force” and like other unaccepted contract offers, “creates no lasting right or ... Keep Reading »
Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2016, Passes House and Heads to Senate
On January 8, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a 211-188 vote along party lines, H.R. 1927, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2016. The bill would amend U.S. Code, title 28, to preclude federal courts from certifying “any proposed class seeking monetary relief for personal injury or economic loss unless the party seeking to maintain such a class action affirmatively demonstrates that each proposed class ... Keep Reading »
Court Allows Class Member Self-Identification Where Employer Failed to Retain Records
The Northern District of California recently certified a class of employees in an action against an auto parts store for failure to reimburse expenses. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant required certain management-level employees—specifically, store managers, assistant store managers, and retail service specialists—to make daily bank deposits but did not reimburse them when they used personal vehicles to do so. Though the company had a standard policy regarding ... Keep Reading »
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