The ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, San Francisco Cty., 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017), remain unsettled. In Bristol-Myers Squibb, the United States Supreme Court rejected California’s “sliding scale approach” to assertions of specific personal jurisdiction. California’s Supreme Court had addressed a nationwide mass action and held that California could assert specific jurisdiction over the claims of ... Keep Reading »
Archives for March 2018
Cyan Makes SLUSA Removal Proponents Feel Blue: Supreme Court Holds That Securities Act of 1933 Class Actions Can Stay in State Court
On March 20, the Supreme Court reached two holdings important to securities litigators. First, the Court held that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (“SLUSA”) did not strip state courts of their ability to adjudicate class actions under the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”). Second, the Court held that SLUSA does not allow removal to federal court of class actions alleging claims only under the Securities Act. Petitioners were an issuer ... Keep Reading »
Careful What You Wish For – Additional Discovery Requested by TCPA Class Plaintiff Leads to Decertification Order in Northern District of Illinois
Federal courts have a continuing obligation to ensure that class action certification remains appropriate throughout the duration of a case. Accordingly, it is well established that if class certification is later deemed improvident, the district court may decertify a previously certified class. That is precisely what the Northern District of Illinois did in Johnson v. YAHOO! Inc., No. 14 CV 2028, 2018 WL 835339 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 13, 2018), in addressing a previously ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Gives Leg Up to Shoe Purchasers’ Data Breach Suit
On March 8, a Ninth Circuit panel held that fear of identity theft in the wake of a data breach satisfies the standing requirements of Article III of the United States Constitution. In so holding, the Ninth Circuit confirmed that its prior data breach standing precedent in Krottner v. Starbucks Corp., 628 F.3d 1139 (9th Cir. 2010) remained good law despite the Supreme Court’s 2013 holding in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, 133 S. Ct. 1138 (2013). As we previously ... Keep Reading »
Out of Proportion: Court Denies Discovery Requests in Putative TCPA Class Action Due to Burden On Defendant
This putative Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action arose from alleged marketing calls by Quicken Loans (Quicken) to potential mortgage customers. After the magistrate judge granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel production of “all documents of any type or kind or records of communications received by Defendant or any third party from a proposed class member requesting that Defendant not contact that consumer or customer,” Quicken objected to the ... Keep Reading »
Yahoo Enters $80 Million Securities Class Action Settlement After Data Breach
On March 2, Yahoo, Inc. (“Yahoo”) filed a proposed settlement in In re Yahoo Inc. Securities Litigation, which was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The $80 million proposed settlement relates to a securities class litigation stemming from Yahoo’s 2013 and 2014 data breaches. While many elements of the Yahoo securities class action may be factually unique, the settlement is a milestone because it is the first significant securities fraud settlement from a ... Keep Reading »
Third Circuit Ascertainability Requirement Puts the Squeeze on Orange Juice Purchasers
A New Jersey district court denied certification to a putative class of Tropicana orange juice purchasers from "Members Only" or "Loyalty Card" stores in California, New York, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. Plaintiffs alleged various common law and statutory consumer protection causes of action based on Tropicana's alleged false marketing of its orange juice as "all natural." The court found that plaintiffs satisfied the four certification requirements of Rule 23(a) but ... Keep Reading »