Just two weeks after the Supreme Court's decision in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a CAFA-based remand order where the defendant failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeded the jurisdictional threshold for a CAFA removal. Plaintiff, a former Lilly employee, alleged that Lilly failed to make certain incentive payments due her and other similarly situated individuals who had ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Holds Unaccepted Rule 68 Offer To Named Plaintiffs Does Not Moot A Class Action
The Eleventh Circuit recently held that a defendant may not moot a class action through an unaccepted Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 offer of complete relief to the named plaintiffs—but not to class members—before the named plaintiffs move to certify the class. In doing so, the Eleventh Circuit joined the majority of circuits that have addressed the same issue. Named plaintiffs filed a class action in state court against Buccaneers Limited Partnership (“BLP”) ... Keep Reading »
First Circuit Adopts Bright-Line Rule On CAFA Removal Trigger And Broadly Defines Other Paper
The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the thirty-day time period for removal under CAFA is triggered when the plaintiffs’ complaint or plaintiffs’ subsequent other papers provide defendants with sufficient information to easily determine that the matter is removable, even if based on information provided by or previously available to defendants, and that “other paper” is defined broadly to include correspondence from the plaintiffs or plaintiffs’ counsel ... Keep Reading »
Northern District of Illinois Declines To Restrict Defense Counsel’s Communications With Putative Class Members
The Northern District of Illinois refused to restrict a defense counsel’s communications with putative class members, reasoning that the communications were not misleading or coercive. The case arose when a “romantic getaway” motel reservations desk employee claimed that all phone calls made to or from the motel’s reservations desks were intercepted, recorded, and archived without consent of either party to the calls, and that some employees listened to the calls for ... Keep Reading »
American Pipe Tolling Inapplicable In Texas Negligent Misstatement Case
The Southern District of Texas found that negligent misstatement claims filed more than two years after the last alleged misstatement were time-barred and that the applicable statute of limitations was not tolled under American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974). The Plaintiffs, private investment funds, alleged that the Defendants, BP oil affiliates, directors and officers, made misrepresentations regarding: (i) the extent of BP’s commitment to a ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Approves Statistical Sampling And Affirms Certification Of Overtime Class
The Ninth Circuit recently affirmed certification of a class of an estimated 800 current and former California-based Allstate Insurance Company adjusters who allege that Allstate has a practice or unofficial policy of requiring its hourly claims adjusters to work unpaid off-the-clock overtime in violation of California law. In certifying the class, the district court found that the question of whether Allstate had an unofficial policy of denying overtime payments while ... Keep Reading »
District Court Cleans Up Whirlpool Washing Machine Class Definition
Having requested and obtained certification of a class of consumers who had purchased a number of Whirlpool Duet model washers allegedly susceptible to serious mold problems, Plaintiffs later sought to limit the class so as to exclude certain models. Whirlpool opposed the modification and, instead, sought decertification. The Northern District of Ohio granted Plaintiffs’ motion in part, modifying the class, and denied Whirlpool’s motion to decertify. In setting ... Keep Reading »
Third Circuit Denies Employees’ Petition For Rehearing In Class Arbitration Case
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals this week denied a petition for rehearing by the panel and the Court en banc in the Opalinski v Robert Half International, Inc. matter, where last month it held that the availability of class arbitration is a substantive question of arbitrability for the court (not the arbitrator) to decide, absent clear agreement otherwise. See our prior post about that opinion here. Opalinski v. Robert Half International, Inc., No. 12-4444 (3d ... Keep Reading »
The Third Circuit Joins The Sixth And Holds That The Availability Of Class Arbitration Is A Substantive Question Of Arbitrability For Courts To Decide, Absent Clear Agreement Otherwise
“Because of the fundamental differences between classwide and individual arbitration, and the consequences of proceeding with one rather than the other, … the availability of classwide arbitration is a substantive ‘question of arbitrability’ to be decided by a court absent clear agreement otherwise,” the Third Circuit held. Two former Robert Half International, Inc. (“RHI”) employees brought an action, on behalf of themselves and others, alleging that RHI failed to ... Keep Reading »
Sixth Circuit Affirms Class Certification in TCPA Case
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed class certification in a case brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq. Pennsylvania-based distributor Lake City Industrial Products engaged Business to Business Solutions (B2B), a “fax-blasting” company, to transmit approximately 10,000 faxes advertising a pipe-thread sealing tape product. American Copper & Brass, a Michigan-based equipment wholesaler with no preexisting ... Keep Reading »