The Roundup covers notable class action decisions each month from federal appellate courts, as well as notable Supreme Court class action cert petitions. Second Circuit Behrens v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. – In this decision, the Second Circuit answered a question of first impression for that court: “whether the existence of subject-matter jurisdiction requires a district court to exercise it, even if it is invoked belatedly—on analogy to the rule that a party ... Keep Reading »
Classified Monthly: A Roundup of Class Action Decisions From Federal Appellate Courts – February 2024
The Roundup is a monthly publication that covers the previous month’s notable class action decisions from federal appellate courts, as well as notable Supreme Court cert petitions related to class actions. Third Circuit Barclift v. Keystone Credit Services, LLC – This decision concerns a putative class action asserting claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The named plaintiff alleged that the defendant debt collector violated the FDCPA by ... Keep Reading »
Classified Monthly: A Roundup of Class Action Decisions From Federal Appellate Courts – January 2024
The Roundup is a monthly publication that covers the previous month’s notable class action decisions from federal appellate courts, as well as notable Supreme Court cert petitions related to class actions. Fifth Circuit Dixon v. D.R. Horton, Inc. – D.R. Horton removed a Louisiana state court class action against it to federal court, invoking CAFA jurisdiction, and the plaintiffs moved to remand, citing the “local controversy” exception to CAFA jurisdiction. The ... Keep Reading »
Classified Monthly: A Roundup of Class Action Decisions From Federal Appellate Courts
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Classified Monthly: A Roundup of Class Action Decisions from Federal Appellate Courts. The Roundup normally will arrive in your inbox the first week of each month and will cover the previous month’s notable decisions. Because December was a light month for decisions, this inaugural edition covers both November and December. Second Circuit Krasner v. Cedar Trust Realty, Inc. – This decision interprets the ... Keep Reading »
The Lack of Actual Injury Defense: The Landscape Since TransUnion
The 2023 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey found that the second most successful class action defense is the lack of any actual injury suffered by some or all of the class. It also found that this defense made a big jump in effectiveness from the previous year’s survey. Those findings may be related to the fact that just over two years ago, in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, the Supreme Court confirmed that “Article III does not give federal courts the power to order ... Keep Reading »
One Game, One Stadium: Eleventh Circuit Spikes Collateral Challenge to Tampa Bay Buccaneers Proposed Class Action Settlement
The Eleventh Circuit recently imparted an important message to the class action bar, and in particular to attorneys representing different named plaintiffs in competing class actions: there is “only one gatekeeper under Rule 23,” so any challenge to a proposed class action settlement should be presented to the district judge deciding whether to approve that settlement, not to a different judge by way of a collateral attack on the proposed settlement. Several years ... Keep Reading »
Considerable Deference With a Caveat: Third Circuit Addresses Fee Awards
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision regarding the fee award in the National Football League concussion injury litigation. The decision is non-precedential but still instructive. One takeaway is that appellate courts will show “considerable deference” to district court fee awards. The other takeaway, however, is that district courts still must provide enough of an explanation for appellate courts to meaningfully review the award. When they do ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Affirms Certification of Class Alleging Biometric Privacy Violations
The Ninth Circuit has issued its much-anticipated decision in a class action against Facebook involving alleged biometric privacy violations, affirming certification of a class. In Patel v. Facebook, the Northern District of California certified a class of Facebook users residing in Illinois who alleged that the social media giant violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by using facial-recognition technology "without obtaining a written release and ... Keep Reading »
Hearsay What? EDNY Finds That Class Certification Evidence Must Be Admissible
Lin v. Everyday Beauty is an Eastern District of New York decision addressing an issue that has divided district courts in the Second Circuit and elsewhere: Whether a federal court may consider inadmissible evidence when deciding a class certification motion. This district court found that it could not do so. The plaintiffs, former retail sales employees of the defendants, moved to certify a class of essentially everyone employed by the defendants, beauty supply ... Keep Reading »
A Unicorn Sighting? Fourth Circuit Affirms Certification of Defendant Class
Bell v. Brockett is an unusual case in several respects. Most notably, the Fourth Circuit affirmed certification of a defendant class, despite acknowledging that defendant class actions are "so rare they have been compared to unicorns." The court not only acknowledged the rarity of defendant class actions but also commented on their "inherent risks." Indeed, in a delightful footnote the court explained that although both unicorns and defendant class actions are rare, the ... Keep Reading »