Mootness, as one of the big three justiciability requirements, is a jurisdictional requirement on which judges do not normally postpone adjudication. But in a recent putative class action of transgender inmates, the D.C. district court held off on its determination to examine a rarely invoked exception to the mootness doctrine applied only in the class context. Sunday Hinton, a transgender woman who was housed in the men’s unit of the D.C. jail, brought a putative ... Keep Reading »
Numerosity Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in numerosity, including news, key cases, and strategies.
High School Female Athletes Face Hurdles to Class Certification
The U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii recently denied female student-athletes’ motion for class certification under Title IX even though it rejected the defendants’ attacks on mootness and standing as well as Rule 23(a)’s requirements for commonality, typicality, and adequacy. Instead, the court found that the proposed class failed to satisfy the numerosity requirement that joinder would be impracticable. The underlying case centered on Title IX ... Keep Reading »
Objectively Non-Flushable? The Northern District of California Certifies Consumer Class Regarding Charmin Freshmates
Using the familiar “reasonable consumer standard” that applies in many jurisdictions regarding allegedly deceptive sales practices, a judge of the Northern District of California recently certified a class action of California consumers who purchased Charmin/Proctor & Gamble’s “Freshmates” brand of “flushable” bathroom wet-wipes between April 6, 2011, and August 3, 2017. The class claims centered on the allegation that Freshmates were not “flushable” as advertised ... Keep Reading »
District Court Denies Certification of Nationwide Class, Finding Individual Retail Stores’ Alleged Failures to Follow Internal Policies Not Suitable for Class Relief
An Illinois district court recently denied certification, finding that the putative nationwide class failed the commonality and numerosity prongs of Rule 23(a) and that injunctive relief was not available under Rule 23(b)(2) because the defendants did not have a standard policy or procedure causing injury to class members. The plaintiffs brought a putative class action seeking to hold Kohl's Corporation and Kohl's Department Stores, Inc. (“Kohl's”) liable for alleged ... Keep Reading »
A Damages Class Is Certified, but No Standing for Declaratory and Injunctive Class
A representative plaintiff who purchased Aveeno sunscreen products and baby bath products brought putative class actions against the products’ manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, in the United State District Court for the District of Connecticut. Both of plaintiff’s asserted classes challenged Aveeno’s product labeling under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) and the similar consumer protection laws of several other states and the District of ... Keep Reading »
TCPA Class Certified Based Largely on “Concrete Injury” Determination
Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1549 (2016) – which held that Article III standing requires a concrete injury, even when an injury has otherwise been established for statutory purposes – there has been a debate as to what constitutes Article III “concrete injury” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227. With certain exceptions, the TCPA creates a statutory cause of ... Keep Reading »
Third Circuit Creates Framework for Analyzing Numerosity
The Third Circuit recently vacated class certification, granted by the Eastern District of Pennsylvania after nearly a decade of litigation, in an antitrust case alleging that a pharmaceutical company entered into agreements with four generic drug makers that, acting together, delayed the sale of generic drugs and prevented the creation of a competitive market. In the second part of its panel opinion regarding predominance under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), ... Keep Reading »
2016 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey Reveals Important Trends in Class Action Management
The fifth annual edition of the Carlton Fields Class Action Survey has just been released, and in this year’s survey corporate counsel report that class action spending has increased after four consecutive years of decline. Spending is also projected to increase in 2016. This marks a key turning point. The Numbers Across industries, the companies surveyed report that they spent $2.1 billion on class action lawsuits in 2015. The number of companies facing at least one ... Keep Reading »
Western District of Missouri Declines to Deliver Certification in Class Action Based on Alleged Newspaper Subscription Overcharges
The Western District of Missouri denied class certification in an action alleging three regional newspapers—the Kansas City Star, the Fort Worth Star Telegram, and the Belleville News-Democrat—unlawfully double billed some of their subscribers by shortening the length of their subscriptions. The named plaintiffs, subscribers to the Kansas City Star only, alleged that without providing proper notice, the newspapers deducted additional charges for special or premium ... Keep Reading »
Rice Capades: Court Certifies a Class of Lead Lawyers Against Defendant Law Firms Who Allegedly Used the Class’s Work Product in Rice Litigation
The Eastern District of Missouri certified an unusual class of lawyers and their clients who undertook a collective effort to litigate claims against Bayer related to the purported “contamination” of the U.S. rice supply by Bayer’s genetically modified rice. The defendants are law firms that allegedly benefitted from the work performed by the class in state and federal cases against Bayer. Bayer’s introduction of genetically modified rice into the U.S. domestic rice ... Keep Reading »