A district court in the Eastern District of Louisiana refused to conditionally certify a class of employees who accused their employer of intentionally underpaying and reducing hours from time records to avoid paying overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In Rowe, the named plaintiff and an opt-in plaintiff filed affidavits with their conditional certification motion, describing their personal experiences of having their working hours intentionally reduced ... Keep Reading »
Certification Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in certification, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Too Fast and Furious: Ninth Circuit Unwinds Hyundai and Kia Nationwide Class Action Settlement
In a split panel, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s certification of a nationwide class action settlement because the lower court failed to conduct a sufficient predominance inquiry under Rule 23(b)(3). In 2012 Hyundai and Kia were accused of overstating their fuel efficiency estimates in advertisements and car window stickers for certain of their vehicles. A flurry of putative class action litigation ensued across the country, and the MDL ... Keep Reading »
Second Circuit Reiterates: Defendants Must Satisfy Burden of Persuasion Through a Preponderance of the Evidence to Rebut Basic Presumption in Securities Fraud Class Actions
The Second Circuit, in keeping with its recent decision in Waggoner v. Barclays, reaffirmed that defendants must satisfy the burden of persuasion by a preponderance of the evidence to rebut the presumption established by the Supreme Court in Basic, Inc. v. Levinson. The plaintiffs-appellees, who had acquired shares of Goldman Sachs stock between 2007 and 2010, claimed violations of section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b–5, based on Goldman’s alleged ... Keep Reading »
Putative Class Member’s Spoliation of Evidence Disqualifies Him as a Class Representative
A district court recently disqualified a plaintiff from acting as a class representative because his spoliation of evidence rendered him an atypical class member. The plaintiffs allege that casting sand used in creating Jeep Wrangler engine parts seeps into the vehicles’ radiators, creating a sludge that causes heating and cooling issues. During discovery, the defendant, which manufactures Jeep Wranglers, requested one of the putative class representatives to “[w]ithin ... Keep Reading »
SeaWorld Shareholders See Red After World Sees Blackfish
A California District Court granted certification to a group of SeaWorld investors in a shareholder securities fraud case following the release of the documentary “Blackfish.” First released in July 2013, “Blackfish” chronicles the cruelty of killer whale capture methods, the danger posed by killer whales to trainers, and the physical and psychological strains killer whales experience in captivity. The movie resulted in significant negative publicity for SeaWorld and ... Keep Reading »
Charges by Law Firm-Owned Vendors Challenged in Putative Client Class
Plaintiffs signed engagement letters with the law firm Finkelstein & Partners (the “law firm”) to represent them in two separate personal injury lawsuits on a contingency basis. The contract specifically identified several litigation support vendors who may perform work on the cases, including service of subpoenas, writing client biographies, investigations, photo and video gathering, locating expert witnesses, research, conducting focus groups, and creating trial ... Keep Reading »
401K Not OK: ERISA Class Certified Under Rule 23(b)(1)(B)
A New York district court granted certification in an ERISA class action brought by employees of Deutsche Bank alleging the individual fiduciaries of the company’s retirement plan engaged in self-dealing and mismanagement of its 401K plan. The court certified the class under Rule 23(b)(1)(B), which authorizes class actions when prosecuting separate actions would create a risk of decisions that would be dispositive of the interest of other members not parties to the ... Keep Reading »
Which Comes First Standing or Class Certification? Northern District of Illinois Weighs In
The Northern District of Illinois recently waded into the conflict between standing and class certification when it held that a putative class representative must demonstrate standing to assert each claim before the motion for class certification. In the case, plaintiff Michael Muir filed a putative class action against herbal supplement manufacturer Nature’s Bounty for claims related to an alleged misrepresentation regarding an ingredient’s prevalence in the supplement. ... Keep Reading »
Food for Thought: Liability-Only Class Certification Denied for Claims That “No Sugar Added” Juice Labels Misled Consumers Into Thinking the Juice Had Fewer Calories
Plaintiff’s putative class action alleged that defendant Mott’s violated FDA regulations and California’s Sherman Law and Unfair Competition Law when it labeled and sold its 100 percent apple juice with the label “No Sugar Added,” which plaintiff claimed misled consumers into thinking the juice had fewer calories than its competitors. For some reason, Plaintiff sought issue-specific class certification on liability only pursuant to Rule 23(c)(4). The district court ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Circuit Split Over Applicability of American Pipe Tolling to Successive Class Actions
We previously blogged on whether the Supreme Court’s ruling in American Pipe applies to toll the statute of limitations for successive putative class actions. In Resh v. China Agritech, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held that American Pipe tolled the limitations period for putative class actions by absent class members — thus theoretically permitting endless relitigation of certification denials. As we predicted, a defendant in Resh has filed a petition for writ of certiorari ... Keep Reading »
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