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 »
Superiority Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in superiority, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Securities Fraud Class Certification, Remands for Evidence to Rebut Presumption of Market Efficiency
In Local 703 v. Regions Financial Corp., No. 12:14168 (Aug. 6, 2014), the Eleventh Circuit reviewed the certification of a securities fraud class action brought by investors against Regions for allegedly misrepresenting its asset value and financial stability during the financial crisis, purportedly resulting in artificially high stock prices. The district court found that all class certification requirements had been met, and that the investors had introduced ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Finds Self-Identification By Class Members Does Not Satisfy Ascertainability Under Rule 23
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court’s denial of class certification where a plaintiff failed to propose a plan to ascertain class members and therefore did not satisfy the manageability requirement of Rule 23(b)(3). Plaintiffs alleged that the defendants, a parking company and the City of Laguna Beach, California, had violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”) by improperly printing the expiration dates of credit ... Keep Reading »
Lack Of Predominance, Superiority, And Ascertainability Foreclose Mortgagors’ Proposed Class Action Alleging Kickbacks In Violation Of RESPA
The Central District of California denied certification of a putative nationwide class of mortgagors, holding that numerous individualized issues precludeda finding of predominance, superiority, or ascertainability. In particular, the plaintiffs alleged that defendant’s subsidiary escrow companies violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act’s kickback prohibition by accepting payments from delivery companies, such as UPS, FedEx, and OnTrac, in exchange for ... Keep Reading »
Preemptive Strike Terminates Nationwide Product Defect Class In Louisiana
A Louisiana District Court struck plaintiff’s class allegations in a putative nationwide class of Mercedes vehicle owners finding plaintiff failed to meet his burden of proving predominance, superiority and manageability. Plaintiff alleged that that Mercedes concealed defects in the GL model suspension system that caused the vehicles to lean and be undriveable. Plaintiff’s complaint asserted various common law product liability, warranty and fraud theories as well as ... Keep Reading »
District Court Rejects Nationwide Class, But Certifies California-Only Consumer Class After Conducting Rigorous Analysis of Damages Models Under Comcast
In Werdebaugh v. Blue Diamond Growers, the plaintiff brought suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to certify a nationwide class of consumers who purchased Blue Diamond almond milk products containing allegedly false and deceptive labels. He alleged violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumers Legal Remedies Act. The plaintiff moved for certification of a class seeking injunctive ... Keep Reading »
Putative Maybelline Makeup Class Fades In California District Court
The District Court for the Southern District of California denied certification in a California consumer class action in which Plaintiffs’ claimed that Maybelline falsely labeled and advertised its “SuperStay 24HR” makeup as having 24 hours of staying power. The Court found several deficiencies in the proposed class of Maybelline makeup purchasers under Rules 23(a), (b)(2) and (b)(3). First, the court found that the proposed class was overbroad because it included ... Keep Reading »