The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court order denying certification to a group of homeowners in four states who alleged roof shingle manufacturer Owens Corning sold defective roof shingles and misrepresented their expected useful life. Specifically, plaintiffs alleged claims for breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and violation of various state consumer protection statutes because the shingles installed ... Keep Reading »
Construction Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in the construction industry, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Alleged Violations of Florida Building Code Not Subject to Class Treatment
Two couples who own homes in central Florida attempted to bring a class action against a homebuilder, stemming from alleged violations of Florida’s building code. Section 553.84, Florida Statutes, provides for such a private cause of action, but also provides a statutory defense for homebuilders where: (1) the homebuilder obtained any required building permits, and the appropriate agency approved the plans; (2) the project passed all inspections required under the Code; ... 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 »
Town Gets Schooled on Class Definition in PCB Contamination Case
The Town of Lexington, Massachusetts filed a putative class action in 2012 on behalf of itself and alleged similarly situated Massachusetts school districts that have one or more buildings with airborne polychlorinated-biphenyl (PCB) levels above the public health levels established by the EPA. From the outset of the litigation, defendants argued this proposed class was not ascertainable, as implicitly required by Rule 23, because it was impossible to identify the class ... Keep Reading »
GCs facing more bet-the-company and higher exposure class actions
Across industries, companies spent $2 billion on class action lawsuits in 2014, slightly less than the $2.1 billion they spent in 2013. This year, spending is expected to return to 2013 levels. Companies’ class action dockets increased on average by one new case in 2014, bringing the average number of class actions managed to five. This total is expected to remain constant in 2015, as the number of new matters is likely to be offset by those resolved. As before, ... Keep Reading »
Texas High Court Holds State’s Unclaimed Property Act Does Not Preclude Cy Pres Distribution Of Unclaimed Class Action Settlement Proceeds
In a 5-4 decision, the Texas Supreme Court held that the cy pres provision of a class action settlement was not subject to the state’s Unclaimed Property Act. After the trial court certified a class of subcontractors whose pay allegedly had been improperly docked by the defendant contractor, the parties settled the case on a class-wide basis agreeing that the defendant would issue refund checks to the aggrieved class members. The settlement contained a cy pres ... Keep Reading »
7th Circuit Vacates Decision Declining To Certify Consumer Class Against Roofing Shingle Manufacturer Based On Incorrect Reading Of Comcast And Dukes
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a decision declining to certify a consumer class against IKO Manufacturing, in which the district court wrote that “commonality of damages” is essential, reasoning that the district court had incorrectly read Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426 (2013), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011), to require proof “that the plaintiffs will experience common damage and that their claimed damages are not ... Keep Reading »
Monitor what? Another medical monitoring development in the Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation Products Liability Litigation
On January 31, 2014, the Middle District of Florida dismissed, without prejudice, a medical monitoring claim in a spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation products liability class action. Gibson v. LaPolla Indus., Inc., et al., No. 6:13-cv-646-Orl-36KRS (Dkt. 48). The court held that the plaintiffs did not “specify any single serious condition or even reasonably specific group of serious conditions that they are at a significantly increased risk of contracting as a ... Keep Reading »
No Nationwide Standing for Florida-Based Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation Litigation Class Representative
On December 9, 2013, the Southern District of Florida in Renzi v. Demilec (USA) LLC, et al., No. 9:12-cv-80516-KAM, granted Spray Polyurethane Foam “(SPF”) insulation manufacturer Demilec’s motion for partial summary judgment on class representative Renzi's claim for "violation of consumer protection acts." See Renzi (Dkt. 113). Renzi sought relief on behalf of a nationwide class under not only the consumer protection act of Florida, her state of residence, but also ... Keep Reading »
No MDL for SPF, Says the JPML…
On May 30, 2013, the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation ("JPML") heard argument on Florida Spray Polyurethane Foam (“SPF”) Insulation plaintiff Lucille Renzi's motion to transfer all of the SPF insulation product liability lawsuits to the Southern District of Florida, where her lawsuit was pending, for coordinated and consolidated pre-trial proceedings. Renzi asserted that multiple other "substantially similar putative class action[s] involving the same ... Keep Reading »