On October 3, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s approval of a class settlement, an award of attorney’s fees to class counsel, and the provision of an incentive award for the class representative. The court affirmed in the face of objections to the class representative’s Article III standing, the notice pursuant to Rule 23(h), the award of attorney’s fees, and the incentive award to the class representative. The basic background is as ... Keep Reading »
Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Don’t Count Your Chickens – Or State Citizens for CAFA Exceptions – Before They Hatch
The Ninth Circuit vacated a remand order implicating the local and home-state controversy exceptions to CAFA jurisdiction in a putative class action by former California resident employees of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for state wage-and-hour law violations. The court ruled that the plaintiffs did not meet their burden to prove that “greater than two-thirds of proposed class members” were residents of California to invoke the exceptions. Originally filed in ... Keep Reading »
No Injury, No Problem?: The First Circuit Weighs in on Certification Where Absent Class Members Lack Harm
In Tyson Foods, the Supreme Court declined to resolve the issue of whether a class may be certified if it contains members who were not injured and have no legal right to damages. Dealing with this increasingly common issue in class action litigation, the First Circuit recently summarized circuit precedent on the issue – and ultimately reversed a district court decision certifying a class that contained class members who had not suffered any injury. Plaintiffs filed ... Keep Reading »
The Eleventh Circuit Weighs in on the Intersection of Arbitration and Class Action Jurisprudence
On September 19th, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals resolved a question of first impression in the circuit: whether the availability of the class action mechanism is a question of arbitrability that presumptively should be decided by the court. The Court ruled that the availability of class arbitration presumptively should be decided by the court. But, in a second ruling that could overshadow the first for many existing arbitration agreements, the Court proceeded to ... Keep Reading »
Volkswagen Passes Fairness Test for Class Settlement in Dispute Over “Defeat Devices” to Bypass Emission Tests
Last month the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court decision approving a class settlement regarding Volkwagen’s marketing of clean diesel vehicles that used so-called “defeat devices” to circumvent emissions tests. Hundreds of “defeat device” lawsuits against Volkswagen were consolidated in the Northern District of California for pretrial proceedings. The proposed settlement provided over $10 billion in potential damages and class members’ recovery depended on whether ... Keep Reading »
Defense Victories in Genetic and Biometric Privacy Class Actions
In what may be a glimpse into the next frontier in class action litigation, two federal courts recently disposed of putative class actions alleging violations of state privacy laws involving genetic and biometric data. In a rare defense victory in a circuit favored by the plaintiff’s bar, a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Alaska denying plaintiff’s motion for certification of claims under Alaska’s ... Keep Reading »
Seventh Circuit Approves Cy Pres Settlement
We previously reported on the uncertainty of cy pres settlements in class action lawsuits. Although the Supreme Court granted cert on the issue, the Seventh Circuit weighed in during the interim by approving a settlement that included a potential payout to cy pres recipients. The case arose out of a million phone calls made to consumers throughout 2011 and 2012 in which people were offered a chance to go on a free cruise if they agreed to participate in a political ... Keep Reading »
Fourth Circuit Holds Plaintiffs Who Allege Identity Theft Have Standing to Sue Post-Data Breach, But What Does it Mean For Certification?
The Fourth Circuit’s 2017 decision in Beck v. McDonald held that the mere fear of identity theft in the wake of a data breach was insufficient to confer Article III standing. Plaintiffs must do more. But how much more? The Fourth Circuit’s latest holding clarifies that plaintiffs who allege that credit cards have been fraudulently applied for – and in some cases issued – using their nonpublic personal information satisfy Article III’s requirements. Optometrists ... Keep Reading »
Are Administrative Fees and Costs a Benefit to the Class as a Whole? A Circuit Split Continues
In 2017, the Eighth Circuit reversed the certification of a settlement class in the Target 2013 security breach litigation. See In re Target Corp. Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., 847 F.3d 608, 613 (8th Cir. 2017). The court remanded the case to the district court to conduct a proper class certification analysis. On remand, the district court again certified the settlement class. A second appeal was taken by two objectors and, this time, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the ... Keep Reading »
Aw Schnucks! Seventh Circuit Dismisses Data Breach Class Action by Financial Institution Plaintiffs Under Economic Loss Doctrine
The Seventh Circuit recently upheld the dismissal of a novel putative class action filed by financial institutions against grocer Schnuck Markets (“Schnucks”) based on the economic loss doctrine. Schnucks suffered a data breach that exposed nearly 2.5 million credit and debit cards over four months until the intrusion was discovered. Instead of being filed by the usual data breach class action featuring a putative class of customers, this case was filed by financial ... Keep Reading »
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