Class discovery is inherently more limited than normal fact discovery for trial, and litigators understandably approach it in a more narrow fashion than they would trial discovery. The Fifth Circuit recently reminded class action litigators, however, that such tailoring should not be extended to expert discovery. In Prantil v. Arkema Inc., the court joined the Second, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits in ruling that the Daubert analysis governing the admission of expert ... 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.
One Game, One Stadium: Eleventh Circuit Spikes Collateral Challenge to Tampa Bay Buccaneers Proposed Class Action Settlement
The Eleventh Circuit recently imparted an important message to the class action bar, and in particular to attorneys representing different named plaintiffs in competing class actions: there is “only one gatekeeper under Rule 23,” so any challenge to a proposed class action settlement should be presented to the district judge deciding whether to approve that settlement, not to a different judge by way of a collateral attack on the proposed settlement. Several years ... Keep Reading »
Article III and Rule 23: Do We Stand Together or All on Our Own?
On December 16, 2020, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Ramirez v. TransUnion LLC. Specifically, the Supreme Court granted certiorari for the following question: Whether either Article III or Rule 23 permits a damages class action where the vast majority of the class suffered no actual injury, let alone an injury anything like what the class representative suffered. The Supreme Court’s certiorari ... Keep Reading »
A Class Action Settlement With a Chocolate Company Melts Away: Eleventh Circuit Issues En Banc Decision on Article III Standing Principles
On October 28, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split (7-3) en banc decision applying Spokeo principles to a claim that a vendor issued a receipt that included more digits from the plaintiff’s credit card than allowed by federal law. The en banc court ruled that the plaintiff did not establish Article III standing. As I reported two years ago after the panel’s decision, the basic background is as follows. This class action lawsuit alleged ... Keep Reading »
An Unauthorized Bounty: Eleventh Circuit Strikes Named Plaintiff Incentive Payment
This week, an Eleventh Circuit panel, in a 2-1 decision, reversed the approval of an incentive payment to the named plaintiff, calling the payment an unauthorized bounty. The case involved a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action settlement that the majority characterized as being "just like so many others that have come before it." But this familiarity was "exactly the problem." According to the court, the district court "repeated several errors that, ... Keep Reading »
Authority Over Efficiency: District Court Lacks Authority To Rule On Arbitration Preemption Question In Remanded PAGA Action, Ninth Circuit Says
As a recent Ninth Circuit decision demonstrates, although substantial time, effort, and briefing may be spent litigating issues in a removed federal putative class action, parties should be prepared for a round two of their persuasion attempts in state court where the case is remanded to state court. In Echevarria v. Aerotek, Inc., a California district court remanded a representative action filed under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) after finding ... Keep Reading »
Considerable Deference With a Caveat: Third Circuit Addresses Fee Awards
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision regarding the fee award in the National Football League concussion injury litigation. The decision is non-precedential but still instructive. One takeaway is that appellate courts will show “considerable deference” to district court fee awards. The other takeaway, however, is that district courts still must provide enough of an explanation for appellate courts to meaningfully review the award. When they do ... Keep Reading »
CAFA: Ninth Circuit Affirms District Court’s Sua Sponte Invocation and Application of Discretionary Home State Exception
On May 13, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the remand of a wage and hour class action lawsuit filed in California state court based on the home state exception to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). In its opinion affirming the remand, the Ninth Circuit explored both parts of the home state exception. Defendant West Marine removed the lawsuit to federal court under CAFA. There was no dispute that West Marine’s CAFA removal satisfied the statutory ... Keep Reading »
More Alike Than Different: Sixth Circuit Instructs MDL Court to Find Efficiencies Within Federal Rules Governing Individual Cases
Judges presiding over multidistrict litigations, known as MDLs, must walk a tightrope between individual and collective needs. As the Sixth Circuit reminded us in a recent decision, In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, this can be an especially challenging balancing act for a district judge. On the one hand, MDL courts operate within the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, designed largely to adjudicate individual cases. On the other hand, an MDL exists so that ... Keep Reading »
Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, LA Fitness Customers Exercise to Work Out Their Monthly Fees
As Americans face drastic changes to their daily routines due to the coronavirus, a South Florida plaintiff has brought a class action lawsuit against LA Fitness, alleging counts of unjust enrichment and negligence for LA Fitness’ alleged refusal to refund its members’ monthly fees. In his complaint, Kip Barnett alleges that, at the beginning of March, he paid his LA Fitness membership fee. Due to the coronavirus, however, on March 16, LA Fitness closed its facilities ... Keep Reading »
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