One notable opportunity associated with antitrust class action practice is the expert “hot tub,” which generally speaking is an in-court, on-the-record “debate” between dueling economists, with the court, parties, and experts themselves (or some variation thereof) participating in questioning. Such proceedings are different from a traditional Daubert hearing, which involves questions from the attorneys and perhaps the district judge, but not direct questioning of one ... Keep Reading »
Federal District Courts Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in Federal District Courts, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Mark Cuban’s Cryptocurrency Conundrum: The Road to Filing Sanctions
Selecting a named plaintiff in a putative class action can be one of the most important, but overlooked, decisions that a plaintiff’s counsel makes. Picking the wrong plaintiff can lead to delay, dismissal of claims, denial of class certification in some circumstances, and motions for sanctions. The high-profile putative class action against Mark Cuban, the “Shark Tank” multimillionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, illustrates all of these ... Keep Reading »
Fitting a Square Plaintiff Into a Circle Class? No Can Do Says Florida Federal Court
A recent decision issued by Chief Judge Timothy J. Corrigan of the Middle District of Florida highlights a straightforward yet consequential class action principle: a plaintiff cannot serve as a class representative for a class to which he or she does not belong. The specific case is Gartrell v. J.J. Marshall & Associates Inc. In Gartrell, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Florida Consumer ... Keep Reading »
District Court Asks Sixth Circuit to Review Two-Step FLSA Collective Certification Test
The Sixth Circuit will soon tell us whether it will follow the Fifth Circuit’s lead in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services LLC and adopt a more exacting, one-stage certification approach for Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, or instead officially adopt the two-stage certification process set out in Lusardi v. Xerox Corp., which is currently followed by most district courts. In Holder v. A&L Home Care & Training Center LLC, former aides claimed that ... Keep Reading »
“Right to Repair” Class Actions Against John Deere Obtain a Centralized Forum
In recent years, a vigorous debate over consumers’ “right to repair” products they have purchased has earned the scrutiny of legislators and regulators, along with the attention of the plaintiffs’ class action bar. Until recently, the class action segment of the controversy has been spread throughout courts across the country. Last month, however, the most prominent set of right-to-repair cases were consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois, which will be a key ... Keep Reading »
The Latest on Cy Pres: As Gorilla Monsoon Said… Close Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
The term cy pres comes from the Norman French expression "cy près comme possible," which means "as near as possible." As part of a class action settlement, parties frequently establish a cy pres fund as a method of dealing with unclaimed settlement funds. Some believe that doing so is more palatable to district courts than an agreement that calls for a reversion of unclaimed funds to the defendant. A recent decision by Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District ... Keep Reading »
Inherently Transitory Exception to Save Transgender Inmate Putative Class?
Mootness, as one of the big three justiciability requirements, is a jurisdictional requirement on which judges do not normally postpone adjudication. But in a recent putative class action of transgender inmates, the D.C. district court held off on its determination to examine a rarely invoked exception to the mootness doctrine applied only in the class context. Sunday Hinton, a transgender woman who was housed in the men’s unit of the D.C. jail, brought a putative ... Keep Reading »
MDL Court Denies Class Certification of Proposed “NAS Babies” Class
The opioid MDL court (the Northern District of Ohio) recently denied class certification to plaintiffs seeking class certification as guardians of individual children diagnosed at birth with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The court noted that these children are sometimes referred to colloquially as “NAS babies.” The primary basis for the court’s denial of class certification was its determination that the proposed class failed the test of ascertainability as ... Keep Reading »
The Next Wave Crashes Ashore With a Rising Tide of New COVID-19 Class Actions
Updated on April 22, 2020 When we first published this article on April 14, 2020, there were 72 class action cases filed in the United States related to and directly referencing the global COVID-19 pandemic. That number has now nearly doubled to 124 cases and counting. A list of the cases we have compiled to date may be found here. More are being filed on a daily basis, and as businesses reel from the impact of closures, work-from-home plans, efforts to maintain ... Keep Reading »
Price Gouging During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Armas v. Amazon Inc.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a run on certain personal hygiene products due to the fear of a widespread outbreak in the United States. Those scarce supplies include hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, gloves, masks, and toilet paper. The Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA), enacted after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, prohibits unconscionable prices for the sale of essential commodities during a declared state of emergency. On March 9, 2020, Florida ... Keep Reading »
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