The Fifth Circuit recently vacated a class action settlement that included unsecured and uncollateralized future payments to the plaintiffs, while providing a swift and complete payout of fees to class counsel. The case concerned a defined benefits pension fund created and owned by the Singing River Health System (SRHS), a community hospital owned by Jackson County, Mississippi. Following the 2008 financial crisis, SRHS encountered financial difficulties, failed to make ... Keep Reading »
Labor, Employment & ERISA Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in labor, employment and ERISA, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Ninth Circuit Holds ADA Certified Class Has Standing to Challenge Facilities Not Personally Visited by Plaintiff
Plaintiff, seeking declarative and injunctive relief, brought a putative class action alleging that the city and county of San Francisco failed to comply with certain requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, specifically alleging that many of San Francisco’s public rights-of-way, pools, libraries, parks, and recreation facilities were not readily accessible to and usable by mobility-impaired persons. Reversing in part the decision of the District Court for ... Keep Reading »
2017 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey Highlights
Carlton Fields recently released its sixth annual Class Action Survey, which is based on detailed interviews with general counsel and senior legal officers at 373 companies operating in more than 25 industries. Those individuals shared their thoughts and best practices on class action exposure and management. Highlights from this year’s survey include data on the types of class actions companies faced in 2016 and the likely next wave of class action. Class-Actions By ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Affirms Certification of “No Injury” Wage and Hour Class
On August 31, the Ninth Circuit continued its trend of certifying “no injury” classes, this time in the context of an Agricultural Workers’ Protection Act claim that a Washington state fruit and vegetable farm violated the statute by hiring foreign workers to fill temporary agricultural jobs without informing domestic workers of the availability of the work. The district court certified an “inaccurate information” class and an “equal pay” class. The Ninth Circuit ... Keep Reading »
Adding to Circuit Split, Divided Ninth Circuit Finds Concerted Action Waiver in Ernst & Young’s Employment Agreement Unenforceable Under NLRA
Ernst & Young’s (“E&Y”) employment agreements contained “separate proceedings” and arbitration provisions, which together required that disputes be resolved individually through arbitration, rather than collectively through some other forum. Despite entering such an agreement, an employee filed a class action against E&Y in federal court, alleging that he and other employees had been misclassified and denied overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor ... Keep Reading »
SCOTUS Denies Review Regarding Pennsylvania Wal-Mart “Rest Break” Class Judgment
On April 4, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review of a $188 million class-action judgment returned against Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania state court and later upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding claimed “rest break” and “meal break” violations. Only six plaintiffs testified on behalf of the class, and the plaintiffs’ experts used extrapolated evidence to calculate the total damages sustained (rather than actually determining the total damages ... Keep Reading »
A Tale of Two Orders: Different Results for Motions to Strike Class Allegations
The Southern District of California and the Northern District of Illinois recently entered orders addressing motions to strike class allegations—with very different results for the respective defendants. Although the claims and facts at issue in each case may warrant the different results, a contrast in approaches is evident. In Kim v. Shellpoint Partners, LLC, No. 15CV611-LAB (BLM), 2016 WL 1241541 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 30, 2016), the Southern District of California ... Keep Reading »
Court Holds Notice of Removal Filed 128 Days After Service of Complaint Was Timely Under CAFA
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey denied plaintiffs’ motion to remand, holding that defendants’ notice of removal, filed 128 days after service of the complaint, was timely because neither the complaint nor plaintiffs’ briefing on defendant’s motion to dismiss triggered the 30-day time period for removal under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). In doing so, the court concluded that, where plaintiffs’ complaint and other litigation documents did ... Keep Reading »
Questions About Delivery Drivers’ Employee/Independent Contractor Status Preclude Commonality and Predominance Findings
A New Jersey district court denied certification of a putative class of furniture delivery drivers and helpers employed by various transportation companies (the “Driver/Helpers”) and individuals who owned those transportation companies. The court held that individualized questions regarding whether the plaintiffs should be classified as employees or independent contractors precluded findings of commonality and predominance. The defendant, MXD, Inc., a company that ... 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 »
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