Assuming its other requirements are satisfied, the local controversy exception to CAFA jurisdiction requires a district court to remand a class action if, during the three-year period preceding the filing of that action, another class action was filed asserting the same or similar factual allegations against any of the defendants on behalf of the same or other persons. But what happens when the class action, prior to its removal, was actually consolidated with the ... 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.
Representative Action Under California’s Private Attorneys General Act Not Waived Through Employment Agreement’s Arbitration Provision
The Central District of California held that a waiver of representative actions in an employment agreement’s arbitration provision did not preclude a former employee from pursuing in court a claim under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). The court further held that the PAGA claim could only be brought in court and not in arbitration. The plaintiff asserted, on behalf of a putative class, several claims against his former employer for the alleged ... Keep Reading »
Laid-Off Chicago Teachers Clear Class Certification Hurdles
In 2011, the Board of Education of the City of Chicago laid off over 1,400 teachers and paraprofessionals, all of whom belonged to the same union. The Board chose which schools would be subject to layoffs and it was then up to the principals of those schools to recommend the positions to be cut, subject to the central office review. In 2012, the union, as well as three laid-off African-American tenured teachers, commenced a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court to Consider “Trial by Formula” and Standing of Non-Injured Class Members in Tyson Foods
The Supreme Court recently granted Tyson Foods' petition for certiorari which presents to the Court two important class action issues: (1) Whether differences among individual class members may be ignored and a class action certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), or a collective action certified under the Fair Labor Standards Act, where liability and damages will be determined with statistical techniques that presume all class members are identical to ... Keep Reading »
No Certification Where Class Representatives Have Conflicting Interests
Seventy-eight of the over 4,000 Michigan childcare providers who received state subsidies for offering services to low-income families voted to oppose having their union dues deducted from their subsidy payments. Six of the dissenting providers then filed a putative class action seeking equitable relief and monetary damages alleging that the dues deduction requirement in their collective bargaining agreement violated their First Amendment rights. The proposed class ... Keep Reading »
Single Plant Employment Discrimination Class Survives Dukes Challenge
A divided panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled that a South Carolina district court judge improperly applied Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes in decertifying disparate treatment and disparate impact claims challenging promotion decisions under federal discrimination statutes on behalf of black employees at a single plant. In 2009, prior to Dukes, the Fourth Circuit had previously ordered the district court to certify both disparate treatment and impact promotion classes ... Keep Reading »
Avon Calling: Employees Allege Overtime Exemption Misclassification
Avon categorizes all of its district service managers (DSMs) under the "administrative" exception of California law that requires employers to pay overtime wages. DSMs are the Avon employees who recruit and train the independent retail contractors Avon uses to sell its products to the consuming public. Plaintiffs – 19 former or current Avon DSMs – claimed Avon improperly treated them as exempt and sought to represent a Rule 23(b)(3) class. Relying on the California ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Holds That State Court’s Class Certification Order Creates New Occasion for CAFA Removal
The Ninth Circuit held that a state court's certification order, under which CAFA's amount in controversy would be met, created a new basis for defendant to remove the case to federal court. The plaintiff had filed a putative class action against Dollar Tree in California Superior Court alleging violations of the California Labor Code and California Business and Professions Code, Section 17200, based on Dollar Tree's purported failure to provide required paid rest breaks ... Keep Reading »
Circuit Courts Address Impact of Arbitration Agreements on Labor Class and Collective Actions
In Conners v. Gusano's Chicago Style Pizzeria, plaintiffs, former employees of defendant, brought a collective action alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Defendant responded by implementing a binding arbitration policy on current employees that specifically prevented current employees from joining plaintiffs in the collective action. The district court enjoined defendant from enforcing the arbitration agreement as to any current employees who chose to ... 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 »
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