Plaintiffs, two minors who used their parents' money to make purchases on Facebook without parental consent, brought a putative class action against the company, alleging its policy of representing purchases as non-refundable violates California law holding that contracts entered into by minors are void or voidable. Through their guardians, plaintiffs sought to certify a class of Facebook users who were minors during a four year period, along with a subclass of those who ... Keep Reading »
Search Results for: standing
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 »
Sweet Ending for Plaintiffs in Food Labeling Class Action Against Ghirardelli
A California district court certified a Rule 23(b)(3) food labeling class action against chocolatier Ghirardelli and approved a proposed settlement. The genesis of plaintiffs' claim is that defendant mislabeled its "White Chips" and other products in a way that would mislead consumers into believing that the products contained white chocolate. Plaintiffs also asserted a claim that the "all natural" label was improper because the products contained "genetically modified, ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Holds That Defendant Cannot Be Precluded From Asserting Its Arbitration Rights Against Future Class Members
The Eleventh Circuit recently held that a district court lacked jurisdiction to determine, pre-certification, that a defendant’s waiver of its right to compel named plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims precluded it from asserting its arbitration rights against putative unnamed class members. The case involved five putative class actions against the defendant bank and its predecessor related to allegedly improper checking account overdraft fees. Plaintiffs’ customer ... Keep Reading »
Insurance Balance Billing Class Fails Rule 23’s Requirements
Plaintiff filed a putative class action in Arkansas state court against his automobile insurer for alleged failure to pay the full amount it was contractually required to pay for his medical bills following a car accident. Specifically, the defendant insurer allegedly paid a reduced in-network rate comparable to that negotiated by health insurers, which plaintiff argued improperly left him – and a putative class of similarly situated policyholders – to pay the ... Keep Reading »
Will 2015 Be The Year of the Data Breach Class Action?: Target Data Breach Claims Survive Motions to Dismiss
Various media outlets dubbed 2014 "the Year of the Data Breach." Unfortunately for businesses, breach of their secure systems by hackers may be only the beginning of the bad news – which often culminates in class action lawsuits. Although 2014 started favorably for data breach defendants, with several federal district courts granting motions to dismiss such claims, December ended on a high note for the plaintiff's bar, with two Minnesota federal district decisions ... Keep Reading »
District Court Decertifies Class Where Damages Model Did Not Satisfy Supreme Court’s Requirements as Set Forth in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California recently granted a defendant’s motion to decertify a class because plaintiff’s damages model was not consistent with his theory of liability as required by the Supreme Court in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend. Plaintiff alleged that defendant’s false and misleading labeling of almond milk products violated California law, bringing claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and ... Keep Reading »
All Topics
Industries/Practices Construction Consumer Finance & Banking Food & Beverage Health Care Insurance Labor, Employment & ERISA Manufacturing & Products Pharmaceutical Privacy & Technology Securities Telecommunications Substantive/Procedural Arbitration CAFA Certification Adequacy Ascertainability Commonality Numerosity Predominance Superiority Typicality Decertification ... Keep Reading »
Ohio District Court Limits American Pipe Tolling Doctrine
The District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recently limited the American Pipe tolling doctrine in a fraud suit arising out of the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”). Plaintiffs’ 2011 Ohio complaint alleged that defendants’ offering materials upon which they relied more than three years earlier violated the Federal Securities Act. Defendants moved to dismiss based on the three year statute of repose contained in 15 U.S.C. §77m. Plaintiffs ... Keep Reading »
Northern District of California Grants Certification of Antitrust Class in 15 of 16 Jurisdictions Pursuant to Dukes and Comcast; Declines to Certify One Class Due to Lack of Class Representative
In a recent case in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, plaintiffs brought a putative class action against various defendants involved in milk production, alleging they violated the antitrust laws of fifteen states and Washington, D.C. by engaging in a conspiracy to limit the production and increase the price of raw milk. Plaintiffs sought class certification in each of the sixteen jurisdictions; the Northern District granted the ... Keep Reading »