The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Pennsylvania district court decision holding the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution prevented a private party from enjoining the state of Louisiana from bringing claims identical to those previously thought released in a class action settlement. As our prior post detailed, in 2013 pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) settled a class action brought against it by indirect purchasers of the allergy ... Keep Reading »
MDL Litigation: Class and Complex Cases to Watch in 2018
The Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (“MDL Panel” or “Panel”) has transferred 97 putative class actions relating to the Equifax data breach to the Northern District of Georgia, where Equifax is headquartered. Judge Thomas Thrash, who previously handled the consolidated class actions relating to the Home Depot data breach, will preside over the actions. Eighty-five of the plaintiffs and Equifax supported this result, while the remaining plaintiffs proposed ... Keep Reading »
Putative Class Member’s Spoliation of Evidence Disqualifies Him as a Class Representative
A district court recently disqualified a plaintiff from acting as a class representative because his spoliation of evidence rendered him an atypical class member. The plaintiffs allege that casting sand used in creating Jeep Wrangler engine parts seeps into the vehicles’ radiators, creating a sludge that causes heating and cooling issues. During discovery, the defendant, which manufactures Jeep Wranglers, requested one of the putative class representatives to “[w]ithin ... Keep Reading »
SeaWorld Shareholders See Red After World Sees Blackfish
A California District Court granted certification to a group of SeaWorld investors in a shareholder securities fraud case following the release of the documentary “Blackfish.” First released in July 2013, “Blackfish” chronicles the cruelty of killer whale capture methods, the danger posed by killer whales to trainers, and the physical and psychological strains killer whales experience in captivity. The movie resulted in significant negative publicity for SeaWorld and ... Keep Reading »
Keep the Change – The Southern District of New York Authorizes Claims Administrator to Retain Portion of Accrued Interest on Settlement Funds
When class action settlement funds are not amenable to individual claims or to a meaningful pro rata distribution, courts have used the cy pres doctrine to distribute the funds to nonprofit charitable organizations whose work indirectly benefits the class members and advances the public interest. However, cy pres proved unnecessary in Dial Corp. v. News Corp., No. 13CV6802, 2017 WL 5613949 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2017). That antitrust action involved the distribution of a ... Keep Reading »
Charges by Law Firm-Owned Vendors Challenged in Putative Client Class
Plaintiffs signed engagement letters with the law firm Finkelstein & Partners (the “law firm”) to represent them in two separate personal injury lawsuits on a contingency basis. The contract specifically identified several litigation support vendors who may perform work on the cases, including service of subpoenas, writing client biographies, investigations, photo and video gathering, locating expert witnesses, research, conducting focus groups, and creating trial ... Keep Reading »
Fall Data Breach Roundup and 2018 Preview: Supreme Court, OPM, Equifax and More!
As 2017 draws to a close, data breach class actions abound, while questions regarding what suffices for Article III standing in these cases remain—with litigants hoping the Supreme Court will soon weigh in. Earlier this year, as previously reported, the D.C. Circuit decided Attias v. CareFirst, No. 16-7108 (Aug. 1, 2017), a putative class action filed after the health insurance company suffered a data breach that affected more than one million records. After the D.C. ... Keep Reading »
Sixth Circuit Litigants Beware: Exiting the American Pipe Highway Can Forfeit Your Toll
Classified contributors have blogged numerous times (including several times this year) on opinions that tested the boundaries of American Pipe tolling, including those that addressed whether the doctrine applies to claims barred by an applicable statute of repose, successive putative class actions, and cross-jurisdictional litigation. Sometimes, however, litigants forget the well-established rules of American Pipe tolling in their circuit. In a pair of related ... Keep Reading »
401K Not OK: ERISA Class Certified Under Rule 23(b)(1)(B)
A New York district court granted certification in an ERISA class action brought by employees of Deutsche Bank alleging the individual fiduciaries of the company’s retirement plan engaged in self-dealing and mismanagement of its 401K plan. The court certified the class under Rule 23(b)(1)(B), which authorizes class actions when prosecuting separate actions would create a risk of decisions that would be dispositive of the interest of other members not parties to the ... Keep Reading »
Which Comes First Standing or Class Certification? Northern District of Illinois Weighs In
The Northern District of Illinois recently waded into the conflict between standing and class certification when it held that a putative class representative must demonstrate standing to assert each claim before the motion for class certification. In the case, plaintiff Michael Muir filed a putative class action against herbal supplement manufacturer Nature’s Bounty for claims related to an alleged misrepresentation regarding an ingredient’s prevalence in the supplement. ... Keep Reading »
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