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 »
Search Results for: rule 23
One Game, One Stadium: Eleventh Circuit Spikes Collateral Challenge to Tampa Bay Buccaneers Proposed Class Action Settlement
The Eleventh Circuit recently imparted an important message to the class action bar, and in particular to attorneys representing different named plaintiffs in competing class actions: there is “only one gatekeeper under Rule 23,” so any challenge to a proposed class action settlement should be presented to the district judge deciding whether to approve that settlement, not to a different judge by way of a collateral attack on the proposed settlement. Several years ... Keep Reading »
A Class Action Settlement With a Chocolate Company Melts Away: Eleventh Circuit Issues En Banc Decision on Article III Standing Principles
On October 28, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split (7-3) en banc decision applying Spokeo principles to a claim that a vendor issued a receipt that included more digits from the plaintiff’s credit card than allowed by federal law. The en banc court ruled that the plaintiff did not establish Article III standing. As I reported two years ago after the panel’s decision, the basic background is as follows. This class action lawsuit alleged ... Keep Reading »
Sixth Circuit Rejects a Novel Concept: Certification of “Negotiation Class” in Opioid Multidistrict Litigation
The Sixth Circuit recently addressed whether a novel negotiation class could be certified to facilitate possible future settlement negotiations in multidistrict litigation (MDL). The Sixth Circuit's decision arises from the opioid MDL in the Northern District of Ohio, on which we previously reported. In June 2019, 51 of the plaintiff cities and counties moved to certify a "negotiation class" under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3). The plaintiffs sought to ... Keep Reading »
An Unauthorized Bounty: Eleventh Circuit Strikes Named Plaintiff Incentive Payment
This week, an Eleventh Circuit panel, in a 2-1 decision, reversed the approval of an incentive payment to the named plaintiff, calling the payment an unauthorized bounty. The case involved a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action settlement that the majority characterized as being "just like so many others that have come before it." But this familiarity was "exactly the problem." According to the court, the district court "repeated several errors that, ... Keep Reading »
Whither Objector Blackmail
The Seventh Circuit confronts “objector blackmail” and limits the extraction of “rents from the litigation process simply by showing up and objecting to consummation of the settlement.” On August 6, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the thorny “problem in class-action litigation known colloquially as ‘objector blackmail.’” The court confronted a situation in which three objectors filed an appeal after their objections were denied. But they dismissed ... Keep Reading »
High School Female Athletes Face Hurdles to Class Certification
The U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii recently denied female student-athletes’ motion for class certification under Title IX even though it rejected the defendants’ attacks on mootness and standing as well as Rule 23(a)’s requirements for commonality, typicality, and adequacy. Instead, the court found that the proposed class failed to satisfy the numerosity requirement that joinder would be impracticable. The underlying case centered on Title IX ... Keep Reading »
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Bankruptcy Preemption May Bar FDCPA and FCCPA Claims Either Way
After receiving a bankruptcy discharge, a borrower whose home is pending foreclosure has two options: stay in the home and, perhaps, make voluntary payments on the mortgage, or leave the home and start fresh. When a debt collector thereafter attempts to collect mortgage payments from that borrower, there may be grounds for a claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) or one its state law variants, such as the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act ... Keep Reading »
Two Days in October Result in Two Different Rulings by District Court Judges in the Southern District of Florida Regarding Standing to Seek Injunctive Relief on Behalf of a Class
Federal district courts in Florida continue to be at odds over whether a class plaintiff who claims to have suffered a past injury based on a defendant’s violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) can pursue a claim for injunctive and declaratory relief in the absence of an allegation that the particular plaintiff is likely to suffer future injury or had suffered a past injury that is not redressable by a monetary award. Two decisions ... Keep Reading »
Through the Looking Glass: Damages “Warts” Wreck Injunction Class
Mirror, mirror on the class, are damages what you really asked? The Eleventh Circuit reversed an interlocutory order certifying an injunction class, rejecting the plaintiffs' ploy "to lop off all the damages-based warts and recast their claim as one for injunctive relief under Rule 23(b)(2)" after their attempt to certify a damages class was denied. The decision underscores the importance of looking beyond face value to determine whether the relief requested is truly ... Keep Reading »
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