As Americans face drastic changes to their daily routines due to the coronavirus, a South Florida plaintiff has brought a class action lawsuit against LA Fitness, alleging counts of unjust enrichment and negligence for LA Fitness’ alleged refusal to refund its members’ monthly fees. In his complaint, Kip Barnett alleges that, at the beginning of March, he paid his LA Fitness membership fee. Due to the coronavirus, however, on March 16, LA Fitness closed its facilities ... Keep Reading »
Price Gouging During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Armas v. Amazon Inc.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a run on certain personal hygiene products due to the fear of a widespread outbreak in the United States. Those scarce supplies include hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, gloves, masks, and toilet paper. The Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA), enacted after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, prohibits unconscionable prices for the sale of essential commodities during a declared state of emergency. On March 9, 2020, Florida ... Keep Reading »
New Putative Class Action in South Florida Tackles COVID-19 Outbreak Head-On
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, class action litigation of various types has been initiated, ranging from consumer to employment class actions. Most of these class actions seemingly relate to companies' reactions to the pandemic, but a recent class action filed in the Southern District of Florida addresses the COVID-19 pandemic head-on. In early March, a complaint was filed by Logan Alters and other named plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and others similarly ... Keep Reading »
Forewarned Is Forearmed: Why Companies Need to Review Their COBRA Notices to Avoid Growing Class Action Trend
Even before the current pandemic crisis, we have noticed a growing trend in the filing of class action lawsuits challenging, under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), notices required to be issued by covered employers regarding continuation health care coverage available to employees and their beneficiaries under a variety of circumstances, including involuntary or voluntary job loss. We believe that trend will only accelerate in the wake of ... Keep Reading »
Another Premature Motion to Strike Class Allegations Bites the Dust
Courts have been and likely always will be reluctant to strike class allegations or deny class certification before class discovery. Indeed, over-aggressive attempts to strike class allegations can often do more harm than good when the court, in denying a motion to strike, gives the plaintiff a roadmap of how to proceed at the class certification stage. Custom photography company Shutterfly was recently reminded of that tendency when a California district court denied ... Keep Reading »
Reporting for Work
Does reporting for work require physically showing up at the place ready to work? The Ninth Circuit just confronted this issue. It decided that California’s Wage Order No. 7-2001 does not require an employee to report to work in person in order to qualify for reporting time pay. No physical presence is required. Although this case does not directly implicate the variety of remote and virtual work arrangements that have been instituted in light of the current public ... Keep Reading »
The Conservative Case for Class Actions: A Provocative Proposal
Vanderbilt University law professor Brian Fitzpatrick has written a new book titled The Conservative Case for Class Actions (University of Chicago Press, 2019). An excerpt was published in the winter 2020 issue of Vanderbilt Law. I haven’t read the book yet, but since I am a class action lawyer, a conservative, and a Vandy grad, I found the excerpt intriguing and worthy of mention. Fitzpatrick proposes that class action lawsuits are good for conservative principles, ... Keep Reading »
Take Notice: FTC Reports on Claims Rates and Settlement Notices
In September 2019, the Federal Trade Commission issued a staff report titled "Consumers and Class Actions: A Retrospective and Analysis of Settlement Campaigns." The FTC staff studied 149 consumer class action settlements and conducted an internet-based consumer research study to explore consumer understanding of class action notices. Among the salient findings were: The overall claims rate of the cases in the sample was less than 10%. Specifically, the median ... Keep Reading »
Class Action Survey: What Percentage of Companies are Facing Class Actions in Which Exposure is Deemed Potentially Devastating?
Today’s class actions continue to reflect high levels of risk, with riskier class actions on the rise. Across the board, the percentage of companies facing class actions that they consider complex, high-risk, or bet-the-company increased in 2018, while fewer companies report facing lower exposure cases. Each year since 2016, companies have categorized more than one-fourth of their class actions as either “bet-the-company” or “high-risk” matters. After decreasing in ... Keep Reading »
Class Action Survey: Corporate Counsel Report Big Changes in Use of Arbitration Clauses
After the repeal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule banning the use of class action waivers in certain arbitration agreements, the percentage of companies using such waivers increased to 37.2% in 2017. As expected, the use of arbitration clauses increased in 2018, and the percentage of companies that included class action waivers in their arbitration clauses increased to nearly 50%. More companies now use arbitration clauses that bar class actions than in ... Keep Reading »
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