In a recent decision, the Eighth Circuit weighed in on the requirement that federal courts assess Article III standing before approving a settlement agreement. In the case at issue, plaintiff filed a putative class action for purported violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) against a data company in state court. Defendant removed to the District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Shortly after the parties reached a tentative settlement ... Keep Reading »
Class Action Settlement Articles
The latest class action settlement developments and trends, including news, key cases, and strategies.
The Bitter and the Sweet
On October 3, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s approval of a class settlement, an award of attorney’s fees to class counsel, and the provision of an incentive award for the class representative. The court affirmed in the face of objections to the class representative’s Article III standing, the notice pursuant to Rule 23(h), the award of attorney’s fees, and the incentive award to the class representative. The basic background is as ... Keep Reading »
Tenth Circuit Finds Plaintiffs’ Settle and Dismiss Strategy Unappealing
Following Supreme Court precedent, the Tenth Circuit recently held that plaintiffs’ settlement and voluntary dismissal of their claims did not transform the court’s interlocutory order denying class certification into a final, appealable order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Plaintiff trusts brought a putative class action against an energy company, alleging various claims related to royalty interests under gas leases, and sought to certify a class. The district court denied ... Keep Reading »
Volkswagen Passes Fairness Test for Class Settlement in Dispute Over “Defeat Devices” to Bypass Emission Tests
Last month the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court decision approving a class settlement regarding Volkwagen’s marketing of clean diesel vehicles that used so-called “defeat devices” to circumvent emissions tests. Hundreds of “defeat device” lawsuits against Volkswagen were consolidated in the Northern District of California for pretrial proceedings. The proposed settlement provided over $10 billion in potential damages and class members’ recovery depended on whether ... Keep Reading »
Seventh Circuit Approves Cy Pres Settlement
We previously reported on the uncertainty of cy pres settlements in class action lawsuits. Although the Supreme Court granted cert on the issue, the Seventh Circuit weighed in during the interim by approving a settlement that included a potential payout to cy pres recipients. The case arose out of a million phone calls made to consumers throughout 2011 and 2012 in which people were offered a chance to go on a free cruise if they agreed to participate in a political ... Keep Reading »
Are Administrative Fees and Costs a Benefit to the Class as a Whole? A Circuit Split Continues
In 2017, the Eighth Circuit reversed the certification of a settlement class in the Target 2013 security breach litigation. See In re Target Corp. Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., 847 F.3d 608, 613 (8th Cir. 2017). The court remanded the case to the district court to conduct a proper class certification analysis. On remand, the district court again certified the settlement class. A second appeal was taken by two objectors and, this time, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the ... Keep Reading »
District Court Denies Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement Citing Dearth of Information and Failure to Follow Court’s Settlement Guidelines
The District Court for the Northern District of California denied a motion for preliminary approval of a proposed settlement, citing the plaintiffs’ disregard of the court’s guidelines and various concerns as to whether the proposed settlement was “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” The matter involves claims stemming from allegedly defective touch screens and related software in Ford vehicles, and the proposed settlement provided for various forms of monetary relief and ... Keep Reading »
Will the Supreme Court Take a Charitable View of Cy Pres Settlements?
On April 30, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961 to review the fairness of the ever-increasing use of cy pres remedies in class action settlements. Cy pres remedies are often used to fund charitable or educational organizations when it would be infeasible to provide monetary relief directly to class members. In Frank v. Gaos, No. 15-15858 (9th Cir. 2017), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s approval of a cy pres-only ... Keep Reading »
Yahoo Enters $80 Million Securities Class Action Settlement After Data Breach
On March 2, Yahoo, Inc. (“Yahoo”) filed a proposed settlement in In re Yahoo Inc. Securities Litigation, which was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The $80 million proposed settlement relates to a securities class litigation stemming from Yahoo’s 2013 and 2014 data breaches. While many elements of the Yahoo securities class action may be factually unique, the settlement is a milestone because it is the first significant securities fraud settlement from a ... Keep Reading »
Too Fast and Furious: Ninth Circuit Unwinds Hyundai and Kia Nationwide Class Action Settlement
In a split panel, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s certification of a nationwide class action settlement because the lower court failed to conduct a sufficient predominance inquiry under Rule 23(b)(3). In 2012 Hyundai and Kia were accused of overstating their fuel efficiency estimates in advertisements and car window stickers for certain of their vehicles. A flurry of putative class action litigation ensued across the country, and the MDL ... Keep Reading »
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