On March 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion vacating the decision of the Ninth Circuit in Frank v. Gaos. The Court granted certiorari to evaluate a cy pres settlement in a class action. The district court approved a settlement fund granting $8.5 million in monetary relief in a suit brought by plaintiffs alleging that Google’s privacy practices violated the Stored Communications Act. The class included tens of millions of Google users. Because ... Keep Reading »
Class Action Standing Articles
The latest class action standing developments and trends, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Illinois Supreme Court Finds No Actual Harm Needed to Sue Under State’s Biometric Privacy Statute
The Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.) (BIPA) requires that companies obtain written consent and disclose how they collect, retain, disclose and destroy biometric identifiers such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, scans of hand or face geometry, or other biometric information from the public. BIPA provides “aggrieved” individuals a private right of action to sue, which if successful, could result in liability up to ... Keep Reading »
No Standing, No Settlement?
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 »
No Injury, No Problem?: The First Circuit Weighs in on Certification Where Absent Class Members Lack Harm
In Tyson Foods, the Supreme Court declined to resolve the issue of whether a class may be certified if it contains members who were not injured and have no legal right to damages. Dealing with this increasingly common issue in class action litigation, the First Circuit recently summarized circuit precedent on the issue — and ultimately reversed a district court decision certifying a class that contained class members who had not suffered any injury. The plaintiffs filed ... Keep Reading »
Fourth Circuit Holds Plaintiffs Who Allege Identity Theft Have Standing to Sue Post-Data Breach, But What Does it Mean For Certification?
The Fourth Circuit’s 2017 decision in Beck v. McDonald held that the mere fear of identity theft in the wake of a data breach was insufficient to confer Article III standing. Plaintiffs must do more. But how much more? The Fourth Circuit’s latest holding clarifies that plaintiffs who allege that credit cards have been fraudulently applied for – and in some cases issued – using their nonpublic personal information satisfy Article III’s requirements. Optometrists ... Keep Reading »
Put This in Your Pipe: Supreme Court Rules 9-0 That American Pipe Tolling Does Not Permit Filing of Serial Class Actions Beyond the Statute of Limitations
As we previously reported, last year the Ninth Circuit in Resh v. China Agritech, Inc., No. 15-55432, 2017 WL 2261024 (9th Cir. May 24, 2017), joined a circuit split when it held that the statute of limitations did not bar a third successive putative class action alleging securities fraud claims against a fertilizer manufacturer. The Ninth Circuit’s decision would have expanded the American Pipe equitable tolling rule to allow absent members of an uncertified class to ... Keep Reading »
DC Court Weighs Whether Bristol-Myers Squibb Applies to Class Actions in Whole Foods Case
The District of Columbia district court added to the growing collection of orders opining on whether and to what extent the Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb applies to class actions. This case involved a putative class of employees suing Whole Foods in an attempt to recover wages pursuant to the upscale grocer’s “Gainsharing” bonus program. The program seeks to incentivize departments in individual stores to perform under budget by distributing budget ... Keep Reading »
No Celebration For Yahoo!: Data Breach Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss
After Yahoo! Inc. suffered three data breaches in a span of four years, plaintiffs brought a putative class action lawsuit against the internet service provider and a subsidiary (collectively, “Yahoo”), alleging defendants failed to use appropriate safeguards to protect users’ personal information despite their representations that such information was secure. The breaches included a 2013 hack allegedly due to outdated encryption technology, which affected all three ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Gives Leg Up to Shoe Purchasers’ Data Breach Suit
On March 8, a Ninth Circuit panel held that fear of identity theft in the wake of a data breach satisfies the standing requirements of Article III of the United States Constitution. In so holding, the Ninth Circuit confirmed that its prior data breach standing precedent in Krottner v. Starbucks Corp., 628 F.3d 1139 (9th Cir. 2010) remained good law despite the Supreme Court’s 2013 holding in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, 133 S. Ct. 1138 (2013). As we previously ... Keep Reading »
Plumbers Overcome Spokeo-Based Standing Blockage in Putative TCPA Class Action
The Northern District of Illinois cleared the way for a plumbing company’s putative TCPA class action against Allstate Insurance Company and Oh Insurance Agency by denying defendants’ motions to dismiss, which were inspired by the Supreme Court’s Spokeo v. Robins decision. The plumbing company alleged that the insurance companies committed TCPA violations when they placed two phone calls to it: one went to voicemail and another was answered by a company employee. The ... Keep Reading »
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