In the latest decision in a long-running saga in Drazen v. Pinto, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals tackled several issues regarding a proposed class settlement agreement. As we previously reported and discussed, Drazen involved three consolidated class actions against GoDaddy.com LLC, alleging that the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending unwanted text messages and calls through a prohibited automatic telephone dialing system ... Keep Reading »
Telecommunications Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in the telecommunications industry, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Eleventh Circuit Vacates Class Settlement in GoDaddy TCPA Suit Based on Improper Class Definition
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently solidified an important rule about class standing: the definition of a class in a settlement agreement must be limited to class members with Article III standing. In Drazen v. Pinto, the Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court’s approval of a $35 million settlement agreement because the class definition included members who lacked Article III standing. Drazen involved a class action against GoDaddy.com ... Keep Reading »
Article III and Rule 23: Do We Stand Together or All on Our Own?
On December 16, 2020, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Ramirez v. TransUnion LLC. Specifically, the Supreme Court granted certiorari for the following question: Whether either Article III or Rule 23 permits a damages class action where the vast majority of the class suffered no actual injury, let alone an injury anything like what the class representative suffered. The Supreme Court’s certiorari ... 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 »
No Speaking? No Standing!
On November 15, the Eleventh Circuit decided Cordoba v. DirecTV, LLC, further exploring the issue of when class actions achieve Article III standing. The plaintiffs alleged that DirecTV and the company with which it contracted for telemarketing services, Telecel Marketing Solutions Inc., violated the FCC regulation that requires telemarketers to maintain an internal do not call list. The class consisted of people who allegedly were repeatedly contacted despite informing ... Keep Reading »
District Courts Split on Whether Bristol-Myers Squibb‘s Specific Personal Jurisdiction Analysis Bars Nationwide Class Actions In Districts Beyond Defendant’s Home Venue
The ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, San Francisco Cty., 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017), remain unsettled. In Bristol-Myers Squibb, the United States Supreme Court rejected California’s "sliding scale approach" to assertions of specific personal jurisdiction. California’s Supreme Court had addressed a nationwide mass action and held that California could assert specific jurisdiction over the claims of ... Keep Reading »
Careful What You Wish For – Additional Discovery Requested by TCPA Class Plaintiff Leads to Decertification Order in Northern District of Illinois
Federal courts have a continuing obligation to ensure that class action certification remains appropriate throughout the duration of a case. Accordingly, it is well established that if class certification is later deemed improvident, the district court may decertify a previously certified class. That is precisely what the Northern District of Illinois did in Johnson v. YAHOO! Inc., No. 14 CV 2028, 2018 WL 835339 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 13, 2018), in addressing a 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 »
Circuit Court Finds Putative Class Affidavits, Combined With Other Records, May Satisfy Ascertainability Requirement
Defendants BMW and Creditsmarts were parties to a marketing agreement through which BMW offered its direct automotive “up2drive” loans to borrowers at participating independent car dealers through Creditsmarts’ internet-based business-to-business lending platform. Creditsmarts used a third party, Westfax, to fax over 20,000 advertisements to independent car dealers during a 30-day period. Plaintiff City Select Auto Sales received one of these faxes and brought a putative ... Keep Reading »
Lease-Termination Fee Class Fails Third Circuit Ascertainability Requirement
Using the Third Circuit’s comparatively robust ascertainability standard, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently denied certification of a class of tenants allegedly charged an improper lease-termination fee and subjected to collections calls in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq. In its order, the district court explained that under the Third Circuit’s ascertainability precedent, ... Keep Reading »
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