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 »
United States Supreme Court Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in the United States Supreme Court, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Supreme Court Upholds Use of Class Action Waivers in Employment Arbitration Agreements
In a significant decision awaited by U.S. employers since January 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the use of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by Justices Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito. Justice Ginsburg filed an extensive dissenting opinion joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. The decision answers a question that has loomed large for employers: Can they include class action ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court to Determine Whether An Arbitration Clause Must Explicitly Authorize Class-wide Arbitration
The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela, to determine “[w]hether the Federal Arbitration Act forecloses a state-law interpretation of an arbitration agreement that would authorize class arbitration based solely on general language commonly used in arbitration agreements.” In other words, at issue is whether an arbitration clause must explicitly allow for class-wide arbitration, rather than solely on an individual basis, in order to find ... 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 »
Cyan Makes SLUSA Removal Proponents Feel Blue: Supreme Court Holds That Securities Act of 1933 Class Actions Can Stay in State Court
On March 20, the Supreme Court reached two holdings important to securities litigators. First, the Court held that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (“SLUSA”) did not strip state courts of their ability to adjudicate class actions under the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”). Second, the Court held that SLUSA does not allow removal to federal court of class actions alleging claims only under the Securities Act. Petitioners were an issuer ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Declines Review of Standing in Data Breach Class Actions
Counsel hoping for Supreme Court guidance on standing issues dividing the circuit courts will have to wait a bit longer. On February 20, the Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari in Attias v. CareFirst to resolve a circuit split over whether allegations of fear of future identity theft in the wake of a data breach satisfy the standing requirements of Article III of the United States Constitution. In the absence of Supreme Court guidance on this issue, we ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Says No More Spokeo: Portents for Other Standing Cases?
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari in Spokeo II. As we previously reported, Spokeo II asked the Court to determine, in light of conflicting circuit court decisions, whether intangible harm to a statutorily-protected interest constitutes injury in fact even when a plaintiff cannot allege “real-world” harm or the imminent risk thereof. Does the denial indicate a reluctance to weigh in on thorny standing issues – or simply a ... Keep Reading »
Spokeo Seeks Supreme Court Round II
The Spokeo standing saga, which began in 2010, continues with a second cert petition to the Supreme Court. The case began when plaintiff filed a putative class action, alleging that defendant Spokeo violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (which provides for actual or statutory damages) because its “people search engine” published inaccurate data about him. The district court found plaintiff lacked standing because he had not suffered any actual damages; the Ninth Circuit ... Keep Reading »
Fall Data Breach Roundup and 2018 Preview: Supreme Court, OPM, Equifax and More!
As 2017 draws to a close, data breach class actions abound, while questions regarding what suffices for Article III standing in these cases remain—with litigants hoping the Supreme Court will soon weigh in. Earlier this year, as previously reported, the D.C. Circuit decided Attias v. CareFirst, No. 16-7108 (Aug. 1, 2017), a putative class action filed after the health insurance company suffered a data breach that affected more than one million records. After the D.C. ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Circuit Split Over Applicability of American Pipe Tolling to Successive Class Actions
We previously blogged on whether the Supreme Court’s ruling in American Pipe applies to toll the statute of limitations for successive putative class actions. In Resh v. China Agritech, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held that American Pipe tolled the limitations period for putative class actions by absent class members — thus theoretically permitting endless relitigation of certification denials. As we predicted, a defendant in Resh has filed a petition for writ of certiorari ... Keep Reading »
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