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 »
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.
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 »
Third Circuit Follows ANZ Securities Decision and Reverses for Dismissal of Exchange Act Claims as Untimely
On June 28, 2017, Bruce Berman and Steve Blickensderfer posted in this space about the Supreme Court’s recent decision in California Public Employees Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc., 137 S. Ct. 2042 (2017). In that case, the Supreme Court held that American Pipe tolling does not apply to the federal securities laws' statutes of repose. On Aug. 2, 2017, the Third Circuit decided an appeal in which the same issue was implicated. Naturally, it followed the ANZ ... Keep Reading »
SCOTUS Holds American Pipe Tolling Does Not Apply to Securities Class Action Opt-Out Claims Filed Outside Repose Period: CalPERS v. ANZ Securities, Inc.
We have blogged about the evolution and application of the American Pipe tolling rule, as further expanded by Crown Cork, many times (here, here, here, and here), most recently following the Ninth Circuit’s Resh decision last month (here and here). Under American Pipe, individual claims of unnamed class members in a previously dismissed action may proceed as a subsequently filed class action after the limitations period would otherwise have expired. Today, we switch ... Keep Reading »
Game Over – SCOTUS Holds a Voluntary Dismissal With Prejudice Is Not a Viable Means to Appeal a Denial of Class Certification
A group of plaintiffs hoped to hit the reset button on the Ninth Circuit’s denial of their Rule 23(f) petition to appeal from an order striking class allegations in their case against Microsoft, the maker of the popular Xbox line of videogame consoles. Plaintiffs, who alleged their Xbox 360 consoles had a tendency to scratch game discs, attempted this reset by appealing the certification order after taking a voluntary dismissal of their putative class action with ... Keep Reading »
Attempting to Counter a CAFA Loophole
Home Depot filed a certiorari petition in the United States Supreme Court aimed at closing an emerging loophole in CAFA jurisprudence in various circuits. According to the petition, some circuits have “narrowly construed CAFA’s removal statute to forbid removal by a newly-added counterclaim defendant in an otherwise removable class action.” This litigation began as a collection dispute brought by the original plaintiff against certain customers, the original ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court to Resolve Whether Failure to Disclose Under Item 303 of SEC Regulation S-K Gives Rise to Securities Fraud Claims
On March 27, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case of Leidos Inc., f/k/a SAIC Inc. v. Indiana Public Retirement System, a securities fraud class action. The case will resolve a circuit split over whether a failure to disclose under Item 303 of SEC Regulation S-K can give rise to a claim under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. Investor plaintiffs brought a putative class action against Science Applications International ... Keep Reading »
SCOTUS to Determine Enforceability of Class Action Waivers in Employment Contract Arbitration Clauses
Today the United States Supreme Court granted and consolidated three petitions for certiorari related to the validity of class action waiver clauses in employer/employee arbitration agreements. The Court has consolidated the petitions in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (No. 16-285), Ernst & Young v. Morris (No. 16-300), and NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc. (No. 16-307). Classified previously blogged about the Ninth Circuit’s decision finding Ernst & Young’s class ... Keep Reading »
The Future of Standing in Data Breach Class Actions
In today’s world, as technology costs decrease and personal information becomes more valuable on the black market, data breaches have seemingly joined the ranks of death and taxes as certainties. Add to that litigation: companies suffering data breaches face exposure to lawsuits by consumers, employees, and even financial institutions. One particular concern for companies is the possibility of costly consumer class actions. Though such lawsuits still account for fewer ... Keep Reading »