On April 4, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review of a $188 million class-action judgment returned against Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania state court and later upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding claimed “rest break” and “meal break” violations. Only six plaintiffs testified on behalf of the class, and the plaintiffs’ experts used extrapolated evidence to calculate the total damages sustained (rather than actually determining the total damages ... 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.
2016 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey Reveals Important Trends in Class Action Management
The fifth annual edition of the Carlton Fields Class Action Survey has just been released, and in this year’s survey corporate counsel report that class action spending has increased after four consecutive years of decline. Spending is also projected to increase in 2016. This marks a key turning point. The Numbers Across industries, the companies surveyed report that they spent $2.1 billion on class action lawsuits in 2015. The number of companies facing at least one ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Won’t Resolve Multi-Circuit Split on Ascertainability Requirement
On February 29, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review in Mullins v. Direct Digital, LLC, No. 15-1776, an ascertainability case we previously covered when it was decided in the Seventh Circuit. In Mullins, a panel of the Seventh Circuit expressly split from decisions in the Third and Eleventh Circuits and held that a class plaintiff is not required to demonstrate the “administrative feasibility” of ascertaining a class. Instead, the panel applied a weaker ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court’s Amgen Order Confirms That Fifth Third Bancorp’s ERISA Stock-Drop Pleading Standard Has Teeth
In a recent per curiam order granting the plan fiduciaries' petition for certiorari and reversing the Ninth Circuit, the United States Supreme Court made clear that it expects lower courts to faithfully apply the pleading requirements for ERISA "stock-drop" cases as articulated in the Court's earlier opinion in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, 134 S. Ct. 2459 (2014). This is welcome news for stock-drop defendants, who should still have a meaningful opportunity to ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Rules Unaccepted Rule 68 Offer of Judgment Cannot Moot Class Action
A divided Supreme Court ruled today in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857, that an unaccepted Rule 68 offer of judgment by a defendant cannot moot a putative class action. The decision settles a reserved question from Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk and resolves a circuit split on the issue. Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion holds that an unaccepted Rule 68 settlement offer “has no force” and like other unaccepted contract offers, “creates no lasting right or ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Confirms Enforceability of Class Action Waivers
For the second time in four years, the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled a California decision that refused to enforce an arbitration agreement with a class action waiver, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) trumps California’s attempts to restrict arbitration and class action waivers in consumer and employment lawsuits. In DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, Case No. 14-462, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, upheld an ... Keep Reading »
Data Breach Class Actions: 2015 Year in Review and 2016 Preview
As 2015 draws to a close, questions over standing in data breach class actions remain. Earlier this year, the Seventh Circuit denied retailer Neiman Marcus’s petition for rehearing en banc of a panel opinion holding that plaintiffs whose credit card information was stolen in a data breach had standing to sue under Article III of the United States Constitution based on alleged fear of future identity theft; in so doing, the Seventh Circuit confirmed that the circuit split ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court to Consider “Trial by Formula” and Standing of Non-Injured Class Members in Tyson Foods
The Supreme Court recently granted Tyson Foods' petition for certiorari which presents to the Court two important class action issues: (1) Whether differences among individual class members may be ignored and a class action certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), or a collective action certified under the Fair Labor Standards Act, where liability and damages will be determined with statistical techniques that presume all class members are identical to ... Keep Reading »
SCOTUS Accepts Certiorari to Address Article III Standing in “No-Injury” FCRA Class Action
On April 27, the Supreme Court accepted certiorari review in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 13-1339, to address whether consumers can establish Article III standing without actual harm or injury, by alleging a violation of a federal statute. "Spokeo is a people search engine that organizes White Page listings, Public Records and Social Network information to help you safely find and learn about people." Robins filed a putative class action against Spokeo, alleging it is a ... Keep Reading »
GCs facing more bet-the-company and higher exposure class actions
Across industries, companies spent $2 billion on class action lawsuits in 2014, slightly less than the $2.1 billion they spent in 2013. This year, spending is expected to return to 2013 levels. Companies’ class action dockets increased on average by one new case in 2014, bringing the average number of class actions managed to five. This total is expected to remain constant in 2015, as the number of new matters is likely to be offset by those resolved. As before, ... Keep Reading »