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Mealey's Class Actions

  • March 07, 2025

    Privacy, Biometric Claims Over CapCot Video-Editing App Survive Dismissal

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge largely granted a motion by ByteDance Inc. to dismiss putative class claims over the purported collection of personal data from users of its CapCot video-editing app, finding that a group of the app’s users did not establish claims for unfair competition, unjust enrichment and violation of several federal and California state privacy laws.

  • March 07, 2025

    Final Judgment Entered For $27.5 Million Thomson Reuters Data-Selling Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — One week after a California federal judge granted final approval to a $27.5 million settlement of a class action over Thomson Reuters Corp.’s online gathering and sale of personally identifying information (PII) of Californians, he issued final judgment in the four-year-old suit, dismissing unjust enrichment and unfair competition claims against the company.

  • March 07, 2025

    Financial Advisers’ Stay, Intervention Bids Fail In Compensation Row

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. financial advisers who said they are unwilling members of a putative class in a compensation dispute were denied permission to intervene after both sides opposed their motion, with the docket showing that a North Carolina federal judge issued an oral order.

  • March 07, 2025

    Final Approval Of $9.8M Settlement Granted In Apparel Company Stock Drop Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a settlement of a class action brought by investors against executives of apparel company Sequential Brands Group Inc. and the company’s auditing company, with the company executives agreeing to pay $6.25 million and the auditing company agreeing to pay $3.5 million.  The investors alleged the defendants made false and misleading statements regarding the company’s financial well-being, which the investors alleged caused the company’s stock price to drop.

  • March 06, 2025

    Suits Consolidated Against Microsoft For ‘Stealing’ Affiliate Link Benefits

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge consolidated nine putative class actions against Microsoft Corp. brought by app operators and online content creator that earn money from online marketing and claim that Microsoft’s in-browser shopping extension “systematically steals commission payments from their rightful owners.”

  • March 06, 2025

    Amended ERISA Case Challenging Forfeitures Survives Dismissal Bid

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Although “sparse,” revised factual allegations are sufficient to survive dismissal in one of numerous Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over the common practice of using forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan’s sponsor’s required contributions instead of paying plan expenses that participants would otherwise bear, a California federal judge ruled.

  • March 06, 2025

    Final Approval Of Settlement Granted In Case Against Seller Of BPDN Investments

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a $6.2 million settlement between a company that sells borrower payment dependent notes (BPDN) investments and the investors who sued it for allegedly intentionally and negligently misleading investors about those investments, causing the investors to suffer significant losses.

  • March 06, 2025

    More Partial Class Settlements Reached Over Toxic PFAS In Georgia Drinking Water

    ROME, Ga. — Three more defendants in a Georgia federal court case with admitted involvement in contaminating groundwater with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in northwest Georgia have agreed to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to a temporary drinking water fund through two proposed partial class action settlement agreements reached with a group of water subscribers and ratepayers.

  • March 06, 2025

    Class Certification Petition In Pet Supplement Case Denied By U.S. High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the makers of Cosequin, a pet supplement, who asked the justices to consider whether expert testimony relied on to support a motion for class certification must satisfy the requirements for admissibility.

  • March 05, 2025

    Fact Witness Testimony Limited In RESPA Class Suit Over Captive Reinsurance Pacts

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California barred a fact witness in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) case from providing opinion testimony based on scientific, technical or specialized knowledge but allowed testimony regarding performed analysis and data review in connection with risk transfer and reinsurance services that he and a partner were hired to provide.

  • March 05, 2025

    Final Approval Of $40M Settlement Granted In Securities Fraud Class Action

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland granted final approval of a $40 million settlement in a securities fraud class action brought by investors against a COVID-19 vaccine contractor that experienced contamination issues at its Bayview, Md., manufacturing facility and several of its executives.

  • March 05, 2025

    2nd Circuit Revives ERISA Suit Over Multiemployer Fund Trustee Compensation

    NEW YORK — Saying in a summary order that the “complaint plausibly alleges a concrete injury,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated and remanded dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where a multiemployer profit sharing fund participant challenged compensation that he alleged trustees paid themselves.

  • March 05, 2025

    $9.5 Million Settlement Of Payroll Firm Data Breach Suit Gets Final Approval

    LOS ANGELES — Six months after a $9.5 million settlement of privacy and unfair competition claims over a payroll services provider’s 2023 data breach was preliminarily approved, a California judge gave the final stamp of approval to the agreement, also granting the plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees, costs and class representative service awards.

  • March 05, 2025

    Consolidation Sought In 3 Of 5 Suits Over Philadelphia Suburb Plant Explosion

    PHILADELPHIA — Attorneys representing individuals and businesses who allege that they were negatively impacted by a Feb. 17 fire and explosion at a plant in suburban Philadelphia filed two motions in a Pennsylvania court, one seeking consolidation of three out of five class complaints filed over the incident and one seeking to appoint interim class counsel and interim co-liaison counsel.

  • March 05, 2025

    Biometric Privacy Suit Against Adult Dating Website Stayed For Arbitration

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a motion by a processing affiliate for the website Adult Friend Finder (AFF) to enforce a provision in the site’s terms of use (TOU) requiring a site user to arbitrate his putative claim against the affiliate under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) for the purported collection of site users’ facial scans.

  • March 04, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Monopoly Claims Against Apple Over iCloud Storage

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action in which consumers accuse it of monopolizing access to its iCloud data storage service on Apple devices in violation of federal and state antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding the plaintiffs did not sufficiently allege a violation of federal law, a monopoly or unfair conduct.

  • March 04, 2025

    Former Detainee Opposes Md. County’s High Court Petition In Wage Class, Collective

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A petition for a writ of certiorari by a Maryland county seeking a ruling on “[w]hether inmates working in furtherance of public works projects for the government charged with their custody and care” are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) should be denied as there is no split of authority and the case is a poor vehicle, a former detainee argues in his March 3 response that was requested by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 04, 2025

    Rock ’n Play Sleeper MDL $19M Settlement Granted Final Approval

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $19 million class settlement between consumers and Fisher-Price Inc. and its corporate parent, Mattel Inc., in a multidistrict litigation alleging that the safety risks of the now recalled Rock ’n Play Sleeper (RNPS) were not disclosed when the units were being sold in violation of various consumer protection laws.

  • March 04, 2025

    Google, Alphabet Say AI Copyright Claims Lacking, Seek To Strike Class

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Whether plaintiffs satisfactorily registered copyrights, sufficiently detail their claims and could possibly justify injunctive relief in their consolidated action against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. sits with a federal judge in California after briefing on motions to dismiss and strike class claims wrapped up in the artificial intelligence case.

  • March 03, 2025

    Putative Class Action Filed In Colorado Federal Court For Contaminated Eye Drops

    DENVER — A woman who alleges that she purchased over-the-counter eye drops that were later recalled after the company discovered that certain products were contaminated with fungus sued the manufacturer in a Colorado federal court, seeking to represent a class of consumers.

  • March 03, 2025

    $21 Million Settlement Of Suit Over Brokerage Firm’s Data Breach Gets Final OK

    CHICAGO — The same day that she presided over a fairness hearing for a proposed $21 million settlement of negligence, contractual and statutory claims over a 2020 data breach experienced by Arthur J. Gallagher Co. (AJG), an Illinois federal judge granted final approval to it, dismissing the case with prejudice.

  • March 03, 2025

    Federal Judge Dismisses Investor Claims Over 2023 Norfolk Southern Derailment

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed all claims brought against Norfolk Southern Corp. and certain of its executives by investors following a 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that led to a controlled detonation of toxic chemicals, finding that the railroad company and its employees’ statements about its safety measures and messaging were not misleading and that they did not have an obligation to disclose risks and uncertainties that required disclosure in the offering documents under Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation S-K.

  • March 03, 2025

    $8.35M Global Deal Proposed In ERISA Case Over Alleged Cost-Shifting

    ASHEVILLE, N.C. — After nearly a decade of litigation, an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over an alleged cost-shifting scheme concerning  health plan administrative fees for chiropractic and physical therapy treatment would be resolved in a deal that includes gross amounts of $4.8 million for members of individual and plan classes and a separate $3.55 million for attorney fees and costs under a proposal that the named plaintiff asked a North Carolina federal court to grant preliminary approval.

  • March 03, 2025

    Federal Judge Approves Temple University’s $6.9M Pandemic Closure Settlement

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania issued a final judgment and order granting approval of a $6.9 million settlement that will be paid by Temple University to a class of students who alleged that the school was unjustly enriched and breached its implied contractual duty when it shut its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and transitioned learning to online.

  • March 03, 2025

    Preliminary Approval Of $25M Settlement Granted In Rental Management Pact Case

    BUTTE, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana granted preliminary approval of a class settlement between condominium owners and the operator of the ski resort where their units are located that will provide $25 million and prospective relief to end a case over rental management agreements (RMAs).