Mealey's Class Actions
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September 30, 2024
Target’s Motions To Strike And Dismiss Denied In Greenwashing Class Suit
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota denied two motions filed by Target Corp. seeking to strike and dismiss putative class allegations that the retailer misleads consumers with its “Target Clean” labeling on beauty products even though the manufacturers of the products and other retailers don’t identify the products as “clean” or “free from unwanted” ingredients, noting that while “some of Target’s arguments present a close call, that Court concludes that, at this stage and in light of the detailed allegations in the Complaint, dismissal is not appropriate.”
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September 30, 2024
Judge Reprimands Counsel, Says Only Use Of AI Explains Briefing Errors
DALLAS — While plaintiff’s attorneys in a proposed employment class action acknowledged and apologized for miscited case law, quotes and other errors, their claim of poor procedures and lack of proper oversight explain only a portion of the mistakes, a federal judge in Texas said in reprimanding counsel after concluding that despite protests to the contrary, artificial intelligence must have been used to craft the response brief.
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September 30, 2024
Judge Approves $3M Securities Settlement For Misleading COVID-19 Treatment Claims
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted final approval of a $3 million settlement including $750,000 in attorney fees to resolve a securities class action against a pharmaceutical company for deceiving shareholders by making misleading statements about the prospects of its product for the successful treatment of COVID-19.
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September 30, 2024
9th Circuit Won’t Stay Mandate In Dog Supplement Class Case Pending Petition
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion filed by the makers of Cosequin, a pet supplement, to stay the mandate following a class certification ruling and pending the filing of a petition for a writ of certiorari.
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September 27, 2024
Airlines’ $4.75M USERRA Payless Leave Class Pact For Pilots Preliminarily OK’d
SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington granted preliminary approval of a $4.75 million settlement between Alaska Airlines Inc., Horizon Air Industries Inc. and a class of commercial airline pilots who allege that they were denied pay during short-term military leaves while pay was provided to pilots taking other types of leaves.
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September 27, 2024
Plaintiff Consents To Hacked Facebook Accounts Suit Being Heard By Magistrate
SAN FRANCISCO — A plaintiff bringing a putative class action against Meta Platforms Inc. in California federal court for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) due to it allegedly allowing “hackers to abscond with hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts” while barring hacked users from regaining access to their accounts consented to magistrate jurisdiction over the suit on Sept. 26.
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September 27, 2024
Settlement In Principle Reached In Walgreens Lidocaine Labeling Class Suit
CHICAGO — A status hearing in a putative class complaint by consumers who accuse Walgreen Co., doing business as Walgreens, of misleading labeling on certain lidocaine products was delayed via a docket entry by a clerk in a federal court in Illinois on Sept. 26 after the parties stated that they reached a settlement in principle.
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September 26, 2024
Tobacco Companies Urge Dismissal Of Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Claims
HARTFORD, Conn. — Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and Swedish Match North America LLC filed motions in Connecticut federal court urging dismissal of a Zyn nicotine pouch consumer’s putative class action suit accusing them violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising the pouch products as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking.”
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September 26, 2024
In Camera Review Showed Amazon Used Privilege Designation Too Broadly
SEATTLE — Saying that almost 80% of the documents produced for in camera review “were improperly designated or over-designated as” subject to attorney-client privilege, a Washington federal judge ordered Amazon.com Inc. to make a variety of productions to plaintiffs who sued it over the unauthorized recording and retention of private conversations.
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September 26, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ERISA Suit Over $65M In Drug Rebates
NEWARK, N.J. — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 25 upheld dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit concerning approximately $65 million in drug rebates for lack of standing but said it doesn’t read two key precedents as “broadly” as the trial court did.
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September 25, 2024
Plaintiffs, Google Update Status Of Suit Over $5.5M Cookie Privacy Suit Settlement
WILMINGTON, Del. — Following the lifting of a stay in a lawsuit where the plaintiffs sued Google LLC for purported privacy violations, the parties filed a joint status report in a Delaware federal court saying the 12-year-old case is “essentially at the same procedural posture as in 2015” after the court denied final approval of a $5.5 million settlement. The plaintiffs noted that they have prepared discovery to address class issues and proceed to class certification, asserting that if they are able to demonstrate that the putative class is ascertainable, then the settlement should be granted final approval.
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September 25, 2024
Norfolk Southern: Investors Attempt To ‘Concoct’ Securities Case From Train Crash
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern Corp. and its principals filed a reply brief in Georgia federal court arguing that it should dismiss a securities fraud class action filed against them related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on grounds that the plaintiffs “attempt to concoct securities fraud claims” out of the crash and the stock price declines that followed it.
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September 25, 2024
Class Settlements Totaling $14.5M Get Preliminary OK In Suit Over ESOP Deal
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Sept. 24 granted preliminary approval to two class settlements the plaintiffs said would sit “at the high end of the range of settlements resolving” similar employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claims, with a combined recovery of $14.5 million that would average “about $41,076 per Class Member before fees, costs, and expenses.”
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September 25, 2024
Investors, Facebook Agree On Risk Question, Disagree On What High Court Should Do
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook Inc., investors tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 24 respondent brief that they agree with Facebook as to the answer to the limited question before the justices regarding disclosure of immaterial past risks but argue that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling should be upheld as it was correct when it opined that Facebook issued misleading statements about the risk of potential misuse of user data because the company was aware that it had already occurred.
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September 25, 2024
Most Claims Survive Dismissal In Forta Data Breach MDL Case
MIAMI — Ruling that the plaintiffs in a consolidated putative class action arising from a 2023 data security breach adequately allege standing, a Florida federal judge granted dismissal for failure to state a claim only as to all or part of 11 of the 27 claims; he said he would allow repleading on four of the claims, but the plaintiffs opted to forgo repleading.
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September 24, 2024
Google Partially Granted Summary Judgment In Ovulation Tracking App Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — Female consumers who used the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker app and are now suing the app creator and third parties for privacy and contract violations as well as unfair competition law (UCL) claims under California law abandoned their defense of their UCL claims against Google LLC and failed to show that Google has actual knowledge of the alleged practices, a federal judge in California ruled Sept. 23, partially granting Google’s motion for summary judgment.
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September 24, 2024
Data Breach Class Suit Against Casino Operator May Proceed, Judge Rules
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada federal judge granted in part and denied in part a casino operator’s motion to dismiss putative class action claims against it for negligence, violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes on behalf of a nationwide class and a California subclass in relation to a 2022 breach of its servers that led to the leak of more than 200,000 people’s personal identifying information (PII).
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September 23, 2024
Confidentiality Stipulation Filed In $300M Ponzi Fraud Case Involving Insurers
MIAMI — Plaintiffs and defendant Wells Fargo filed a confidentiality stipulation in a Florida federal court in a putative class action suit alleging that Wells Fargo aided and abetted fraud in a “massive” Ponzi scheme purportedly orchestrated by owners of insurers, some of whom are now in receivership, resulting in elderly investor victims losing more than $300 million after scheme operators sold them promissory notes secured by collateral in stranger-oriented life insurance policies (STOLIs).
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September 23, 2024
Catholic University’s $2M Coronavirus Closure Settlement Preliminarily OK’d
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia granted preliminary approval of a $2 million class settlement reached between a student and The Catholic University of America over claims that the school failed to provide students with the full value of their education in spring 2020 when the school, like many others around the country, closed its campus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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September 23, 2024
9th Circuit Orders More Briefing In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Arbitration Dispute
SAN FRANCISCO — Following oral argument in which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) participated as amicus curiae supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine in a putative class case, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ordered supplemental briefing in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over a tobacco surcharge.
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September 20, 2024
Judge Gives $3M Securities Class Settlement Final OK, Lowers Attorney Fee
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted final approval of a $3 million settlement of a suit over alleged violation of federal securities laws but, without specific explanation, awarded class counsel about $44,000 less than the $1 million attorney fee requested.
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September 20, 2024
Preliminary Approval Of $40M Settlement Sought In Securities Fraud Class Suit
BALTIMORE — Lead plaintiffs in a securities fraud class suit filed against a COVID-19 vaccine contractor that experienced contamination issues at its Bayview, Md., manufacturing facility and several of its executives seek preliminary approval of a $40 million settlement reached between the parties.
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September 19, 2024
Judge Approves $6.5M Settlement For Breach Of Prisoners’ Health Data
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on Sept. 17 granted final approval of a nearly $6.5 million class action settlement including $2.1 million in attorney fees against a claims administrator for correctional facilities for a 2022 data breach that led to the personal health data of nearly 600,000 people being posted online.
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September 19, 2024
Class Counsel Get A Third Of $7.5M Settlement In ERISA Proprietary Trusts Row
FLORENCE, S.C. — A $7.5 million global class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs) has been granted final approval, with a South Carolina federal judge awarding $2.5 million of the settlement for attorney fees, $100,000 for service awards and $659,240.95 for litigation expenses.
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September 19, 2024
Preliminary Approval Of Settlement Granted In Payroll Processor Data Breach Suit
LOS ANGELES — A California state court judge granted preliminary approval of a settlement in a putative class action suit against an entertainment industry payroll processor whose alleged failure to implement cybersecurity measures to protect the plaintiffs’ personally identifiable information (PII) resulted in a data breach impacting more than 450,000 individuals, staying litigation in the case pending final approval of the settlement.