Mealey's Class Actions : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Class Actions

August 26, 2024
Former Employees Reach Settlement With Philadelphia Inquirer Over Data Breach

PHILADELPHIA —Three employees or former employees of the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC moved for preliminary approval of a $525,000 class action settlement reached with the newspaper to settle claims for damages caused by a data breach that the newspaper did not disclose to subscribers and employees for nearly a year.
August 23, 2024
Excessive-Fee Claim Survives Dismissal In Multiemployer Health Plan ERISA Case

CHICAGO — Denying dismissal of an excessive-fee claim in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case concerning a national multiemployer health plan, an Illinois federal judge said the lack of “direct guidance” regarding the pleading standard for such a claim means that “the court must reason by analogy” to retirement plan cases.
August 23, 2024
Hospitality Business Workers’ Human Trafficking Claims Settled for $730,000

OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal magistrate judge in Oklahoma on Aug. 22 granted final approval of a $730,000 settlement between hospitality businesses based in that state and workers from the Philippines who allege that they were induced to travel to the United States to work based on false promises.
August 22, 2024
4th Circuit Affirms Dismissal For ‘Pesky’ Standing Requirements In Medicare Row

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s ruling dismissing a putative class action filed by the spouse of a decedent pursuant to the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) Act regarding a workers’ compensation insurer’s alleged failure to reimburse Medicare for the decedent’s mesothelioma-related treatment, finding that though the requirements of standing “are often pesky,” the spouse lacked standing in this case.
August 21, 2024
6th Circuit Becomes Latest To Apply Effective Vindication Doctrine In An ERISA Case

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 20 became the fifth circuit court to rule an arbitration provision unenforceable on the grounds that it barred “effective vindication” of statutory Employee Retirement Income Security Act rights, reaching the result acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Julie A. Su urged in an amicus brief.
August 20, 2024
Company Says Stay Needed To Avoid ‘Substantial Prejudice’ To PFAS Defendants

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — One of the defendants in a putative class action brought by firefighters who contend that they were poisoned by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which acts as a protective coating in firefighting gear, moved in Connecticut federal court on Aug. 19, seeking a stay of the case pending a final transfer decision by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. The defendant adopted the arguments that 3M asserts in its separate motion in which it argues that all of the defendants will suffer “substantial prejudice absent a stay.”
August 20, 2024
After Bench Trial, 9th Circuit Partly Revives Pension Benefits Class Action

PASADENA, Calif. — Exercising its discretion to reach several issues in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued an Aug. 19 unpublished memorandum disposition reversing a partial grant of summary judgment and partly reversing judgment issued after a bench trial.
August 20, 2024
Residents Allegedly Harmed By Creosote Get Preliminary Approval Of $3.5M Settlement

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted preliminary approval of a proposed class settlement that would see two petroleum companies place $3.5 million in a litigation fund to resolve claims alleging that they contributed to creosote contamination at a property that spread to the groundwater of neighboring areas.
August 20, 2024
Consumers Oppose Store’s Petition In Class Arbitration, Severing Claims Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Questions presented to the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition by the operator of household rental stores that concern a court’s right to refuse to sever and compel arbitration of individual portions of a claim should be denied as the question concerning a severance clause “has no practical implications outside the unique severance clause at issue in this case” and the questions regarding the rental store’s processing fee and an arbitration agreement “involve the application of well-settled law to the particular facts of this case,” consumers argue in their Aug. 19 opposition brief.
August 20, 2024
Judge Certifies Class In Imprudence Case Over BlackRock Index TDFs

RICHMOND, Va. — Certification of a modified class has been granted in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs), with a Virginia federal judge saying, “That a small portion of unnamed class members who invested in the BlackRock TDFs did not suffer losses in their individual accounts due to the timing of their investments or for other reasons does not create intra-class conflicts.”
August 20, 2024
U.S. High Court: U.S. May Participate In Arguments Over Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 19 granted a motion by the United States for leave to participate in and for divided argument in an appeal over preliminary injunctions and attorney fees after a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Virginians were the prevailing parties in a putative class complaint over a now-repealed statute regarding the suspension of driver’s licenses.
August 20, 2024
Medical Supply Company Opposes Chiropractic Practice’s TCPA FCC Rule Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A chiropractic practice’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking a decision on whether the Federal Communications Commission’s interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) prohibited faxes must be accepted should be denied as there is no circuit split, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision was correct and the case is a “poor vehicle” for resolving the question presented, a medical supply company accused of sending unsolicited faxes in violation of the TCPA argues in its opposition brief.
August 19, 2024
Man Files Putative Class Alleging Some Shale Oil Producers Fixed Gas Prices

SAN FRANCISCO — A man filed a putative class action on Aug. 16 against multiple hydraulic fracturing companies in California federal court contending that they engaged in a conspiracy “to coordinate, and ultimately constrain, domestic shale oil production, which has had the effect of fixing, raising, and maintaining the price of retail gasoline” in violation of the Sherman Act.
August 19, 2024
$75M Broiler Chicken Price-Fixing Settlements Granted Final Approval

CHICAGO — A combined $75 million in settlements between direct-purchaser plaintiffs (DPPs) and two of more than a dozen broiler sellers accused of fixing the prices for chicken was granted final approval by a federal judge in Illinois.
August 19, 2024
Delaware High Court Affirms Attorney Fees in $1B Dell Securities Settlement

WILMINGTON, Del. — A unanimous Delaware Supreme Court upheld a vice chancellor’s award of $266.7 million in attorney fees to counsel for the lead plaintiff in a complaint brought by investors alleging that Dell Technologies Inc., certain of its controlling stockholders and directors, and its financial adviser breached their fiduciary duty by engaging in a stock swap that resulted in significant losses to investors, holding that the vice chancellor did not abuse his discretion in setting the award.
August 19, 2024
Preliminary Approval Given To $7.5M Beyond Meat Protein Content Class Case

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted preliminary approval of a $7.5 million class settlement between Beyond Meat Inc. and consumers who have alleged that the plant-based meat substitute company inflated protein content and overstated the quality of the protein in its products.
August 19, 2024
6th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Finding Vaccine Claims Must Go To Arbitration

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by Kalitta Air LLC pilots after a panel affirmed a trial court ruling that their putative class claims over the airline’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate must go through arbitration first as minor disputes pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA) because the dispute requires interpretation of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
August 16, 2024
Class Action Under Utah Data Privacy Law Survives Retailer’s Dismissal Bid

SALT LAKE CITY — Finding that consumer plaintiffs have standing and have adequately alleged that a retailer violated Utah’s Notice of Intent to Sell Nonpublic Personal Information Act (NISNPIA) by disclosing their private purchase information to third parties, a federal judge in Utah denied the retailer’s motion to dismiss.
August 15, 2024
Plaintiff Prevails In 3rd Dismissal Ruling In ERISA Forfeiture Cases

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Plaintiffs have now prevailed in two of the three rulings on dismissal motions in recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases filed against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not using forfeited nonvested matching contributions to pay administrative expenses, with the California federal judge that issued the third ruling differentiating the claims from those in a similar case that was dismissed with leave to amend.
August 15, 2024
Magistrate Approves Fees In Data Breach Case Despite Initial, Inflated Calculation

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal magistrate judge in New York has granted a plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees and costs following a $626,985.58 settlement in litigation over a data breach, ruling that although the plaintiffs’ initial calculation was “inflated,” the fees sought were “reasonable” based on other factors including the value of the multiplier applied to a recalculated amount of hours and billing rates, often referred as a “lodestar.”
August 14, 2024
Bar Association, Other Amici Say Preliminary Injunction Enough For Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the first of 10 amicus briefs supporting arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court by Virginians seeking attorney fees related to their putative class complaint over a now repealed suspension of driver’s licenses statute, the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) tells the justices that a merits-based preliminary injunction is enough to establish a “prevailing party” under federal fee-shifting statutes.
August 14, 2024
9th Circuit Partly Revives Investor’s Price-Fixing Claim Against Crypto Outfits

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially revived a putative class complaint brought by an investor against several cryptocurrency companies, alleging that they conspired to deflate the value of a crypto asset, holding that an Arizona federal judge erred in holding that the investor failed to establish personal jurisdiction regarding the crypto companies.
August 14, 2024
2nd Circuit Revives Part Of ERISA Disclosure Suit Involving Converted Plan

NEW YORK — In an Aug. 13 ruling partly reversing dismissal of a putative class action over annual benefit statements provided after a traditional defined benefit retirement plan was converted to a cash balance plan, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires the statements to “unambiguously indicate a plan participant’s ‘total benefits accrued.’”
August 14, 2024
Data Breach Class Complaint Against Restaurant Group Sent Back To State Court

LOS ANGELES — A putative class complaint accusing Panda Restaurant Group Inc. of failing to have sufficient measures in place to protect customers’ personal data belongs in state court, a federal judge in California ruled, opining that even though the data breach affected the operator of more than 2,000 restaurants in 30 states, the plaintiff is free to limited his proposed class to California customers.
August 14, 2024
Former College Baseball Player Hits NCAA With Class Suit Over Scholarship Limits

DENVER — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bylaw limiting the number of baseball and other sports scholarships a school may offer constitutes “wage fixing” and violates the Sherman Act, a former college baseball player alleges in his putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Colorado.