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

Mealey's Class Actions

November 26, 2024
Citing Loper Bright, Macy’s Again Seeks Dismissal In Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuit

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Amid a recent wave of at least 15 putative class actions challenging health plan tobacco surcharges, defendants in a similar suit the U.S. Department of Labor initiated seven years ago filed Nov. 25 motions in Ohio federal court calling Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo “a landmark change in the law” that supports dismissing the remaining claims against them.
November 25, 2024
Motion To Set Trial Date Denied Without Prejudice In Long-Running RESPA Suit

FRESNO, Calif. — In a brief Nov. 22 text-only order, a judge sitting by designation in California federal court denied without prejudice a motion to set a trial date in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements.
November 22, 2024
Judge Issues Final Judgment, Approves Allocation Of Under Armour Securities Settlement

BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland issued a final judgment, dismissal with prejudice, order approving plan of allocation, attorney fees and expenses and an award to plaintiffs in a class action brought by investors claiming that Under Armour Inc. and its former CEO violated federal securities laws by making false claims about demands for the company’s products, finding the settlement to be, “in all respects, fair, reasonable, and adequate to the Class.”
November 22, 2024
AI Rental Discrimination Case Receives Judge Approval For $1.75M Settlement

BOSTON — A settlement providing for $1.75 million plus fees and incentives has resolved a class action alleging that an artificial intelligence-based renter scoring program discriminated against those utilizing state and federal housing vouchers and therefore Blacks and Hispanics after a federal judge in Massachusetts granted final approval of the deal.
November 22, 2024
Roblox Brings Cross-Claims Against Third-Party Developers In Parents’ Gambling Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Roblox Corp. in its amended answer to putative class claims brought in California federal court by parents who say it allowed their minor children to play gambling games has for the first time brought cross-claims against the third-party developers behind the games at issue, asserting that they flaunted its rules and are “pillaging Roblox’s intellectual property” in violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
November 22, 2024
Rehearing Bid For 9th Circuit’s Mandamus Grant In Behavioral Health Row Fails

SAN FRANCISCO — With no substantive explanation for rejecting a petition for rehearing en banc regarding an unpublished ruling granting a mandamus petition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals let stand its latest ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where health insurance plan participants sought reprocessing of nearly 67,000 mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims.
November 22, 2024
Discovery Row Over Info DOL Gave Plaintiffs Grabs House Committee’s Attention

DENVER — Discovery developments in a putative class action challenging an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal are the focus of a Nov. 21 letter in which the chairwoman of U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce asks the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for an investigation because “DOL appears to be working in concert with plaintiffs’ attorneys to circumvent the discovery protections” of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
November 22, 2024
U.S. High Court: Data-Sharing Incident Disclosure Petition Improvidently Granted

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 22 “dismissed as improvidently granted” a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) and the company’s senior executives after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that the company issued misleading statements about the risk of potential misuse of user data because the company was aware that it had already occurred; the one-page per curiam opinion was filed a little over two weeks after the justices heard oral arguments.
November 22, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Putative Class Cloud Product Statement Claims

HONOLULU — An investor who alleged in an amended putative class complaint that a software company made false statements about its cloud products failed to sufficiently define cloud-related phrases and failed to show that an additional opportunity to amend his complaint would be anything other than futile, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming dismissal.
November 21, 2024
U.S. High Court Is Again Asked To Review An ERISA Effective Vindication Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that “statutory construction errors caused the Sixth Circuit to find that a participant has a statutory right to represent other participants’ financial interests that Congress did not provide for” in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 401(k) plan fiduciaries asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision involving application of the effective vindication doctrine.
November 21, 2024
Zyn Maker Accused Of Anticompetitive Tactics To Dominate Nicotine Pouch Market

RICHMOND, Va. — A Zyn nicotine pouch consumer filed a putative class action in Virginia federal court accusing the pouch’s maker of violating state and federal antitrust laws and of unjust enrichment for allegedly conspiring with another tobacco company to create a monopoly, as well as intentionally slowing production of Zyns to artificially increase prices.
November 21, 2024
Split 6th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of ERISA Funds, Share Classes Challenge

CINCINNATI — A split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 20 revived a challenge to a retirement plan’s retention of the passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes, with the majority saying in part that the dissent sets “an inappropriately exacting standard” and the dissenter opining that “my colleagues open the door to ‘speculative’” lawsuits.
September 17, 2024
23andMe Asks MDL Judge To Approve $30M Data Breach Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — Genetic data company 23andMe Inc. filed a brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to grant preliminary approval to a $30 million settlement to resolve claims in a multidistrict litigation brought by plaintiffs whose genetic data on 23andMe’s website was hacked and offered for sale online and asking the court to enjoin separate litigation and arbitrations brought against it for the breach that it says could “jeopardize . . . the Settlement.”
November 21, 2024
Some 23andMe Users Seek Arbitration, Not Class Action, For Data Breach Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — In a brief filed in California federal court, several users of 23andMe Inc.’s website defend their right to pursue arbitration against the company for the theft of their genetic information by hackers, arguing that their decision to arbitrate defeats any typicality of claims between them and class members in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) over the theft and makes preliminary approval of a settlement of the MDL inappropriate.
November 21, 2024
Texas Judge OKs Settlement Reimbursing University Data Breach Victims’ Losses

SAN ANTONIO — An agreement in which a university agrees to reimburse ordinary and extraordinary losses that class members suffered due to a 2022 data breach was deemed “fair, reasonable, and adequate” by a Texas judge as she granted final approval to the settlement of negligence and privacy class claims over the incident.
November 20, 2024
Plaintiffs: Health Care Pricing Algorithm Just High-Tech Price Fixing

CHICAGO — A consolidated amended class action filed in multidistrict litigation in an Illinois federal court claims that Multiplan Inc. and others rely on allegedly algorithmic repricing of out-of-network health claims to keep prices artificially low and that it is really just a “technological smokescreen for traditional price fixing.”
November 20, 2024
Jury Demand Struck In ERISA Class Action Over Plans’ Use Of TDFs

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge briefly granted a motion to strike the plaintiffs’ jury demand in a class action challenging the inclusion of certain target date funds (TDFs) in four defined-contribution pension benefit plans the plaintiffs have said all had “thousands of participants” during the time at issue.
November 20, 2024
Expert Testimony Trimmed, Class Certification Granted In Defective Windshield Case

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge limited expert testimony in a proposed class action suit alleging that Kia Motors America Inc. knew that its windshields were defective but failed to disclose it to consumers.
November 20, 2024
Final Approval Given To $115 Million Settlement Of Oracle Data Collection Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A $115 million settlement of privacy class claims over data collection and brokerage activities conducted by Oracle America Inc. was found to provide “substantial benefits” to the class by a California federal judge, who granted final approval of the settlement over 28 objections received by class members.
November 19, 2024
$65 Million Data Breach Settlement By Pennsylvania Health Provider Given Final OK

SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania judge granted final approval of a $65 million settlement to be paid by Lehigh Valley Health Network Inc. (LVHN) to end a class complaint alleging that a February 2023 data breach resulted in the disclosure of personal information and medical records, including nude photographs.
November 19, 2024
Company To High Court: TCPA Case Is ‘Poor Vehicle’ To Rule On Class Feasibility

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A staffing agency’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case presents “an exceedingly poor vehicle” for the U.S. Supreme Court to address the first question regarding the feasibility of class certification, and the agency’s second question, regarding “interpretation of the TCPA, is not suitable for review,” a financial services company argues in a Nov. 18 opposition brief.
November 19, 2024
2 Claims Over Hospitals’ Data Sharing Dismissed; 4 Claims Survive

PORTLAND, Ore. — A woman’s claims over a hospital chain’s purported sharing of her protected health information (PHI) were partly dismissed, with an Oregon federal judge finding claims for breach of implied contract and intrusion upon seclusion not sufficiently alleged, while giving the green light to four other putative class claims related to such data being allegedly shared with Meta Platforms Inc. and Google Inc.
November 19, 2024
Chiropractic Practice: Court Doesn’t Have To Accept FCC’s TCPA Interpretation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it determined that a trial court must accept the Federal Communications Commission’s interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) prohibited faxes, a chiropractic practice argues in its petitioner brief filed Nov. 18 in the U.S. Supreme Court.
November 19, 2024
Federal Class Action Complaint Accuses Auto Insurer, Law Firm Of Barratry

HOUSTON — Insureds filed a class action complaint in a Texas federal court against an automobile insurer and a law firm alleging that they committed barratry, conspiracy and statutory violations by illegally sharing the personal information of car accident victims for solicitation.
November 18, 2024
Retirees Seek 6th Circuit Revival Of ERISA Suit Over Mortality Tables

CINCINNATI — Parties in an appeal that drew an amicus brief are arguing over whether part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires “reasonable assumptions” in calculating certain pension benefits, with retirees filing a reply brief urging the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to “join the vast majority of other courts that have rejected Defendants’ interpretation.”