This week, an Eleventh Circuit panel, in a 2-1 decision, reversed the approval of an incentive payment to the named plaintiff, calling the payment an unauthorized bounty. The case involved a Telephone Consumer Protection Act...more
Lin v. Everyday Beauty is an Eastern District of New York decision addressing an issue that has divided district courts in the Second Circuit and elsewhere: Whether a federal court may consider inadmissible evidence when...more
9/10/2019
/ Affidavits ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Dukes v Wal-Mart ,
Evidence ,
Evidentiary Rulings ,
Evidentiary Standards ,
FRCP 23 ,
Hearsay ,
Inadmissible Evidence
Bell v. Brockett is an unusual case in several respects. Most notably, the Fourth Circuit affirmed certification of a defendant class, despite acknowledging that defendant class actions are “so rare they have been compared to...more
In a case with potentially nationwide ramifications, the Ninth Circuit reversed a California district court’s decision striking a motion for class certification as untimely, finding the district court’s local rule requiring...more
A group of plaintiffs hoped to hit the reset button on the Ninth Circuit’s denial of their Rule 23(f) petition to appeal from an order striking class allegations in their case against Microsoft, the maker of the popular Xbox...more
Two couples who own homes in central Florida attempted to bring a class action against a homebuilder, stemming from alleged violations of Florida’s building code. Section 553.84, Florida Statutes, provides for such a private...more
5/10/2017
/ Ascertainable Class ,
ASTM ,
Class Action ,
Commonality ,
Construction Defects ,
Construction Industry ,
Florida ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Homeowners ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Real Estate Development ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Superiority Claims
The Northern District of California recently denied a motion for class certification in a case against Chevron Corporation connected to a 2012 explosion at a Nigerian natural gas drilling rig and the environmental impacts of...more
Even before certification of a class under Rule 23(a)-(b), the district court has authority to appoint “interim counsel” under Rule 23(g)(3) “to act on behalf of a putative class before determining whether to certify the...more
Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1549 (2016) – which held that Article III standing requires a concrete injury, even when an injury has otherwise been established...more
2/9/2017
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Robocalling ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications
The Southern District of California rejected a pre-certification class settlement because it provided for an inadequate coupon payment and a tenuous cy pres award, and included a clear sailing attorney fee provision....more
Tyson Foods lost its bid to overturn an almost $3 million class action judgment against it in a case brought by workers at an Iowa pork-processing factory who contended they did not receive overtime pay for time spent...more
A divided panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled that a South Carolina district court judge improperly applied Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes in decertifying disparate treatment and disparate impact claims challenging promotion...more
Food for Thought reports on significant court decisions affecting the food industry. The focus of this edition is on several food-related cases pertaining to class certification; particularly, on district court decisions...more
2/24/2015
/ Advertising ,
Ascertainable Class ,
Ben & Jerry's ,
Blue Diamond Growers ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Coca Cola ,
ConAgra ,
Dole Food ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Food Labeling ,
Food Manufacturers ,
FRCP 23 ,
Gerber ,
POM Wonderful ,
Preemption ,
Retailers ,
Smuckers