A key premise of a class action is that a court can, in essence, review the merits of the class representative’s claims and apply the result of that review across the class as a whole. This concept is most readily found in...more
An improper class still isn’t a class even if you settle - Here’s something you don’t see every day. A district court has rejected the settlement of a proposed class and collective action – not due to the usual reasons such...more
Over the years, Rule 68 offers of judgment have been touted as a means of picking off class representatives and a potentially easy way to terminate a class or collective action before it starts. It rarely really works that...more
Because of the low standard employed by many courts, decisions denying conditional certification in FLSA cases are generally in the minority, but some careful courts will continue to make such decisions. A recent case is...more
Security screening has become more common over the past decade, both to promote security for some employers and to deter employee theft for others. A growing issue in wage and hour law, at least until this morning, was...more
As we’ve commented before, class actions frequently take on a life of their own. They involve large sums of money, frequently raise difficult discovery and case management issues, and are subject to surprises for all the...more
Three years ago, the Supreme Court found in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541, 2551-52 (2011) that courts “frequently” will need to look to the merits in determining whether certification is appropriate,...more
ERISA benefit claims are frequently of only modest size individually, but can become overwhelming in a class context. A decision this week from the Sixth Circuit affirms the dismissal of a putative class-wide disability claim...more
As we’ve commented before, disability claims are particularly poor fodder for class actions. Unlike other protected traits, there are often threshold questions as to whether an individual is even in a protected class. Even in...more
Sometimes in the rush to meet Rule 23(a) and (b)’s requirements, what gets overlooked is whether there is any underlying claim in the first place. In a refreshing opinion, the Southern District of New York disposed of a...more
Is more of a good thing a better thing? In some contexts, not, as reflected by a recent case from the Northern District of California. In Lou v. Ma Laboratories, Inc., Case No. C 12-05409 WHA (N.D. Cal. Jan. 8, 2014), the...more