The Mysterious Boundary Beyond Which “Personal” Relationships Jeopardize a Director’s Independence -
In a recent enforcement action, the SEC concluded that the relationship between James Craigie and an officer of Church &...more
2/11/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Board of Directors ,
BSA/AML ,
Consumer Insurance Products ,
Corporate Governance ,
EFTs ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment ,
Investment Contract ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Variable Insurance
Snap removal is a rare but useful procedural device to remove an action from state to federal court under the diversity jurisdiction rules, even when the plaintiff’s complaint names an in-state defendant as a party....more
2/7/2025
/ Appellate Courts ,
Case Management ,
Diversity Jurisdiction ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Federal Court Litigation ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Removal ,
Service of Process ,
State and Local Government ,
Venue
Funds Not Caged by SEC Names Rule Amendments: Roaming Room Remains -
The SEC recently adopted amendments to its investment company “names” rule that apply to most SEC-registered funds, including underlying funds in which...more
1/11/2024
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Funds ,
Life Insurance ,
Proposed Rules ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Traders ,
Whistleblowers
For broker-dealers distributing and selling variable annuities, examinations will test for compliance with Reg BI and FINRA Rule 2330 because both standards apply to variable annuity sales. Firms distributing and selling...more
More than 25 years have elapsed since the SEC adopted Exchange Act Rule 17a-4(f) governing electronic recordkeeping by broker-dealers. In an effort to update the rule to reflect “technology neutral” concepts, the SEC adopted...more
More than 2,800 putative class actions have been filed in the United States related in some way to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to our research of publicly available dockets. The most common claims are by consumers for...more
The 2022 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey reveals that companies with class actions are seeing increases in the number of class actions they face at a given time. The current portfolio reveals the highest number of both...more
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of class action lawsuits were filed across a variety of industries in the United States – with theories of liability ranging from hand sanitizer false-labeling allegations,...more
12/29/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Security ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Life Insurance ,
Policy Terms ,
Risk Management ,
Underwriting
Introduction -
As we head to print on the ninth annual Carlton Fields Class Action Survey, the unprecedented COVID-19 health and related economic crisis has wrought permanent change to business practices worldwide. There...more
As we first reported in early April, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a class action feeding frenzy among the plaintiffs’ class action bar. COVID-19 class action case filings have risen to more than 280 as of May 4,...more
In recent weeks, at least 42 putative class action lawsuits have been filed against colleges and universities across the country related to campus shutdowns and the move to online education necessitated by the COVID-19...more
Two companion amendments to the California insurance law have received increased attention from the plaintiffs’ bar recently. On January 1, 2013, sections 10113.71 and 10113.72 were enacted to amend the California Insurance...more
As we previously reported, last year the Ninth Circuit in Resh v. China Agritech, Inc., No. 15-55432, 2017 WL 2261024 (9th Cir. May 24, 2017), joined a circuit split when it held that the statute of limitations did not bar a...more
6/13/2018
/ Appeals ,
China Agritech Inc v Resh ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Equitable Tolling ,
FRCP 23 ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Subsequent Litigation
The seventh annual Carlton Fields Class Action Survey, released April 24, reveals important issues and trends related to class action matters and management based on interviews with general counsel or senior legal officers at...more
Class action spending by companies across industries increased for the second consecutive year, reversing a downward trend that occurred between 2011 and 2014. While the percentage of companies managing at least one active...more
4/4/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Alternative Fee Arrangements ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Privacy ,
Discrimination ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
TCPA ,
Wage and Hour ,
Young Lawyers
The 2017 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey has just been released, and the findings reveal some unexpected trends in class action litigation, based on insights provided by 387 general counsels and chief legal officers at...more
3/6/2017
/ Alternative Fee Arrangements ,
Arbitration ,
Class Action ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Employment Litigation ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Settlement ,
TCPA ,
Wage and Hour
The United States Supreme Court granted and consolidated three petitions for certiorari related to the validity of class action waiver clauses in employer/employee arbitration agreements. The Court has consolidated the...more
1/16/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Case Consolidation ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Collective Actions ,
Employment Contract ,
Ernst & Young ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil USA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
SCOTUS
If you've ever read the fine print in your credit card agreement, there is a good chance it states you agree to arbitrate any claims and waive the right to bring a class action against the bank that issued it. Such class...more
This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a proposed rule which would prohibit application of pre-dispute arbitration agreements to class litigation involving a broad range of consumer...more
On February 29, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review in Mullins v. Direct Digital, LLC, No. 15-1776, an ascertainability case we previously covered when it was decided in the Seventh Circuit. In Mullins, a panel of...more
IN THE SPOTLIGHT -
- California Passes Life and Annuity Electronic Transactions Law
LIFE INSURANCE -
- Under a Spotlight, "Shadow Insurance" Lawsuit Fails Scrutiny
- NAIC Evaluates Insurer’s Use of Variable...more
1/11/2016
/ 401k ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Big Data ,
Bitcoin ,
BSA/AML ,
E-Commerce ,
Medical Devices ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
STOLI ,
Takedown Notices ,
Variable Annuities
A federal district court in Oklahoma recently rejected a defaulting borrower’s attempt to argue that her lender’s pursuit of foreclosure litigation waived the lender’s right to insist on arbitration of the borrower’s...more
For the second time in four years, the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled a California decision that refused to enforce an arbitration agreement with a class action waiver, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) trumps...more
In This Issue:
- IN THE SPOTLIGHT
..Crisis Management: Five Steps to Take Before Providing That Comment
- LIFE INSURANCE
..Third Circuit Limits ERISA Fiduciary Liability to those with Ultimate...more
1/16/2015
/ Automotive Loans ,
CFTC ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Complaint System ,
Data Breach ,
Divorce ,
Driverless Cars ,
FCC ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Insurance Industry ,
Life Insurance ,
Money Market Funds ,
Mortgages ,
NAIC ,
Private Equity Funds ,
STOLI ,
Unsolicited Faxes
You have filed your motions in limine and obtained rulings prior to trial. You put the motions in a box in the back of the courtroom and figure all of your objections have been preserved. Wrong!
It is always a good...more