The Fifth Circuit recently addressed the scope of appellate jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). CAFA allows federal courts of appeals to hear, on a discretionary basis, appeals from “an order of a...more
A recent Sixth Circuit decision caught my eye because it addressed an important issue on which I have not seen any other appellate decisions (and none were cited in the opinion). The plaintiff argued that the Class Action...more
Federal district court orders remanding cases to state court are generally not appealable, as provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d). One exception to this is that the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) allows a court of appeals, in...more
A recent Seventh Circuit decision makes an important point about how the principle that a court generally need not resolve the merits to decide class certification is bilateral – it applies to both affirmative claims and...more
A recent Seventh Circuit decision made two rulings on issues arising under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) that defendants may find useful in other cases. First, potential punitive damages exceeding a single-digit ratio...more
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision on the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) caught my eye. It involves the kind of question legislators (and their staffs) probably never think about when drafting a statute. Law professors...more
Last week the Fifth Circuit issued a short opinion that made an important point that does not arise often in class certification decisions. Class certification failed because the plaintiffs’ proposed theory of liability would...more
Numerous class action suits have been filed against auto insurers regarding the valuation of vehicles that are total losses. These cases typically allege that insurers are undervaluing vehicles in some common way or in...more
2/15/2022
/ Auto Insurance ,
Breach of Contract ,
Car Accident ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Consumer Insurance Products ,
Fair Market Value ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Insurance Regulations ,
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Policy Terms ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Valuation
Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a new decision on the requirement that plaintiffs have “standing” to sue in federal court. More specifically, the Court addressed what is required for a plaintiff to demonstrate...more
6/29/2021
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Class Members ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
TransUnion ,
TransUnion LLC v Ramirez
A recent decision by the Eleventh Circuit struck down a practice that is commonplace in class action settlements—providing a modest incentive award to a named plaintiff. In Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC, No. 18-12344, 2020...more
The legal media have been inundated with articles by lawyers who represent policyholders and insurance companies discussing business interruption claims arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of this discussion has carried...more
This week the D.C. Circuit and Seventh Circuit issued decisions addressing a question that has been hotly debated by class action lawyers on the plaintiffs’ and defense sides: whether the Supreme Court’s decision on personal...more
3/13/2020
/ Bayer ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co v Superior Court of California - San Francisco County ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Jurisdiction ,
Lack of Jurisdiction ,
Lost Wages ,
Mass Tort Litigation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Standard Fire ,
Whole Foods
Believe it or not, the Supreme Court of the United States just decided whether “to have ‘actual knowledge’ of a piece of information, one must in fact be aware of it.” The Court said “yes,” and it was unanimous. Most...more
When a business is sued in a proposed class action and there is only a small amount at stake on the named plaintiff’s claim, often one of the first thoughts that comes to mind is: can’t we just pay the full value of the named...more
2/25/2020
/ Admissions of Liability ,
Appropriate Equitable Relief ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Business Ownership ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Defense Strategies ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mootness ,
Offer of Judgment ,
Removal ,
Rule 68 ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Tender Rules
One practice that has plagued the insurance industry in recent years has been contractors soliciting homeowners to make insurance claims after a hailstorm, for example, and then obtaining an assignment of rights to the claim...more
A recent decision by a Washington federal district court caught my eye because it involved a circumstance I often see—a new development in the law results in a class action lawsuit being filed before the defendant has an...more
2/11/2020
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Auto Insurance ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Damages ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Likelihood of Harm ,
Mootness ,
Policy Terms ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Superiority Claims ,
Treble Damages
Class action settlements are complicated. They often take months to negotiate. The last thing the lawyers or their clients on either side want to happen is for the trial court to deny approval or, even worse, for an appellate...more
12/16/2019
/ Adult Entertainment ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Dancers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Settlement ,
Wage and Hour
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit provides an important reminder that if defendants want absent class members to be bound by a summary judgment ruling in their favor, generally they must...more
The U.S. Supreme Court held yesterday that a third-party defendant could not remove a class action to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) because the term “defendant” as used in CAFA refers only to the...more
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday, in Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert, that the 14-day deadline under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) for petitioning a court of appeals to hear a discretionary appeal from a class...more
2/27/2019
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Collective Actions ,
Decertification ,
Equitable Tolling ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Filing Deadlines ,
FRCP 23(f) ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Leave to Appeal ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
Nutraceutical Corp v Lambert ,
SCOTUS
The First Circuit recently addressed an issue of broad significance in class action law. It explained how a class cannot be certified when there are more than a small number of uninjured class members, and how a defendant...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. v. Jackson, No. 17-1471 to decide whether a defendant to a class-action counterclaim can remove the case to federal court under the Class Action...more
A recent decision by the Eighth Circuit in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action provides an important pointer for defendants and their counsel with respect to strategy in defending a putative class action....more
The Third Circuit’s new opinion on class certification issues in Mielo v. Steak ‘N Shake Operations, Inc., No. 17-2678 (3d Cir. July 26, 2018) provides helpful guidance for district courts and class action lawyers on both...more
7/27/2018
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Commonality ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
FRCP 23(b)(2) ,
Numerosity ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Standing
With Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, one question to ask is whether, if he is confirmed, that will move the Court to any degree in class action cases. ...more