The TCPA: Deep Dive: Details, Class Actions, Regulations, and Defense Strategies
We’ve written previously about courts’ differing approaches to ascertainability — an implicit requirement under Rule 23 that class members must be identifiable. A pending petition for certiorari in Career Counseling, Inc. v....more
A fax is a fax is a fax… or is it? In a recent ruling in the long-running TCPA junk fax case Career Counseling, Inc. v. AmeriFactors Financial Group, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the statute’s prohibition...more
In Vandenberg & Sons Furniture, Inc. v. Alliance Funding Grp., Judge Quist of the District Court for the Western District of Michigan granted in part and denied in part the plaintiff’s motion for class certification arising...more
The Western District of Michigan recently denied a motion to certify a class after holding that the class was not ascertainable and the plaintiff had not offered persuasive evidence in support of the motion. Visser v....more
The Middle District of Florida has denied a motion for class certification, finding the proposed class definition would have created a fail-safe class, the class members were not ascertainable, and the plaintiff’s claims were...more
Recently, the Middle District of Florida denied a motion for class certification, finding that the plaintiff had not sufficiently shown that the putative classes were ascertainable. Sliwa v. Bright House Networks, LLC &...more
Although courts across the country agree that “a plaintiff class should not be certified unless membership therein is ‘adequately defined and clearly ascertainable,’” the extent of what a plaintiff must provide to satisfy...more
Some legal commentators and lawyers have pronounced the death of class actions in light of significant changes in the law in the last fifteen years, including the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act and the Supreme...more
Just a few days ago, Judge William F. Jung of the Middle District of Florida denied certification in a wrong-number TCPA class action, and tore to shreds the most common methodologies proposed by plaintiffs to ascertain wrong...more
BCA Financial Services, Inc. filed a well-supported petition to the Eleventh Circuit today, seeking an interlocutory appeal from the district court’s order certifying the case a against it in Reyes v. BCA Fin. Servs., No....more
Have the GOP’s Hopes for Enacting the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act Been Dashed? – Passed in March 2017 by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, H.R. 985, has...more
From the standpoint of class action practice, 2017 was as important for what did not happen as for what did. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the 2017 class action scorecard, with a look forward to how the...more
On August 16, the Third Circuit gave the plaintiff a pass for failing to pursue evidence necessary to determine whether its proposed class was ascertainable and took the opportunity to clarify that affidavits may be used, at...more
What is seemingly a growing divide between circuits has developed on the appropriate standard for assessing ascertainability in federal class actions, including Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class actions....more
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit calls into question the viability of “junk fax” class actions brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when the defendant company does not...more
In the consolidated cases Espejo v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., No. 11 C 8987, 2016 WL 6037625 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 14, 2016) and Levins v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., No. 12 C 9431, 2016 WL 6037 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 14, 2016), the...more
The world changed on May 16, 2016. Many sorts of predatory consumer class actions—you know the kind where the lawyers make millions and the consumers receive nickles?—likely just met their demise. And with the recent passing...more
Last week, the Eighth Circuit weighed in on a hot and unsettled topic: the ascertainability standard for class certification. In Sandusky Wellness Center, LLC v. Medtox Scientific, Inc., No. 15-1317, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 7992...more
This is the 11th edition of The Class Action Chronicle, a quarterly publication that provides an analysis of recent class action trends, along with a summary of class certification and Class Action Fairness Act rulings issued...more
Where the (Class) Action Is - This issue of Roundup wraps up 2015 with another slate of interesting cases spanning industries and subject matter. The running theme of ascertainability is now stretching into antitrust...more
The BakerHostetler 2015 Class Action Year-End Review offers a summary of some of the key developments in class-action litigation during the past year. The 2015 Year-End Review is a joint project of the firm’s Class Action...more
This is the ninth edition of The Class Action Chronicle, a quarterly publication that provides an analysis of recent class action trends, along with a summary of class certification and Class Action Fairness Act rulings...more
It has been a busy summer for federal appellate courts deciding class action issues. Amidst all the sound and fury, this summer's decisions so far highlight two splits among the federal circuits, while also diminishing if...more
In Part One of our complimentary, two-part webinar on the TCPA, we covered the basics. Join us for the second hour-long segment, as we get into the weeds of the TCPA. Part Two will cover: Exemptions/Details · What is an...more
The Northern District of Illinois denied certification of a class in a claim brought pursuant to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. Sec. 227. Plaintiff alleged that defendant violated the TCPA by...more