Supreme Court Closes CAFA Loophole in Standard Fire v. Knowles
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049 (2020) - Summary: The ministerial exception, grounded in First Amendment’s religion clauses, barred teachers’ employment discrimination claims where teachers...more
On May 5, 2020, the Seventh Circuit held that allegations that a defendant violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) by collecting a biometric information without first obtaining informed consent...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The second key trend from our 16th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report involves rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the past few years, the Supreme Court has issued a number of rulings that...more
On Christmas Eve, the Third Circuit issued a decision restricting certification of wage/hour classes for off-the-clock cases and increasing the threshold for other wage/hour matters. See Ferreras v. American Airlines, Inc....more
The Situation: Under the Class Action Fairness Act, the Department of Justice may object to federal class action settlements it believes are unfair or inequitable to unnamed class members. The Result: In the past year,...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
On September 26, 2018, the Honorable Judge Robert N. Scola entered an Order denying class certification in a consumer deceptive advertising case. Plaintiffs claimed that the use of the phrase “born in brazil” on containers of...more
This edition focuses on rulings issued between February 16, 2018, and June 15, 2018. In this issue, we cover three decisions granting motions to strike/dismiss class claims, five decisions denying such motions, 27 decisions...more
While he often kept us guessing about how he might vote in politically significant cases, retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy was far more predictable on class action issues over the course of his 30-year tenure on the Supreme...more
This edition focuses on rulings issued between November 16, 2017, and February 15, 2018. In this issue, we cover five decisions granting motions to strike/dismiss class claims, seven decisions denying such motions, 15...more
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to take a more active role in reviewing and objecting to class action settlements under a rarely used procedure established by the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) more than a dozen...more
This edition focuses on rulings issued between May 15, 2017, and August 15, 2017. In this issue, we cover four decisions granting motions to strike/dismiss class claims, five decisions denying such motions, 27 decisions...more
Multiple actions involving the same subject matter and the same defendant are a common feature of the U.S. class action landscape. In this series of blog posts, we’ll examine the problem of competing class actions, which...more
This edition focuses on rulings issued between February 15, 2017, and May 15, 2017. It begins with an article on the federal judiciary beginning to take notice of issues surrounding third-party litigation funding and testing...more
As class action litigation has continued to proliferate, we have seen efforts to rein in the perceived abuses of the system on multiple fronts. Over a decade ago, Congress passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA)...more
Welcome to the latest edition of Class Action Roundup, covering the fourth quarter of 2016. As has been the case throughout the year, class actions continue to play a key role in courtrooms across the...more
On February 9, 2017, Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 (the “Act” or “H.R. 985”). The Act significantly expands the...more
President Trump has nominated Tenth Circuit Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court, and we expect that his nomination will eventually be confirmed. Since 2006, Judge Gorsuch...more
This is the 12th 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
Companies have the right to protect their trade secrets against public disclosure, while class action members (and the judges who must determine the fairness and adequacy of proposed class action settlements) have the right...more
Just over 10 years after the passage of the federal Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), Congress is again considering further legislative reform to class action litigation. Among other reforms, CAFA opened additional avenues...more
Concerns over state courts allowing class actions to proceed, the impact on the U.S. economy, and the undue pressure on companies to settle for significant sums spurred Congress to pass the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005....more
Some years are exciting in class action practice; others are tamer. In general, in any established area of the law, precedent accumulates only incrementally. And, with the modern Rule 23 entering its 50th anniversary year, it...more
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF CLASS/COLLECTIVE ACTIONS IN YOUR JURISDICTION? ARE THEY POPULAR AND WHAT ARE THE CURRENT TRENDS? Definition of class/collective actions - In the US, a class action is a form of...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