Merrill Lynch Settles Discrimination Suit for $160m - Aberration or New Normal?
In the third post of our series on workplace class action issues, this blog posting focuses on the statistical study of class certification rulings throughout the Unites States in 2016. Not unlike real estate, location – in...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As profiled in our recent publication of the 13th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings have a profound impact on employers and the tools they may utilize to...more
This past March, we blogged about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bouaphakeo v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), a case in which the plaintiffs alleged that Tyson Foods improperly denied compensation for time...more
All’s not fair in secretive class-action settlements. If class actions are the exception, then class-action settlements are a reflection of that exception. Specifically, the secrecy that might otherwise accompany...more
Plaintiffs can count the first class action decision to be issued by the U.S. Supreme Court since the death of Justice Scalia as a win; although, they did not receive broad authorization to proceed carte blanche, as some had...more
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Tyson Foods v. Bouahapeko affirms the use, in some circumstances, of “representative” statistical evidence that produced average times for donning and doffing personal protective gear,...more
In its 2011 Dukes decision, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the circumstances under which groups of employees can maintain class action claims relating to their employment. In that case, the Court concluded that Wal-Mart...more
In our third installment of articles looking at the employment law cases being heard by the US Supreme Court this fall term, Tyson Foods Inc. v. Bouaphakeo will have importance in both the wage & hour and class action...more
A fresh Supreme Court term has kicked off, with a new slate of cases awaiting the Court’s decision. Among these cases are several that the automotive industry should keep an eye on, as they impact the law in ways that will...more
In a case that could change how wage and hour class and collective actions are litigated, Tyson Foods, Inc. recently filed its opening Supreme Court brief. Tyson seeks reversal of a $5.8 million judgment in favor of meat...more
I’ve been delayed a bit in reporting on this, but the October 2015 term of the U.S. Supreme Court is shaping up to be a blockbuster one for class action law. Perhaps even bigger than the October 2010 term, which brought us...more
The Supreme Court recently granted Tyson Foods’ petition for certiorari which presents to the Court two important class action issues: (1) Whether differences among individual class members may be ignored and a class...more
Last week, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to Tyson Foods in an appeal of a class and collective action filed under the FLSA and a similar Iowa state law. Hourly workers at Tyson’s Storm Lake, Iowa pork...more
This month we look at part two of our three part series on Class Actions. In part two, Robert Rachal, Page Griffin and Madeline Chimento Rea address Wal-Mart's Rule 23(b) principles, including some defenses to plaintiffs' use...more
Despite blockbuster cases like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011), and Brinker Rest. Corp. v. Superior Court, 273 P.3d 513, 527 (Cal. 2012), California remains a hotbed of employment class litigation as a...more
One can only imagine the outcome the plaintiffs' attorneys were anticipating: a case against the financial industry, involving non-exempt employees subject to an auto-deduct policy for meal periods, in the Southern District...more
On September 3, 2013, in Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Inc., the Ninth Circuit clarified the restrictions on class certification imposed by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes. The net effect of this ruling is to make it harder for...more
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States. Shortly after his election, rumors of a possible plot to assassinate the decidedly pro-Union President-elect began to circulate. With...more
The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Wang v. Chinese Daily News is the latest to affirm that Wal-Mart v. Dukes is controlling in wage-and-hour class action cases. ...more
In a decision that may significantly impact certification and decertification decisions in FLSA collective actions, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decertification of a Rule 23 class and...more