Takeaway: Class certification of damages claims frequently turns on whether individual issues predominate over common issues under Federal Rule 23(b)(3). Class plaintiffs facing predominance problems may attempt to circumvent...more
The full text of each summary can be found below through the Table of Contents links. Highlights from this issue include...more
Takeaway: From the perspective of attorneys representing class action defendants, it seems that some circuits (especially the Ninth Circuit) do not give much deference to district court decisions denying class certification....more
Kilpatrick Townsend partner Jay Bogan, along with three other panel members, recently presented “Class Certification after Olean v. Bumble Bee: Expert Testimony, Uninjured Class Members, and Article III Standing.” This...more
The en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's recent watershed decision in Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative Inc. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC established several significant benchmarks for determining class...more
Earlier this year, in Wesson v. Staples the Office Superstore, LLC, 68 Cal. App. 5th 746 (2021), the California Court of Appeals held that courts are empowered to limit or strike representative claims under the Private...more
Takeaway: Consumer class actions primarily target a damages remedy. In the antitrust context, state antitrust law provides the path to damages for indirect purchasers, because federal antitrust law bars indirect purchaser...more
On August 30, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a decision in Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley v. ACT, Inc. that addresses how plaintiffs can satisfy the predominance requirement in federal class...more
Takeaway: Judge Timothy Corrigan of the Middle District of Florida recently found a way to certify a class action where consumers alleged the theft of payment card data, acknowledging he “may be the first to certify a Rule...more
In Ford v. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 12008 (8th Cir. Apr. 23, 2021), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a district court’s order certifying a class of customers who had...more
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision recently in Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, Inc. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC (“Olean Wholesale”), confirming that district courts must rigorously examine competing...more
On April 22, 2020, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded an order certifying a class of direct purchaser plaintiffs in In re: Lamictal Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, holding that the district court...more
Recently, the Northern District of California joined other courts in more closely scrutinizing class certification motions in TCPA cases. In a case involving an automated phone call by a loan servicer regarding Plaintiff’s...more
On September 12, the Eleventh Circuit decertified an injunction class defined by the past denial of insurance benefits—a decision that may help thwart future efforts from plaintiffs to certify Rule 23(b)(2) classes, rather...more
On August 16, the D.C. Circuit held in a high-profile antitrust MDL involving railroad shippers that the plaintiffs failed to satisfy Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement because their expert’s damages model calculated...more
On August 8, the Ninth Circuit issued a highly anticipated decision affirming the district court’s certification of a class of Facebook users who suffered alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act...more
Mirror, mirror on the class, are damages what you really asked? The Eleventh Circuit reversed an interlocutory order certifying an injunction class, rejecting the plaintiffs’ ploy “to lop off all the damages-based warts...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a decision with far–reaching implications for workplace class actions, the D.C. Circuit recently affirmed the denial of class certification of a Rule 23(b)(3) class on the grounds that the proposed class...more
Takeaway: In a prior post – Leveraging Comcast – beating predominance where challenged product has some value (April 16, 2019) – we reported on a decision by Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California...more
The Northern District of Illinois recently clarified that a “revocation class” that defines a putative class as those having made “a request to stop calling [their] number” does not satisfy Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance...more
When and how can a defendant in a putative class action defeat a proposed class? Defendants served with class action complaints frequently struggle with this question....more
The Ninth Circuit’s recent en banc decision in In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litigation, — F.3d —, 2019 WL 2376831 (9th Cir. Jun. 6, 2019), restored some much-needed balance to the class action universe. The court...more
Reversing itself in a 7-4 en banc decision, the Ninth Circuit reinstated a $210 million settlement in multidistrict class action litigation over the advertised fuel efficiency of Hyundai and Kia vehicles, making approval of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Satisfying Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement is undoubtedly a challenge when it comes to a nationwide class. Among the many issues that arise is the extent to which varying state laws can impact...more
Sometimes settlement with a putative class of nationwide consumers is the best option for resolution. However, since the initial ruling of the Ninth Circuit in In re Hyundai & Kia Fuel Econ. Litig., the mechanism to go about...more