The First Circuit recently reversed the District of Massachusetts’s approval of a settlement award that improperly lacked any subclasses within the 4.8-million-person putative class, finding it “too difficult to determine...more
When negotiating a class action settlement, lawyers on both sides may need to consider whether subgroups within the class need to be separately represented by different counsel. The First Circuit recently reached that...more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision on a class action settlement, In re Apple Inc. Device Performance Litigation, 2022 WL 4492078 (9th Cir. Sept. 28, 2022), received significant attention in the legal media. It addressed several...more
The plaintiff in Alvarez v. Sunshine Life & Health Advisors LLC - the first Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) action to settle on a class basis - filed his motion for preliminary approval of the settlement. And the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Incentive awards for class representatives are impermissible, according to a ground-breaking decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Though not an employment case, the...more
It is not atypical for class actions to be brought seeking damages that can be characterized as nominal in nature. An oftentimes powerful incentive for potential class representatives to put their names on a putative class...more
While not authorized by Rule 23, incentive awards to class representatives are a common feature of class action settlements. Nevertheless, a divided Eleventh Circuit panel ruled last Thursday that such payments are strictly...more
For years, class action settlements typically have included incentive payments to named plaintiffs. The payments usually represent a very small percentage of the overall settlement payout, and are designed to compensate named...more
Two years after the massive holiday season theft of customers’ payment card data from Target point of sale terminals, the Target data breach litigation appears to be entering its final act. On Tuesday, December 1, Target...more