Mass Torts vs. Class Actions: A Tale of Two Strategies
Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Putative Class Claims
Class Action | Eleventh Circuit Reinstates No Hire Antitrust Claims Against Burger King
John Lewis of BakerHostetler Discusses Use of Social Media in Gawker Class Action
Wearables and the Future of Intellectual Property Law
Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! This edition covers notable class actions from the fourth quarter of 2024. In this edition, an overdue audiobook suit is shelved, an old case gets new reps and new...more
On August 16, 2024, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on whether out-of-state plaintiffs must satisfy personal jurisdiction requirements to participate in a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
A Single Incident Of Harassing Conduct May Create A Hostile Work Environment - Beltran v. Hard Rock Hotel Licensing, Inc., 97 Cal. App. 5th 865 (2023) - Stephanie Beltran, a server at the Hard Rock Hotel in Palm...more
Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! This edition covers notable class actions from the third quarter of 2023. In this edition, a mistake is just a mistake, “99.99%” isn’t 100% clear, and faxes aren’t always...more
For businesses using independent contractor vendors, misclassification claims are usually well-suited for class certification. A plaintiff’s path toward certifying a class can be relatively smooth when all vendors of a...more
The California Court of Appeal has definitively resolved an issue that was until now somewhat ambiguous: Can volunteers in fact volunteer their time for nonprofit organizations without receiving pay or other forms of...more
Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, 2021 WL 2965438 (July 15, 2021) - On July 15, 2021, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision, Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, regarding the rate at which premium...more
Garner v. Inter-State Oil Co., 52 Cal.App.5th 619, Cal. App. 3 Dist., June 26, 2020, as modified (Jul 23, 2020) - Plaintiff filed a class action alleging that his employer, Inter-State Oil Co., violated a variety of wage...more
Davidson v. O’Reilly Auto Enter., LLC, 968 F.3d 955 (9th Cir. 2020) - Kia Davidson worked as a delivery specialist at one of O’Reilly’s stores in San Bernardino. In this putative class action, Davidson alleged that she...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Complex class actions often present a scenario in which some or most of the putative class members are subject to arbitration agreements, but the named plaintiff is not. In Gembarski v. PartsSource, Inc.,...more
On August 28, 2018, a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court issued one of the first decisions – if not the first decision – on a motion to certify a putative class action under the state’s revised Equal Pay Act, Cal....more
In many suits filed as collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), individuals hoping to join the action as opt-in plaintiffs submit consents to join the lawsuit even before the named plaintiff moves for...more
In the latest instalment in a growing wave of employment class actions, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice denied certification of a claim for unpaid overtime wages due to fatal flaws in the plaintiff’s certification...more
The decision of the New York Court of Appeals, in Desrosiers v. Perry Ellis Menswear, LLC., and in Vasquez v. Nat'l Sec. Corp., has created a potential obstacle to early class action settlements in cases filed in New York...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York Court of Appeals holds that the state’s class action rules require notice of settlements to be sent to putative class members – even though no class has been certified....more
In Romulus v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., five former Shift Supervisors brought a putative class action against CVS under the Massachusetts Wage Act, contending they were required to work through their unpaid breaks. Specifically,...more
The Northern District of California recently renewed hope in a minor league baseball player class action wage dispute by granting the plaintiffs class certification after they narrowed the class. The court had previously...more
Sometimes, appellate decisions are written in a purely clinical voice. Other times, they’re infused with a dash of hot sauce....more
Statistical sampling has always been an effective and efficient way for plaintiffs to establish class action liability in California. After some hope that a 2011 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States might hamper...more
As the Supreme Court begins its new term, the trajectory of its recent class certification guidance will be a key issue for many. The spring and summer of 2016 delivered significant new contours in class certification...more
A New Jersey district court denied certification of a putative class of furniture delivery drivers and helpers employed by various transportation companies (the “Driver/Helpers”) and individuals who owned those transportation...more
Employee's Inability To Work For A Particular Supervisor Does Not Constitute A "Disability" - Higgins-Williams v. Sutter Med. Found., 237 Cal. App. 4th 78 (2015) - Michaelin Higgins-Williams worked as a clinical...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
Seventy-eight of the over 4,000 Michigan childcare providers who received state subsidies for offering services to low-income families voted to oppose having their union dues deducted from their subsidy payments. Six of the...more
The Ninth Circuit held that a state court’s certification order, under which CAFA’s amount in controversy would be met, created a new basis for defendant to remove the case to federal court. The plaintiff had filed a putative...more