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
Two decisions from earlier this year illustrate the difficulty in enforcing terms of service (TOS) amendments against former subscribers or customers. Even when a company provides the former subscriber with notice of the TOS...more
In the long-awaited newest chapter of case law discussing the validity and enforceability of arbitration clauses and class action waivers, the Ninth Circuit on October 28, 2024, dealt a setback, though not a fatal blow, to...more
When there are two conflicting contracts—one requiring a court to address whether a case should be decided by arbitration or court action, and another requiring an arbitrator to address that issue—who decides which contract...more
On May 23, 2024, the United States Supreme Court held that if parties’ agreements conflict as to whether a dispute is subject to arbitration, then a court (not an arbitrator) must decide which contract controls. Coinbase,...more
In a rare published decision, the Michigan Court of Appeals enforced a provision in an auto lease that allowed either party to demand arbitration, even though the dealer had assigned the lease to a finance company and no...more
When parties are battling over whether a court should compel a putative class action to arbitration, the outcome often turns on who decides the “gateway” arbitrability issues of whether a valid arbitration agreement exists...more
The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently certified to the Massachusetts Supreme Court the question of whether franchisee plaintiffs in an ongoing case pass the threshold inquiry under the state’s three-prong employee...more
The District of Massachusetts’s recent decision in Fairfield v. DCD Auto. Holdings, Inc., No. 22-cv-11977, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109463 (D. Mass. June 26, 2023) serves as a key reminder for businesses not only to have...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a precedential decision on what it called “the mind-bending issue of arbitration about arbitration.” Relying on an arbitration agreement between the plaintiff and...more
In Williams v. Audible, the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the “Court”) considered three applications in the context of a proposed conspiracy class action focused on exclusivity provisions in an agreement between Audible...more
On June 3, 2021, in Donelson v. Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ordered class-action allegations in a putative securities fraud class action stricken on the...more
This week, the Ninth Circuit simultaneously issued two decisions addressing the circumstances in which equitable estoppel can require a plaintiff to arbitrate a claim absent an arbitration agreement with the defendant. In the...more
Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! Our winter edition covers notable class actions from the fourth quarter of 2020. In this edition, we find a common theme among COVID-19 class actions, the Tampa 2 defends...more
The Ninth Circuit denied a petition seeking to vacate an order compelling arbitration of an Uber driver’s putative class action. The district court held that rideshare drivers who pick up and drop off passengers at airports...more
Plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Norwegian Cruise Lines claiming that Norwegian failed to disclose profits it earned when the plaintiffs elected to purchase travel insurance during the cruise booking process....more
The Ninth Circuit recently denied a motion to compel arbitration after concluding that an arbitration agreement “buried” in difficult to access terms for a smartphone app did not put users on constructive notice that they...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas compelled arbitration in a putative Fair Labor Standards Act class action based on language in a “notice to employees” that put the plaintiffs on notice that they...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Reversing course and overruling previous precedent, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit now holds that ERISA plan mandatory arbitration and class action waiver provisions are enforceable, and can...more
A group of small businesses and their individual owners have filed a putative class action lawsuit in a New York federal district court against online lender Kabbage, Inc. that alleges Kabbage engaged in a “rent-a-charter”...more
On August 19, 2019 a federal judge in the Northern District of California denied State Farm Life Insurance Company’s (State Farm) motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff Elizabeth A. Bally’s claims for conversion and breach...more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued two decisions in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp.: the first overrules the decision in Amaro v. Continental Can. Co., 724 F.2d 747 (9th Cir. 1984) (Dorman, – F.3d –, No. 18-15281, 2019 WL...more
A district court has granted a motion to compel arbitration based on an arbitration clause in an agreement sent via text message and agreed to via a reply text. ...more
On Wednesday, June 5, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of enforcing arbitration agreements in car purchase agreements. The case, Goffe v. Foulke Mgmt. Corp., reverses the New Jersey Court’s recent trend of setting...more
SquareTrade, Inc. (“SquareTrade”) sells protection plans for consumer products. Adam Starke (“Starke”) purchased a SquareTrade plan from Amazon to cover a CD player ordered from Staples....more
Three delivery drivers sued a transportation broker for failure to pay overtime and minimum wages, failure to provide rest and meal breaks, failure to timely pay wages upon termination, and willful refusal to pay wages on...more