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
In the recent decision in Sanders v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the California Court of Appeal reinforced the consequences for employers who fail to timely pay arbitration fees in employment disputes....more
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
In Guthrie v. Rainbow Fencing Inc., 113 F.4th 300 (2d Cir. 2024), the Second Circuit weighed in on a brewing dispute among New York district courts as to whether (and how) a plaintiff’s allegations may establish Article III...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
In Elijah Baer, et al. v. Tesla Motors, Inc., fifteen plaintiffs filed a putative class and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) representative action lawsuit against Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) alleging wage-hour violations of...more
The California Supreme Court concluded that the “good faith” defense applies to claims seeking to impose penalties under California Labor Code section 226. An employee must show that an employer’s failure to comply with...more
On January 3, 2024, the defendant in Heppard v. Dunham’s Athleisure Corporation filed an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...more
Employers in Washington are facing a flurry of class actions alleging violations of the state’s new pay transparency law. While it is too early to gauge the viability of the claims, employers doing business in Washington may...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
In Bazemore v. Papa John’s U.S.A. Inc., the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the plaintiff’s appeal of an order granting the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint brought...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit recently extended the scope of which transportation workers are exempt from arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). In Carmona Mendoza v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, – F.4th –,...more
On March 15, 2023, in a case of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that paid time off (PTO) is not part of an employee’s salary. Therefore, the employer did not compromise...more
In Archer, et al. v Grubhub, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that § 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies to Grubhub delivery drivers. The plaintiffs, former delivery drivers for Grubhub,...more
Over the past decade, California employers have reasonably relied on consistent rulings from courts as well as state and federal administrative agencies upholding the validity of time rounding systems as long as they are...more
On October 24, 2022, the Sixth District issued a decision in in Camp v. Home Depot, handing employees a major win in the wage and hour arena by holding that Home Depot’s practice of rounding hourly employees’ total daily...more
In the first reported decision we’ve seen addressing the issue head on, a federal district court in California dismissed a putative collective action claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) seeking payment for time...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
On May 23, 2022, in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., the California Supreme Court clarified that a violation of Labor Code section 226.7 (payment of premium wages for meal and rest period violations) gives rise to...more
A federal judge in New York recently held that workers cannot assert claims for violations of New York’s Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA) in federal court – a ruling that further helps employers defend against these...more
Healthcare organizations across the country should train their attention on a federal court case pending in Georgia that deals squarely with whether RNs performing utilization review (UR) work are exempt from overtime pay...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
On September 20, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed Grubhub, Inc.’s lower court victory in a class action case involving the alleged misclassification of a former driver. The driver claimed he was...more
Mandatory arbitration clauses for employment disputes have received a great deal of attention in recent years. In the First Circuit, there is now more clarity regarding the factors used to determine the enforceability of...more
Employers conducting internal pay equity audits now have a roadmap for ensuring that their pay equity audits remain confidential in the wake of pay equity litigation. Thanks to a recent federal court ruling from an Oregon...more
Oliver v. Konica Minolta Bus. Solutions USA, Inc., 2020 WL 3446865 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) - In this putative class action, plaintiffs Michael Oliver and Norris Cagonot sued their employer for compensation for the time they...more