Mealey's Class Actions : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Class Actions

February 14, 2024
Reconsideration Of Partial Dismissal Of Website Data Collection Claims Sought

SAN DIEGO — Papa John’s International Inc. filed a motion for reconsideration in a federal court in California after a judge partially granted its motion to dismiss a putative class complaint alleging violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) through the alleged interception and collection of users’ data on a pizza-ordering webpage, in light of the ruling in Briskin v. Shopify.
February 14, 2024
Magistrate Judge Denies Daubert Motions In Mislabeling Suit Against Rust-Oleum

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge denied a plaintiff’s and a defendant’s motions to disqualify each other’s expert witnesses in a class action against Rust-Oleum Corp. for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by deceptively labeling its KRUD KUTTER cleaning products as “non-toxic” and “Earth friendly.”
February 14, 2024
GitHub, Microsoft, Coders To Confer Over Discovery In AI Copyright Licensing Row

OAKLAND, Calif. — In a dispute over licensing and attribution of computer code in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) collaborations, a California federal judge scolded defendants GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and five John Doe plaintiffs for not complying with the proper procedures for submitting discovery letters, leading him to deny the relief sought by the parties and to once again order them to meet and confer over their remaining discovery disputes.
February 14, 2024
Insurance Exchange’s Managing Agent Seeks U.S. High Court Review Of CAFA Reach

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court must decide whether a state complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty filed in the name of a reciprocal insurance exchange by several subscribers who had earlier filed the same claims in their names on behalf of a class and then voluntarily dismissed the complaint after it was removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) is a class action belonging in federal court pursuant to CAFA, the exchange’s managing agent and attorney in fact agues in a reply filed in the high court.
February 14, 2024
Real Estate Broker Franchisor Asks High Court To Decide Who Decides Arbitrability

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A real estate franchisor sued as part of an antitrust class action by home sellers over commission rules filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to decide whether a court or an arbitrator should decide a question of arbitrability.
February 13, 2024
Amazon Accused Of Unfairly Imposing New Ad-Free Streaming Costs In Class Suit

SEATTLE — A California resident filed a putative class action in Washington federal court accusing Amazon.com Inc. of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by abruptly inserting ads into its Amazon Prime video streaming services unless subscribers pay a higher monthly fee.
February 13, 2024
Judge Orders Notices On Corner Post In Consolidated Illegal Exaction Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has directed notices to be filed on whether a pending U.S. Supreme Court case is relevant to consolidated cases in which group health plans allege that the government illegally exacted contributions from them under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
February 13, 2024
Supplemental Brief Filed Supporting $3.5M Wage Settlement By Cheese Makers

FRESNO, Calif. — Workers whose wage-and-hour class complaint against Leprino Foods Co. and Leprino Foods Dairy Products Co. (together, Leprino) resulted in a jury verdict for Leprino filed a supplemental brief in a federal court in California supporting their motion for preliminary approval of a $3.5 million class settlement; the settlement motion was filed after the workers appealed the verdict to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 13, 2024
Federal Judge Denies Remand Of Class Suit Over No Breaks From Walkie Talkies

LOS ANGELES — A putative class complaint accusing a hospitality company of wage-and-hour violations due to its policy requiring workers to keep their walkie talkies on throughout their shifts, even during breaks, contains violations for which the amount in controversy requires the case to remain in federal court, a federal judge in California ruled, denying a motion to remand.
February 12, 2024
Class Complaint Accuses Digital News Company Of WARN Act Violations

NEW YORK — A January mass layoff of staff at The Messenger, a digital news website owned by JAF Communications Inc., violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, as well as the New York WARN Act, one of the former workers alleges in a class complaint filed in a federal court in New York.
February 12, 2024
Google Tells 9th Circuit Chrome Users Consented To Data Collection, Use

SAN FRANCISCO — In a Feb. 9 appellee brief, Google LLC explains to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the parties alleging privacy violations related to the purported collection and sharing of their personally identifiable information (PII) through the Chrome web browser “undisputedly agreed” to its privacy policy and related agreements “that describe the precise data collection and use” of which they complain, asking that the trial court ruling that disposed of all their claims be affirmed.
February 12, 2024
McDonald’s Workers Say U.S. High Court Need Not Weigh In On No-Poach Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision holding that the no longer enforced no-hire agreement between a fast food franchisor and its franchisees might violate antitrust laws is “unremarkable” and “does not merit” review by the U.S. Supreme Court, McDonald’s workers argue in a Feb. 9 opposition to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by McDonald’s USA LLC and McDonald’s Corp. (together, McDonald’s).
February 12, 2024
Dismissal Recommended In Class Suit Accusing Mortgage Lender Of Restraining Trade

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida issued a report and recommendation stating that all claims in a putative class complaint accusing a wholesale mortgage lender of violating the Sherman Act by refusing to do business with mortgage brokers who also do business with two other lenders should be dismissed, finding in part that there was no showing that there was “harm to competition within the overall mortgage market or the wholesale retail mortgage market.”
February 12, 2024
Low-Calorie Ice Cream Maker Argues Against Rehearing In Underfilling Dispute

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly found that a trial court abused its discretion when it denied a voluntary dismissal without prejudice of an underfilling class complaint and when it remanded with instructions for the trial court to consider whether to impose any conditions on the dismissal of the consumer’s case, Eden Creamery LLC, which owned and manufactured Halo Top ice cream, argues in its opposition to a petition for rehearing.
February 12, 2024
Judge Says AI Publicity Claims Fall Within Exception To Anti-SLAPP Statute

SAN FRANCISCO — Artists’ since-abandoned allegations that the companies behind three artificial intelligence art generators improperly used their names in advertising the products fell within the public interest exception to the state’s anti-SLAPP law, a federal judge in California said in denying a special motion to strike.
February 12, 2024
Student-Athlete Awarded Some Attorney Fees After Race Bias Claims Fail Against NCAA

INDIANAPOLIS — A student-athlete who unsuccessfully brought class claims against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for racial discrimination was partially granted attorney fees by a federal judge in Indiana who found that the student-athlete partially prevailed on his motion to compel.
February 12, 2024
Magistrate Recommends Class In Fracking Securities Case But Limits Focus Period

HOUSTON — A federal magistrate judge on Feb. 9 recommended that class certification be granted in a securities fraud case against a hydraulic fracturing operator but limited the focus period of the litigation because there was no front-end price impact attributable to the alleged misrepresentations and the company had rebutted what is known as the Basic presumption.
February 09, 2024
Investor Says Bank’s Misstatements On Financial Outlook Caused Stock Loss

NEW YORK — A bank made materially false statements about its financial outlook before a 37.57% drop in stock value, a shareholder in the bank says in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in New York.
February 09, 2024
$1.18B Firefighting Foam Deal Between Water Providers, DuPont Gets Final Approval

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina on Feb. 8 gave final approval to a $1.18 billion class settlement in the multidistrict litigation for the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that a class action is the “superior method” of settling the case because the alternative would be for federal judges in 94 judicial districts to adjudicate the claims.
February 09, 2024
$3M Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Imprudence Row, But Judge Trims Fees

SAN FRANCISCO — Attorneys who initially sought $900,000 of a $3 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act class settlement will get just $373,715 under a final approval order in which a California federal judge ruled even their reduced fee request “not reasonable or appropriate in the circumstances of this case.”
February 08, 2024
Federal Judge: Ex-Employees Did Not Show Trustees’ Motive In Stock Plan Complaint

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Finding in part that a group of former employees had not established a breach of duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal judge in Tennessee granted in part a motion to dismiss the putative class complaint filed by their former employer’s fiduciary trustee, while denying in full a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by executives of the employer.
October 03, 2023
$1.3 Million Class Settlement Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Investment Fees Lawsuit

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge on Oct. 2 granted preliminary approval to a $1.3 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegations that retirement plan participants “were subject to excessive investment fees in the form of high-cost share classes and poor investment performance.”
February 08, 2024
Panel That Upheld Judgment For Insurers In Facility Fees Row Won’t Rehear Case

NEW YORK — Saying only that it “considered the request,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that issued a summary order affirming judgment for a health insurer and related entities in a class suit over reimbursement for facility fees in New York denied a petition for panel rehearing.
February 08, 2024
$1.3M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Investment Fees Lawsuit

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge has granted final approval to a $1.3 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegations that retirement plan participants “were subject to excessive investment fees in the form of high-cost share classes and poor investment performance.”
February 08, 2024
Judge Certifies Class Accusing Rust-Oleum Of Mislabeling Products As ‘Non-Toxic’

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted a motion to certify a class of consumers accusing Rust-Oleum Corp. of deceiving consumers in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by labeling its KRUD KUTTER cleaning products as “non-toxic” and “Earth friendly.”