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Mealey's Class Actions

  • June 02, 2023

    $600,000 Class Settlement Of ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Case Gets Preliminary OK

    KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a proposed $600,000 class action settlement of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees.

  • June 02, 2023

    7th Circuit Is Asked To Rehear Equitable Reformation Claim In ERISA Severance Row

    CHICAGO — Laid-off Northrop Grumman Corp. employees are seeking rehearing on one part of a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s decision in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over severance benefits, arguing that there is “an issue of exceptional importance involving fiduciary duties of disclosure owed to ERISA participants.”

  • June 02, 2023

    DuPont To Pay $1.18B To Settle Some PFAS Cases Brought By Water Authorities

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Chemours Co., E.I. du Pont de Nemours Inc. and Corteva Inc. (collectively, DuPont) on June 2 announced that they have agreed to pay more than $1.18 billion to settle per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) class action litigation brought by certain water authorities pending in the multidistrict litigation for aqueous film-forming foam.

  • June 01, 2023

    Illinois Federal Judge Denies Dismissal Of ERISA Suit Over Record-Keeping Fees

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge denied dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees, rejecting the argument that the recent Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision in Hughes v. Northwestern Univ. (Hughes II) “did not announce a ‘new pleading standard.’”

  • June 01, 2023

    Consumer Sues Snack-Maker For False ‘No Preservatives’ Claim In UCL Class Suit

    SAN DIEGO — A California consumer in a putative class complaint accuses a snack-maker of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by allegedly falsely labeling its fruit snacks as containing “No Preservatives” when they in fact contain the preservative citric acid.

  • June 01, 2023

    U.S. Supreme Court Interprets Securities Act, Remands Direct Listing Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 “requires a plaintiff to plead and prove that he purchased shares traceable to the allegedly defective registration statement,” a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 1 in a putative class case over a technology company’s direct listing of shares and allegedly misleading registration statement, vacating a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ judgment and remanding for the court to consider that issue in the first instance.

  • May 31, 2023

    Jury Selected, 10 Motions In Limine Decided In ERISA Excessive Fees Case

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A 10-person jury was selected in Connecticut federal court on May 30 for trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over claims by participants in a Yale University 403(b) retirement plan related to record-keeping fees, investment monitoring, share classes and a bundled services arrangement with the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of American (TIAA).

  • May 31, 2023

    Within 11th Circuit, Florida State Law Applied To Grant Service Award

    ORLANDO, Fla. — Applying Florida state law, a federal judge in the state approved a $25,000 service award for a class representative in a case concerning international-inbound tour voucher rentals and vehicle rental companies’ alleged failure to procure promised vehicle supplemental liability insurance that was settled for more than $33 million of benefits.

  • May 31, 2023

    Collective Decertified, Class Certification Denied In Misclassification Lawsuit

    DENVER — A federal magistrate judge in Colorado in a single order granted a grocery chain’s motion to decertify a collective in a lawsuit alleging misclassification of assistant store managers (ASMs) and denied a motion for class certification, finding that the lead named plaintiff failed to show that common questions predominate.

  • May 31, 2023

    Business Groups Support Petition By Detention Center Seeking Class Cert Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two business groups filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a for-profit immigration detention center operator asking the court to rule on certification of three classes in a trafficking and labor law lawsuit.

  • May 31, 2023

    BYU Student Seeks Rehearing After Class Cert Denial In Pandemic Case Upheld

    DENVER — A Brigham Young University (BYU) student filed a petition for rehearing after a divided 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a trial court “acted within its discretionary bounds” when it denied class certification in the student’s lawsuit over the school’s failure to provide partial refunds of tuition and fees after classes were switched to online-only during the coronavirus pandemic.

  • May 31, 2023

    Music School, Student Seek To Settle Pandemic Closure Class Suit For $399,999

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted preliminary approval of a $399,999 class settlement in a complaint brought by a student of The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) after the school halted in-person classes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • May 31, 2023

    Fastenal’s $2.4 Million Class Settlement In Wage, UCL Suit Approved

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California issued the final order and judgment approving a $2.4 million settlement to be paid by Fastenal Co. to end a class complaint by an employee alleging failure to pay workers for all overtime hours worked in violation of California’s wage and hour laws, unfair competition law (UCL) and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

  • May 31, 2023

    University Agrees Florida High Court Should Review Sovereign Immunity Appeal

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s board of trustees, which concurs in a graduate student’s request that the Florida Supreme Court accept discretionary review of a sovereign immunity question in pandemic closure putative class case, filed a third notice of supplemental authority concerning a recent opinion by a state appellate court panel.

  • May 31, 2023

    Settlement Motion Amended In TGI Friday’s Licensed Snack Sticks Labeling Suit

    CHICAGO — One day after a federal magistrate judge in Illinois issued a docket entry denying preliminary approval of a $900,000 settlement in a putative class complaint over snack labeling claims in order to allow the lead plaintiff to amend her motion, a notice of revised exhibits to the settlement was filed.

  • May 30, 2023

    Eli Lilly To Pay $13.5M, Cap Monthly Insulin Costs In National Class Action

    NEWARK, N.J. — Eli Lilly & Co. has agreed to pay $13.5 million for an insulin price claims fund and to ensure that class members will have prices for certain Lilly insulins capped at $35 a month for four years, according to a motion for preliminary approval of a class settlement filed May 26 in New Jersey federal court.

  • May 30, 2023

    Uber Driver Seeks Rehearing After 3rd Circuit Rules He Is Not Interstate Driver

    PHILADELPHIA — A rideshare driver who filed a putative class complaint accusing Uber Technologies Inc. of misclassification filed a petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc after the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, addressing two similar complaints, that the drivers primarily provide local transportation and “are not ‘engaged in foreign or interstate commerce for the purposes of’” Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA).

  • May 30, 2023

    Court Grants Final Approval To $50M Settlement In MacBook Keyboards Class Action

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $50 million settlement to resolve claims that Apple Inc. violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and consumer protection laws in several other states by selling MacBooks with allegedly defective keyboards, without Apple being required to admit liability.

  • May 26, 2023

    7th Circuit Won’t Review Class Certification In Real Estate Commission Suit

    CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for permission to appeal class certification following a trial court’s ruling in an antitrust action accusing the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and seven real estate franchisors of conspiring to artificially inflate commission offers to a successful buyer-broker for property listing on a multiple listing service (MLS).

  • May 26, 2023

    Xyrem Antitrust MDL Judge OKs 3 Classes, Approves $3.4M Pact With 2 Defendants

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge overseeing the Xyrem antitrust multidistrict litigation certified three classes of claimants against two drug companies and granted preliminary approval of a $3.4 million settlement of claims that the defendants conspired to keep a generic version of the narcolepsy drug off the market.