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Mealey's Class Actions

  • April 25, 2024

    Lead Plaintiffs Selected For Securities Complaint Over Boeing’s Safety Record

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia appointed a retirement system and a pension fund to serve as lead plaintiffs in a putative class complaint originally filed by the retirement system on behalf of investors of the Boeing Co. alleging that the company and certain of its executives made misleading statements about the safety of the company’s 737 MAX airplane.

  • April 25, 2024

    Panel Gives Georgetown University, Plan Fiduciaries Win In ERISA Imprudence Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an unpublished per curiam judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over alleged imprudence by Georgetown University and fiduciaries of its retirement plans, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld dismissal of the complaint and denial of leave to file an amended complaint.

  • April 25, 2024

    U.S. High Court Will Decide Prevailing Party Questions In Attorney Fees Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the commissioner of the Viriginia Department of Motor Vehicles after a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Virginians who filed a putative class complaint challenging a now repealed statute regarding the suspension of driver’s licenses were the prevailing parties in their case ultimately ruled to be moot and may seek attorney fees.

  • April 25, 2024

    National Association Of Realtors’ $418M Commissions Settlement Gets Preliminary OK

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A proposed $418 million nationwide settlement by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in a class lawsuit accusing NAR and real estate franchisors of engaging in a commission conspiracy in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act that will resolve claims by home sellers in multiple cases was granted preliminary approval by a federal judge in Missouri.

  • April 25, 2024

    Ariz. Federal Judge: Expert Can Estimate Unpaid Wages In Suit By Class Of Drivers

    PHOENIX — A forensic accounting expert retained by the operator of a fleet of chauffeured transportation services can testify, an Arizona federal judge ruled, denying a motion filed by a class of drivers who sued for wage violations.

  • April 24, 2024

    Home Buyer’s FCRA Class Suit Alleging Faulty Credit Reports Settled For $96,000

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona largely granted final approval of $96,000 class settlement agreement in a lawsuit by a home buyer accusing a credit reporting company of failing to ensure that it was providing accurate credit reports after it reported him and others as “deceased,” opining that each of the 67 class members, down from the original estimate of 91, is entitled to receive the maximum statutory amount of $1,000 but that the $24,000 remaining that the lead plaintiff sought to distribute to the class members as “additional compensatory damages” will instead go to the parties’ cy pres recipient as there was no proof of additional actual damages or an agreement for punitive damages.

  • April 24, 2024

    $12.25M Settlement Approved In Neighborhood Class’s Case Over Smokestack Demolition

    CHICAGO — A federal magistrate judge in Illinois granted final approval of a $12.25 million settlement between the companies that caused a smokestack to be demolished at a coal power plant in a Chicago neighborhood and a class of residents in that neighborhood who alleged that they were exposed to a “plume of toxic debris and particulate matter” as a result of the demolition, causing breathing issues.

  • April 24, 2024

    Alcoa, Independent Fiduciary Are Sued Under ERISA For Pension Risk Transfers

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what is at least the fourth putative class case filed in the past month challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), retirees sued Alcoa Corp., related entities and an independent fiduciary in a District of Columbia federal court over four transactions they argue improperly “offloaded over $2 billion of Alcoa’s pension obligations.”

  • April 24, 2024

    Minnesota Federal Court: ERISA Record-Keeping Claims Meet Matousek Requirement

    MINNEAPOLIS — Claims relating to a 401(k) plan’s bundled record-keeping and administrative (RKA) fees that allegedly averaged $29 survive dismissal in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where the plaintiffs relied on participant fee disclosures, a Minnesota federal judge ruled.

  • April 24, 2024

    Parties Outline Positions After Summary Judgment Denial In ERISA Funds Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — After a California federal judge denied the defendants’ motions for summary judgment and to exclude expert testimony, the parties filed a corrected joint pretrial statement outlining their positions in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over the allegedly imprudent retention of certain funds.

  • April 23, 2024

    J&J Seeks Dismissal Of ERISA Fiduciary Breach Suit Over Drug Benefits

    CAMDEN, N.J. — Arguing in part that the sponsor of the self-funded health plans at issue “has every incentive to negotiate the best overall deal,” Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and related defendants asked a New Jersey federal court to dismiss the complaint and strike the jury demand in a putative class case asserting Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims over alleged “mismanagement of prescription-drug benefits.”

  • April 23, 2024

    Judge Dismisses Funds’ ERISA Suit Against Administrative Service Providers

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Ruling that the trustees of two multiemployer, self-funded welfare benefit funds had standing to sue administrative service providers but “do not plausibly allege that Defendants exercise or possess[] discretionary authority required to be” fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a Connecticut judge dismissed the case without prejudice on April 22.

  • April 23, 2024

    Judge Allows UCL Suit Against Company For Leaky Period Underwear

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a period underwear maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by advertising and representing its products as “leakproof” when in fact the products were allegedly never tested with human blood and are in fact not as absorbent as advertised.

  • April 23, 2024

    Calif. High Court Answers 9th Circuit Question, Finds Inmate Class Not Owed Wages

    SAN FRANCISCO — A class of nonconvicted inmates in a California county jail who perform services for a for-profit company that supplies meals have no claim for minimum wages and overtime under current state law, the California Supreme Court ruled April 22, answering a question certified by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an interlocutory appeal.

  • April 23, 2024

    3rd Circuit Hears Arguments In 2 Cases Over Jurisdiction For Wiretapping Software

    PITTSBURGH — Considering questions of personal jurisdiction and pleadings standards, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard combined oral arguments in two putative class actions that were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, in which Pennsylvania residents alleged violations of a state surveillance statute by Papa John’s International Inc. and a software company, respectively, based on wiretapping computer code that was surreptitiously placed on the devices of website visitors.

  • April 23, 2024

    U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Constitutionality Of Public Camping Ordinances

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys representing a class of homeless individuals, the United States and an Oregon city presented arguments on April 22 before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the constitutionality of the city’s ordinances barring camping in public spaces and making violations punishable by fines and arrests.

  • April 22, 2024

    U.S. High Court Denies Domino’s FAA Petition In Truck Drivers’ Expenses Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 22 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Domino’s Pizza LLC after the company’s truck drivers (D&S drivers) were found by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to be exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in their class case alleging unreimbursed business expenses and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • April 22, 2024

    Michigan Federal Judge Dismisses ERISA Case Over Outdated Mortality Tables

    DETROIT — Saying he “sympathizes with Plaintiffs’ position” but agrees with the defendants’ “statutory interpretation analysis,” a Michigan federal judge dismissed with prejudice a putative class suit in which Kellogg Co. retirees argued that using outdated assumptions and mortality tables to calculate pension benefits violates the actuarial equivalence requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • April 22, 2024

    Judge: Disclosure Of Driver’s License Info Did Not Violate New Hampshire Privacy Law

    CONCORD, N.H. — Granting a motion to dismiss by Bath & Body Works LLC (BBW), a New Hampshire federal judge found that the retailer’s transmission of a customer’s driver’s license information to a third-party business partner did not violate the New Hampshire Driver Privacy Act (DPA) because the plaintiff did not establish that a “department record” had been sold or offered for sale.

  • April 19, 2024

    Final OK Given To $62 Million Cy Pres Settlement Of Google Location History Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — The same day he presided over a fairness hearing, a California federal judge issued a minute entry on the court docket on April 18 granting final approval to a $62 million settlement of a consolidated class action over the purported collection and retention of users’ location data by Google Inc., with most of the funds going to cy pres recipients.

  • April 19, 2024

    U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Response To Review Bid For 2nd Circuit ERISA Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — After Cornell University and related entities said they didn’t plan to file a brief unless asked, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an April 18 request for a response to a certiorari petition in which retirement plan participants argue that of two 2023 decisions that amplified a “preexisting circuit split” over Employee Retirement Income Security Act pleading standards for prohibited-transaction claims, the ruling against them “is the superior vehicle for review.”

  • April 19, 2024

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Investors’ Suit Against Gaming Company

    SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to dismiss a putative class complaint brought by investors against a gaming company and certain of its officers, agreeing that the investors did not show that the company misled investors through false statements about the technical aspects of its mobile gaming platform.

  • April 18, 2024

    Court: Positive Outlook Doesn’t Outweigh Disclosures In Asbestos Securities Class

    NEW YORK — Even while putting a positive spin on Garrett Motion Inc.’s future, the company repeatedly warned investors about the dire financial situation posed by the asbestos-related liabilities it acquired in its spinoff from Honeywell International Inc., and the company was unlikely to believe it could mislead the market given the public nature of its information, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said April 17 in affirming dismissal of a securities class action.

  • April 18, 2024

    Amici File Briefs In Support Of Insurer’s High Court Appeal Of Remanded Class Action

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two sets of amici curiae filed briefs on April 17 in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting an insurer’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that a class action challenging its practices fits within the internal affairs and home state controversy exceptions to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

  • April 18, 2024

    EEOC Complaint Accuses Sheetz Of Racially Biased Hiring Practices

    BALTIMORE — Sheetz Inc., Sheetz Distribution Services LLC and CLI Transport LP (together, Sheetz) discriminate against classes of Black, Native American and other multiracial applicants based on their race by screening for criminal convictions and then denying employment based on them, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in a complaint filed April 17 in a federal court in Maryland.