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

Mealey's Class Actions

February 26, 2024
Class Complaint Accuses Labcorp Of Sending Protected Health Info To Google

PHILADELPHIA — Two patients of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp) filed a class complaint unsealed Feb. 23 by a federal judge in Pennsylvania, accusing the health care company of intercepting individually identifiable health information from its website users and sending the information to Google, which analyzes the data, matches the information to individuals and then shares its analysis with Labcorp.
February 26, 2024
Supreme Court Denies Insurance Exchange’s Managing Agent’s CAFA Reach Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 26 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a reciprocal insurance exchange’s managing agent and attorney in fact who asked the justices to decide whether a state complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty filed in the name of the exchange by several subscribers is a class action that belongs in federal court as those subscribers 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).
February 26, 2024
Claims, Defendants Partially Dismissed In Homebuyers’ Commission Class Case

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois partially granted motions to dismiss filed by a real estate brokers trade association and real estate franchisors in a putative class complaint by homebuyers who accuse the defendants of conspiring over commission rates, resulting in homebuyers paying artificially inflated prices for residential real estate because a portion of the supracompetitive rates is incorporated into the sales price of homes.
February 23, 2024
$20M Settlement Involving ‘Differential Treatment’ Gets Initial OK In ERISA Row

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Feb. 22 granted preliminary approval of a proposed $20 million class settlement in a case where some plaintiffs allege that they are owed early retirement pension benefits and pension supplements due to a change in control (CIC); the proposal involves what the plaintiffs call “differential treatment” of two groups and would give estimated payments of $4,000 to $365,759 to 332 individuals.
February 23, 2024
Truck Purchasers Dismiss Engines Class Case After ‘Piecemeal’ Transfer Denied

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Truck purchasers who brought putative class claims against an engine maker in a federal court in Kansas alleging faulty engines filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice less than a month after their motion to transfer some of their claims was denied by a judge, who deferred ruling on the defendant’s motion to dismiss to allow the purchasers to consider whether they would like to seek dismissal to refile in Washington.
February 23, 2024
Airline’s Dismissal Bid Fails In Narrowed ESG Suit Focusing On Investment Managers

FORT WORTH, Texas — A narrowed Employee Retirement Income Security Act case focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported “proxy voting activism” of investment management firms such as BlackRock Inc. has survived dismissal, with a Texas federal judge saying in part that inference of a flawed process is plausible.
February 23, 2024
Kroger Pharmacy Customers Dismiss Consolidated Data-Sharing Class Suits

CINCINNATI — Customers of an Ohio supermarket chain whose two putative class complaints alleging that the installation and use of a tracking pixel on the chain’s pharmacy website to collect and share confidential patient information were consolidated in January filed a notice on Feb. 22 of voluntary dismissal without prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(A)(i).
February 23, 2024
$4M Deal With Cintas, Related Defendants Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Row

CINCINNATI — A class settlement involving a $4 million payment and non-monetary relief would resolve an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where Cintas Corp. and related defendants unsuccessfully sought U.S. Supreme Court review of the denial of their motion to compel arbitration, plaintiffs told an Ohio federal court.
February 23, 2024
Rehearing Denied After Reversal Of Dismissal With Prejudice Of Underfill Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — Members of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied rehearing after the majority ruled that a trial court abused its discretion when it denied in part a motion by consumers to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice their individual and putative class claims alleging underfill of lower calorie ice cream and instead dismissed the individual claims with prejudice after the plaintiffs expressed their intent to file a new suit with a new theory of liability.
February 23, 2024
$5.5 Million Settlement Reached In Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Cases

FRESNO, Calif. — California employees who brought class complaints that were later consolidated accusing Amazon.com Services LLC of failing to pay workers for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts filed a motion in a federal court in California seeking preliminary approval of a $5.5 million settlement.
February 23, 2024
Walmart’s $2.5M Settlement In COVID-19 Screening Case Preliminarily Approved

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted preliminary approval of a $2.5 million settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Associates Inc. (together, Walmart) to end a class complaint seeking compensation under Arizona law for time spent undergoing mandatory COVID-19 screening before each shift.
February 23, 2024
Pension Fund Says Sporting Goods Retailer Misled Investors About Post-COVID Sales

PITTSBURGH — Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. and certain of its executives misled investors about the company’s ability to maintain high sales of certain products such as outdoor goods, which surged in sales during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a pension fund says in a putative class complaint filed in a Pennsylvania federal court, claiming that the company issued misleading statements about the slowing of sales.
February 22, 2024
$20M Settlement Proposed In ERISA Case Involving Change In Control Benefits

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A proposed $20 million class settlement would give estimated payments of $4,000 to $365,759 to 332 individuals in a case where some allege that they are owed early retirement pension benefits and pension supplements due to a change in control (CIC), the plaintiffs told a Pennsylvania federal court on Feb. 21.
February 22, 2024
3rd Circuit To Decide Asbestos-Talc Securities Class Certification Dispute

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 21 agreed to hear a case challenging class certification of a securities fraud lawsuit after Johnson & Johnson and related parties told the court that certifying a price-drop suit based on media reports of already public information about potential asbestos contamination of talc products could lead to “extortionate litigation.”
February 22, 2024
Fracking Operator: Plaintiffs ‘Identified No Theory’ For Remanding Royalty Dispute

DENVER — A hydraulic fracturing company has filed a brief in Colorado federal court arguing that it should deny a motion to remand to state court a royalty dispute because the plaintiffs have “identified no theory” under which the federal court could remand the lawsuit.
February 22, 2024
$169M Deal To Resolve Part Of ACA Reinsurance Row Gets Preliminary OK

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge on Feb. 21 granted preliminary approval of a class settlement under which the amount the government has to pay to resolve part of a case over the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) would drop from $185,230,024.42 to $169,022,397.28.
February 22, 2024
RESPA Claims Concerning QWR Letters Dismissed From Class Suit Over Unpaid Taxes

BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland ruling on a partial motion to dismiss a putative class complaint by homeowners who accuse their mortgage servicer of failing to properly handle the payment of their property taxes granted the motion as to two Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) claims concerning failure to respond to the homeowners’ qualified written request (QWR) letters but left in place the homeowners’ RESPA claim for failure to pay taxes from the plaintiffs’ escrow accounts.
February 21, 2024
4 More Suits Consolidated In Fortra File Transfer Data Breach MDL

MIAMI — One week after consolidating 46 putative class actions related to more than 100 data breaches attributed to hackers’ exploitation of vulnerabilities in file-transfer software, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) consolidated four more related suits with the others in the multidistrict litigation in Florida federal court.
February 21, 2024
Government Would Get Discount Under Class Deal In ACA Reinsurance Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The amount the government has to pay to resolve part of a case over the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) would drop from $185,230,024.42 to $169,022,397.28 under a class settlement proposed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
February 20, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Delivery Drivers And FAA’s Exemption

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 heard arguments on the reach of the carveout in Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) for workers engaged in interstate commerce and whether it applies to independent distributors bringing wage-and-hour putative collective and class claims against a baked goods company and its subsidiaries.
February 20, 2024
Google Says UCL, Other Claims In AI Training Lawsuit Fail

SAN FRANCISCO — Vague allegations and hypothetical damages involving the scraping of websites and other sources for data used in the training of artificial intelligence cannot form the basis of California unfair competition law (UCL) and other claims because the potential usage was adequately disclosed and individuals lack a privacy interest in information they themselves publicly disclosed, Google LLC tells a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal.
February 20, 2024
High Court Won’t Hear Meta’s Appeal Over Standing In Biased Housing Ads Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Feb. 20 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) in a putative class action in which it has been accused of participating in housing discrimination, leaving unanswered the social network operator’s question over the proper standard for determining whether a plaintiff has standing to sue under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
February 20, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment Against Class In ERISA Proprietary Funds Row

NEW YORK — Agreeing with a lower court’s ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary mutual funds, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld a decision for defendants The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and related entities in a summary order.
February 20, 2024
Petition By Wrestlers’ Attorney Challenging Sanctions Denied By U.S. High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an attorney and his firm who represent allegedly injured wrestlers in a class tort complaint and a mass action against World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and Vincent K. McMahon (together, WWE) and asking the justices to consider the appropriateness of attorney fees and costs as sanctions that they have been ordered to pay.
February 20, 2024
Expert Cannot Opine On Legal Conclusions In Overtime Spat In Ariz. Federal Court

PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Feb. 16 ruled that testimony from an expert witness that “attempts to substitute [the expert’s] own judgment for that of the jury’s” is barred, granting a motion to exclude filed by an operator of a fleet of chauffeured transportation services facing allegations of wage violations from a class of drivers.