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

Mealey's Class Actions

January 31, 2024
Class Suit Accuses American Airlines Of Forfeiting Award Miles

SAN JOSE, Calif. — American Airlines Inc. (AA) wrongly seized customers’ bonus miles in their AAdvantage accounts regardless of how they were accrued when attempting to take back miles that the company believed were obtained through fraud, two Los Gatos, Calif., individuals allege in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in California; the plaintiffs further argue that no fraud occurred as the challenged miles were promotional bonuses obtained by customers when they opened multiple AA-associated credit cards and there were no limitations on such enrollment bonuses.
January 31, 2024
$6M Settlement Approved In Race Case Against Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued a series of orders granting final approval of a $6 million class settlement in a race bias, harassment and retaliation case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), as well as attorney fees and $50,000 service awards for the class representatives.
January 31, 2024
Class Denial, Other Orders Appealed In Racketeering Case Against Trump Corp.

NEW YORK — Notices of appeal, including one appealing class certification denial, were filed in a federal court in New York after a case accusing Donald J. Trump, The Trump Corp. and three of Trump’s children of racketeering based on their alleged endorsement of a multilevel marketing (MLM) company was dismissed without prejudice to refiling in state court.
January 30, 2024
United’s $10.1M Wage Statement Pact Approved; Consent Decree Deemed Overbroad

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a settlement between United Airlines Inc. and its pilots who sued alleging that their wage statements lacked certain information required under California law, but the judge reduced the requested attorney fees and service awards and denied approval of United’s unopposed consent decree, finding that it “is fatally overbroad.”
January 30, 2024
Insurer Granted More Time To Seek High Court Review Of Remanded Class Action

CHICAGO — The U.S. Supreme Court issued a letter granting an insurer extended time to file its petition seeking review of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that a class action challenging the insurer’s practices fits within the internal affairs and home state controversy exceptions to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).
January 30, 2024
Judge Denies Meta’s Dismissal Motion In Pixel Privacy Suit, Deems Harm Claims OK

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of Facebook users adequately amended their claims after a partial dismissal ruling, a California federal judge ruled Jan. 29, denying Meta Platforms Inc.’s renewed motion to dismiss privacy claims related to its purported collection of users’ protected health information (PHI).
January 30, 2024
Judge Denies Summary Judgment In Mislabeling Class Suit Against Rust-Oleum

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge denied Rust-Oleum Corp.’s motion for summary judgment on putative class claims that it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by labeling its KRUD KUTTER cleaning products as “non-toxic” and “Earth friendly,” finding that genuine disputes of fact remain as to whether consumers would be deceived by the labels.
January 30, 2024
BYU, Student Stipulate To Dismissal Of Pandemic Closure Case With Prejudice

SALT LAKE CITY — A Brigham Young University (BYU) student and the school stipulated to the dismissal of a class complaint in a federal court in Utah over the school’s failure to provide partial refunds of tuition and fees after classes were switched to online-only during the COVID-19 pandemic.
January 30, 2024
Sugar Factory Server Class Partly Certified In Connecticut Wage-And-Hour Suit

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge partially granted a motion to certify a class of current and former servers at Sugar Factory’s Foxwoods Casino location suing for various wage-and-hour claims, including the failure to pay minimum wages for nonservice work.
January 30, 2024
Amici Tell Justices Coinbase Cannot Enforce Arbitration Provision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A trio of scholars, a voluntary bar association and a consumer advocacy organization filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 29 supporting a group of sweepstakes entrants who contend that unlawful lottery and unfair competition class claims against Coinbase Inc. are not barred by an arbitration provision because a subsequent forum selection clause within the sweepstakes’ rules established that they did not consent to the superseded arbitration provision.
January 29, 2024
Planned Parenthood’s $6M Data Breach Class Settlement Preliminarily Approved

LOS ANGELES — A California judge granted preliminary approval of a $6 million settlement to be paid by Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) to settle a consolidated class complaint accusing the reproductive health care provider of failing to protect patients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) from being accessed and stolen.
January 29, 2024
School Milk Provider Settles Class Suit After Allegedly Tainted Products Reach Kids

CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey approved a settlement between a school milk provider and parents who filed a putative class complaint after their children were rushed to a hospital after ingesting milk that was potentially contaminated with a commercial cleaning agent.
January 26, 2024
Federal Judge Consolidates 2 Data-Sharing Class Suits By Kroger Pharmacy Customers

CINCINNATI — A federal judge in Ohio granted an unopposed motion to consolidate two putative class complaints accusing a supermarket chain of installing and using a tracking pixel on its pharmacy website to collect and share confidential patient information.
January 26, 2024
3 Complaints Consolidated That Accuse Navy Federal Of Biased Mortgage Denials

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia granted two motions to consolidate three putative class complaints accusing Navy Federal Credit Union of discriminating against individuals seeking mortgages based on race, appointed interim co-lead class counsel and ordered that those attorneys should handle any settlement discussions and pleadings.
January 26, 2024
Appellees Urge 2nd Circuit To Affirm Ruling In ERISA Mortgage-Backed Securities Row

NEW YORK — Fighting arguments that a pension fund’s investment in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) made the mortgages plan assets under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, mortgage servicers told the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that “straightforward application of the governing regulation defeats” those claims.
January 25, 2024
Plaintiffs Make Class Certification Arguments In DUFTA Row Involving Insurer

WILMINGTON, Del. — Asserting that their Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (DUFTA) claims “focus exclusively on Defendants’ conduct and circumstances,” policyholders and agents challenging an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which more than 1 million policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits urged the Delaware Chancery Court to certify their proposed class.
January 25, 2024
Amazon’s $950,000 Pandemic Home-Based Expenses Class Settlement Approved

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a $950,000 settlement between Amazon.com Services LLC and a class of California-based workers who alleged that they were denied reimbursement for internet expenses they incurred while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic and approved a motion for attorney fees and costs.
January 25, 2024
Solicitor General Considers Filing Amicus Brief In Detainee Class Wage Appeals

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States filed a response to a March 2023 order by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals inviting the submission of an amicus curiae brief in two appeals by a Washington state detention center owner and operator challenging a minimum wage verdict for a class of immigration detainees and an unjust enrichment award for Washington, stating that the solicitor general was considering whether to authorize such a filing and that a brief, if authorized, would be filed by Feb. 21.
January 25, 2024
Decertification Denied, Class Redefined In Mortgage Case Alleging Kickbacks

BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland denied a mortgage servicer’s motion to decertify a class of borrowers suing over kickbacks allegedly paid by a title company to the servicer’s employees but amended the class definition to limit it to borrowers in certain states who paid title service charges in excess of $500 plus the cost of title insurance, opining that the new definition will “ensure that the predominance and adequacy requirements of [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23] remain satisfied.”
January 25, 2024
Judge: Google Waived Right To Compel Arbitration In Digital Assistant Privacy Row

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Conducting a totality of the circumstances review, a California federal judge concluded that Google LLC waived its right to seek arbitration of putative class claims over alleged eavesdropping by the Google Assistant (GA) app, denying the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, which was filed after four years of “substantial motion practice,” discovery and class certification.
January 24, 2024
Stay Pending Appeal Best Choice In ACA Discrimination Case, Judge Says

TACOMA, Wash. — Staying a case while an insurer appeals a ruling finding that it violated Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Section 1557’s prohibition on discrimination by imposing a blanket exclusion on gender-affirming care ensures that it does not have to take actions that would be difficult to undo and leaves the plaintiffs with the status quo, a federal judge in Washington said in granting the relief.
January 24, 2024
In Mineral Rights Case, Judge Nixes Declaratory Judgment Claim As Duplicative

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has ruled in a mineral rights dispute that the plaintiffs’ claims for breach of contract and declaratory judgment are duplicative because they arise from the same allegations pursuant to the mineral leases at issue. As a result, the judge dismissed the claim for declaratory judgment.
January 23, 2024
Investor: Medical Company Misled About COVID’s Impact On Drug’s Clinical Testing

RENO, Nev. — A biopharmaceutical company misled investors by failing to disclose that its ability to test a drug planned to treat Alzheimer’s disease was severely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an investor says in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Nevada.
January 23, 2024
Defendants: Witness From Prior Flint Trial Allowed To Testify In Current Class Case

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Three related engineering firms on trial for alleged violations in connection with the Flint water crisis filed a brief in Michigan federal court on Jan. 22 opposing a motion to exclude, contending that the testimony of a witness for another defendant in the Flint bellwether trial is admissible in the case at hand, which is a separate class action, under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1) because he is not available to testify live due to a settlement agreement that prevents the other defendant from providing its employees to testify in other trials about the water crisis.
January 23, 2024
$11.8M Class Settlement Proposed In ERISA Case Against Health System

BALTIMORE — Asserting that an $11.8 million settlement will provide “average relief of $481 to Class Members,” the plaintiff challenging management of a Maryland health system 403(b) retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act has asked a Maryland federal court for preliminary approval.