Mealey's Class Actions
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January 22, 2024
Consolidated Mr. Cooper Data Breach Plaintiffs To Submit Proposed Deadlines
DALLAS — Eight days after 20 putative class actions over a data breach experienced by Mr. Cooper Group Inc. were consolidated in Texas federal court, the judge granted the mortgage servicer’s motion for relief from the impending deadline for it to respond to the complaint against it, directing the parties to submit an agreed-upon schedule with proposed deadlines for filing motions, an amended complaint and other items.
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January 22, 2024
Judge Dismisses ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Case Without Leave To Amend
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Adopting a report and recommendation (R&R) concluding that allegations of excessive record-keeping 401(k) fees were “not enough to cross the line from possibility to plausibility,” a Wisconsin federal judge on Jan. 19 granted dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit and rejected the plaintiff’s request to file a second amended complaint.
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January 22, 2024
Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Shareholders’ Debt Forgiveness For Tribal Entity
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a state superior court’s decision to approve the vote of a shareholder class to forgive the remaining debt owed to it by a tribal corporation, finding that the lower court’s decision satisfies requirements for considering class claims.
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January 19, 2024
Ohio Appeals Panel Upholds Class Certification In Mortgage Recording Case
CINCINNATI — Certification of a class in a case seeking damages for violations of Ohio’s mortgage-recording statute that occurred allegedly in part due to the coronavirus pandemic was appropriate as the lead plaintiff and class have standing, common questions predominate and amendments to the statute that barred class recovery do not impact this class as the amendments did not take effect until two months later, an Ohio appellate panel ruled.
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January 19, 2024
Former Workers Win $2.4M In ERISA Severance Case Involving WARN Act Claim
ABINGDON, Va. — On remand of a case involving a severance plan and the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, a Virgina federal judge granted two unopposed motions and entered a $2,407,471.90 judgment for class members.
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January 19, 2024
Settlement Reached In Class Alleging Injuries From Ankle Monitoring Device
DENVER — A man seeking to represent a class of individuals who allege that they were injured by an alcohol tracking ankle monitor and the device’s manufacturer notified a Colorado federal court that the parties have reached a confidential settlement to resolve all claims.
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January 19, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Remand Of Class Action Mold Dispute As A Local Controversy
NEW ORLEANS — Under the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA) local controversy exception, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s order remanding a putative class dispute in which a homebuilder is alleged to have defectively constructed a large number of homes in Louisiana.
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January 18, 2024
Investor Says Chip Producer Misled Investors By Not Disclosing Inventory Buildup
NEW YORK — A technology manufacturing company misled investors by not notifying them of its customers creating a buildup in excess inventory of a computer chip it manufactured, leading to a drop in stock value when the company announced the buildup would affect profitability in the first quarter of 2024, an investor says in a putative class complaint filed in a New York federal court.
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January 18, 2024
2nd Circuit: Judge In ERISA Row Over Facility Fees Didn’t Abuse Discretion
NEW YORK — In a Jan. 17 summary order affirming judgment for a health insurer and related entities in a suit over reimbursement for facility fees in New York, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in part that the trial court “did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence related to” the insurer’s claims adjusting process.
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January 18, 2024
E-Cigarette MDL Plaintiffs Seek Final Approval Of $45M Settlement With Altria
SAN FRANCISCO — The plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation in California federal court against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries filed motions for final approval of a $45 million settlement with Altria and a roughly $13.7 million attorney fee award to resolve the economic loss claims of JLI e-cigarette purchasers.
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January 18, 2024
Class Suit: Food Products Toxic Due To High Levels Of Lead And Other Materials
MIAMI — Consumers have filed a putative class action in Florida federal court contending that the makers of applesauce and apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches are liable for recklessly or intentionally failing to disclose that the products were “toxic and unfit for human consumption and contained hazardous levels of lead, as well as high levels of chromium and potentially other toxic materials.”
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January 17, 2024
High Court Told ‘Chaos’ Will Ensue ‘In A World Without Chevron’ Deference
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 17 that “chaos” will ensue “in a world without Chevron” deference by government attorneys, who urged it to apply stare decisis and uphold Chevron, which is being challenged in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations.
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January 18, 2024
New Jersey High Court Issues Judgment For Care Home In Class Fee Refund Dispute
TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed and remanded a lower court’s order denying dismissal of a claim in a class action against a nursing home for violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) regarding an entrance fee refund if a resident died or moved out, finding that a refund of 90% of the entrance fee is not merited because the referenced CFA provision applies only to food-related fraud.
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January 18, 2024
California Federal Judge Certifies 2 Classes In ERISA Row Over 401(k) Fees, Funds
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Largely rejecting a variety of arguments advanced by the defendants, a California federal judge granted certification of two classes in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees and the selection and retention of allegedly underperforming funds.
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January 18, 2024
Partial Dismissal Granted In Class Suit Over Papa John’s Website Data Collection
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California partially granted a pizza franchisor’s 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, finding that the lead plaintiff failed to show that there were telephone communications at issue or that there was an imminent threat of harm in the future.
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January 17, 2024
University’s $6.5M Settlement Approved In Pandemic Closure Refunds Class Suit
ALBANY, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $6.5 million class settlement to be paid by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to students who alleged that they were denied adequate refunds for tuition, fees, room and board and other costs after the school shut down its facilities and switched all classes to online in the spring 2020 semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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January 17, 2024
University’s $5.4 Million Pandemic Closure Settlement Preliminarily Approved
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia preliminarily approved a $5.4 million settlement between George Washington University (GW) and students and parents who sued after the school transitioned from in-person classes to online learning in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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January 17, 2024
Low-Calorie Ice Cream Maker Must Respond To Rehearing Petition In Underfill Case
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Eden Creamery LLC, which owned and manufactured Halo Top ice cream, to respond to a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by consumers suing over the alleged underfill of the product after the panel ruled that the voluntary dismissal of the case must be granted without prejudice and directed the trial court to consider on remand “whether any terms should be imposed as a condition of dismissal.”
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January 17, 2024
Investor Says BioNTech Misled Shareholders With Predictions Of Vaccine Sales
LOS ANGELES — A biotechnology company misled investors by suggesting that its COVID-19 vaccine was still relevant despite not having approval from the Food and Drug Administration to target the most common subvariant at the time, an investor says in a purported class complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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January 17, 2024
After $4.5M ERISA Deal Draws Denial, Parties Report Global Deal In Works
FLORENCE, S.C. — A week after a South Carolina federal judge denied a motion proposing a $4.5 million class settlement of claims against one defendant, the parties in a suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs) have obtained a stay of all deadlines pursuant to a granted motion in which they reported reaching an unspecified “global agreement in principle on all salient terms of a settlement to fully and finally resolve all claims.”
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January 17, 2024
BOA’s $1.89M Wage-And-Hour Settlement Granted Final Approval
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $1,890,000 settlement to be paid by Bank of America, National Association (BOA) ending two wage-and-hour class complaints by current and former California employees who alleged that they were denied pay for certain off-the-clock work, meal and rest breaks and reimbursement for expenses.
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January 17, 2024
Oregon Granted Extension For Rehearing Petition In Prisoner Vaccine Case
SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Jan. 16 docket entry granted a motion by Oregon for an extension of time to file a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc; the motion was filed after a panel denied the state’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to quash a trial court’s order compelling the deposition of the former governor in a class lawsuit by prisoners suing over the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations and deaths due to the virus.
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January 17, 2024
$4.5M Overtime Settlement Granted Preliminary Approval In 13-Year-Old Case
TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey granted preliminary approval of a $4.5 million settlement to be paid by Sleepy’s LLC to end a case that began in March 2010 when three delivery workers sued alleging that they were misclassified as independent contractors and denied overtime wages.
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January 16, 2024
Stay Granted Except As To Decertification Motion In Pandemic School Closure Case
ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia agreed to stay proceedings in a class suit by a parent of an Emory University student seeking money back after classes and services were impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the class certification ruling is on appeal in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, except a motion by the school to decertify the class.
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January 16, 2024
4th Circuit Denies Borrowers Permission To Appeal Amendment Of Class Definition
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied borrowers’ petition for permission to appeal a Maryland federal judge’s December sua sponte ruling modifying the class definition in their suit alleging that they were overcharged for mortgage services as a result of a kickback scheme.