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Mealey's Class Actions

March 06, 2024
9th Circuit: Google Didn’t Deceive Android Users By Gathering App, OS Data

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 5 affirmed the dismissal of two smartphone users’ fraud, unfair competition and breach of contract claims against Google LLC for collecting data on third-party app usage via its Android operating system (OS), finding that Google adequately disclosed its collection of consumer data across both Google apps and third-party apps using its OS.
March 06, 2024
$19M Deal In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds Wins Preliminary Approval

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on March 5 granted preliminary approval of a $19 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans and use of a stable value fund as the default investment.
March 06, 2024
Investors Sue Fracking Company For Fiduciary Breach Related To Merger Transaction

WILMINGTON, Del. — A group of former minority investors in a hydraulic fracturing company have sued in Delaware state court the former members of the board of directors and a private equity firm that is a majority shareholder in the company, contending that they breached their fiduciary duties when they approved a merger between the company and another fracking services operator because the transaction was based on a deficient proxy statement and a “misinformed vote.”
March 06, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Final Settlement Of $90 Million Facebook Tracking MDL

SAN FRANCISCO — More than a year after a trial court granted final approval to the $90 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation over the alleged tracking of Facebook users’ online activity by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.), a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the settlement, finding no abuse of discretion and rejecting three objectors’ suggested settlement fund of $1.24 trillion as “unreasonable.”
March 06, 2024
Joint Pretrial Proposals Are Filed In ERISA Fees Row Heading Toward Jury Trial

NEW YORK — As parties in a class action over the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan (MEP) approach a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial, they outline competing positions in several filings in New York federal court.
March 04, 2024
Consumer Claims Zyn Nicotine Pouches Caused Addiction, Dental Health Issues

SAN DIEGO — In a putative class action product liability complaint filed in California federal court on March 1, a user of “Zyn” flavored nicotine pouches accuses manufacturer Swedish Match North America LLC and parent company Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) of concealing the health risks posed by their product.
March 05, 2024
DOL Files Amicus Brief In 9th Circuit ERISA Case Involving Tobacco Surcharge

SAN FRANCISCO — For the third time in recent months — this time in a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case concerning a health plan’s tobacco surcharge — the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed an amicus curiae brief supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute involving what the DOL calls a representative action waiver.
March 05, 2024
U.S. To High Court: Class Certification Should Be Reconsidered In Encampment Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a decision barring enforcement of an Oregon city’s public camping ordinance correctly held that the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits “effectively criminalizing the status of homelessness” in such a manner but erred when it affirmed “broad injunctive relief without requiring particularized showings,” the United States argues in a March 4 amicus curiae brief in support of neither side in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 05, 2024
Class, Hospitals Ask 6th Circuit To Uphold Vaccine Mandate Settlement

CINCINNATI — A class of hospital employees and their employer who reached a $130,000 nationwide settlement in a case over the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy filed separate appellee briefs in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking to uphold the settlement approval being challenged on appeal by objectors.
March 05, 2024
Georgia Judge Grants Final OK In Chick-Fil-A Hidden Delivery Fee Settlement

ATLANTA — A settlement agreement that includes a cash settlement fund of up to $1.45 million and up to $2.95 million in gift cards reached in a consolidated class complaint accusing a fast food chain of offering free or low-cost delivery while hiding charges within increased food prices was granted final approval by a Georgia judge.
March 05, 2024
Franchisees Seek Final Approval Of $30M Classification Settlement With Jan-Pro

SAN FRANCISCO — California cleaning franchisees who sued Jan-Pro Franchising International Inc. alleging misclassification as independent contractors filed a motion in a federal court in California seeking final approval of a class settlement under which the franchisor will pay $30 million and make changes to its business practices.
March 05, 2024
Judge Dismisses Copyright-Based Claims Against OpenAI, Won’t Enjoin Its Defense

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs pursuing class claims in California against OpenAI Inc. and related companies stemming from alleged copyright violations have not demonstrated that the court overseeing their cases can enjoin the companies from defending themselves from similar litigation in New York federal court, a federal judge said in denying a motion to enjoin after dismissing the bulk of the case in an earlier ruling.
March 05, 2024
5th Circuit Lets DOL Participate In Arguing ESOP Effective Vindication Row

NEW ORLEANS — With the appellees’ consent, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is letting the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) participate as amicus curiae in March 11 oral argument concerning the “effective vindication” exception, which a federal court invoked in declining to compel arbitration in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
March 04, 2024
$9M Global Deal In ERISA Proprietary Funds Row Follows Ruling In Similar Case

CINCINNATI — Plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary funds whose former motion concerned a $4.5 million deal with one defendant have now asked an Ohio federal court for preliminary approval of a global $9 million settlement with all defendants.
March 04, 2024
Consumer Accuses Apple Of ‘Rigging’ Devices To Monopolize Cloud Storage

SAN FRANCISCO — A consumer on March 1 filed a putative class action complaint against Apple Inc. in California federal court, accusing it of monopolizing access to its iCloud data storage service by configuring Apple mobile devices to require users to sign up for iCloud to store certain digital files, allegedly in violation of federal and state antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
March 04, 2024
Judge Denies Expert Preclusion Bids, Most Other Motions In ERISA Fees, Funds Case

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Ruling on requests to preclude testimony and exclude evidence in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over fees and funds, a California federal judge denied seven motions by the defendants and one by the plaintiffs, partly granting just one motion by the plaintiffs.
March 04, 2024
Global $7.5M Class Deal Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Proprietary Trusts Row

FLORENCE, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $7.5 million global class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs).
March 04, 2024
Claims Tossed From Suit Over Barclays’ Accidental Unregistered Securities Sales

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York issued a mixed ruling in response to a motion to dismiss a putative class complaint filed over how Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC and certain of their executives responded to the accidental sale of unregistered securities, finding that investors adequately alleged that the banking entities failed to disclose that they lacked internal controls to prevent the error but that they failed to adequately plead a securities fraud claim.
March 01, 2024
$19M Deal Proposed In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds, Default Investment

NEW YORK — Parties in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans — including use of a stable value fund as the default investment — have struck a $19 million class deal, plaintiffs told a New York federal court.
March 01, 2024
Judge Won’t Reconsider Class Certification Denial In ERISA Suit Over MEP Fees

MADISON, Wis. — After plaintiffs in a suit over the record-keeping and administration costs of a multiple employer plan (MEP) 401(k) unsuccessfully sought permission to appeal denial of class certification, a Wisconsin federal judge denied their motion to reconsider the denial.
February 29, 2024
Sunglasses Warranties Class Settlement Valued At $32M Vacated By 11th Circuit

ATLANTA — A trial court lacked the power to grant injunctive relief in a class settlement concerning a sunglasses manufacturer’s warranties, so the inclusion of the value of that relief in determining the fairness of the agreement was an abuse of discretion, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating the order approving the settlement and remanding for further proceedings.
February 29, 2024
Parties Brief Corner Post In Health Plans’ Consolidated Illegal Exaction Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In supplemental briefing in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the government and group health plans both say a pending U.S. Supreme Court case will not resolve their dispute in consolidated cases where the plans allege that the government illegally exacted contributions from them under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
February 29, 2024
Justices Suggest Remand, Express Confusion In Crypto Sweepstakes Arbitration Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Feb. 28 oral arguments, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly returned to questions about why a dispute about contractual arbitration and delegation provisions between a cryptocurrency exchange and sweepstakes entrants ended up before them, with the option of remand seeming to gain momentum over the course of the session.
February 29, 2024
$750,000 Class Settlement Approved In NFL Hall Of Fame Canceled Game Suit

AKRON, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and granted final approval of a $750,000 class settlement in a case by National Football League Hall of Fame Game ticket holders seeking damages for the last-minute cancellation of an August 2016 game.
February 28, 2024
Investors: Magistrate Judge Committed ‘Clear Error’ In Fracking Securities Ruling

HOUSTON — Investors have filed a brief in Texas federal court objecting to a memorandum issued by a federal magistrate judge who recommended that class certification of a securities fraud case should be limited. The investors argue that the magistrate judge committed “clear error” when he found that the hydraulic fracturing company that is the defendant in the case rebutted what is known as the Basic presumption.