Class Action

April 24, 2025
7th Circ. Backs Employers In Pension Fund Withdrawal Fight

The Seventh Circuit upheld Thursday a trial court's ruling that two employers aren't required to pay a higher rate calculating how much it would cost to jump ship from a failing pension plan, knocking down arguments from the pension fund that an exception to the rate limit applied.
April 24, 2025
JPMorgan, Retiree Resolve Benefits Freeze Suit

A former JPMorgan worker dropped a Second Circuit bid to revive his lawsuit claiming the financial giant failed to properly disclose how changes to an employee pension plan could result in a freeze on participants' benefits.
April 24, 2025
Honda Fights Class Cert. In Kronos Hack Wages Suit

Honda Development & Manufacturing of America LLC has pushed back on a certification bid from a proposed class seeking unpaid overtime wages in Ohio federal court, arguing in part that the named plaintiff's claims are moot.
April 24, 2025
Calif. Panel Says Insurance Adjuster's PAGA Suit Is Too Late

A former adjuster for an insurance claims management company was too late in filing his Private Attorneys General Act suit seeking penalties for unpaid overtime on behalf of other workers, a California appellate panel ruled, upholding a lower court.
April 24, 2025
Judge Orders Another Asylum-Seeker's Return From El Salvador

A Baltimore federal judge has directed the Trump administration to bring back a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker sent to an El Salvador prison last month, marking the second time the government has been ordered to "facilitate" the return of an individual deported under the Alien Enemies Act.
April 24, 2025
Insurance Cos. Need Not Cover Medical Cannabis In NM

A New Mexico federal judge has thrown out a medical cannabis seller's suit against three insurers over coverage of medical cannabis, finding that New Mexico law doesn't mandate coverage, and even if it did, it would be preempted by federal law.
April 24, 2025
Subscribers Lob Data-Sharing Suit At Baseball Media Co.

Baseball America Inc. customers have hit the company with a proposed class action in North Carolina federal court, alleging the sports publication illegally tracks their activity and shares the collected private data with third parties.
April 24, 2025
Ex-Jabil Worker's Disability Bias Suit Heads To Trial

Manufacturing giant Jabil can't sink an ex-worker's suit claiming he was fired for requesting part-time work to manage a joint disease, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, saying a jury needs to sort out whether the company could have offered him a lighter workload.
April 23, 2025
Shaq Settles FTX Litigation Over Alleged Promotions

Shaquille O'Neal and FTX investors in multidistrict litigation over the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse announced a settlement Wednesday resolving allegations that the basketball icon promoted FTX, including through a partnership for his Shaq's Fun House music festival, despite red flags at the crypto company.
April 23, 2025
California Bar Says It Used AI To Craft Some Exam Questions

The State Bar of California used artificial intelligence to develop certain multiple-choice questions that were included in the February exam, a revelation that left one law school assistant dean "shocked" and a move that the state bar said was "not clearly communicated" to its own leadership.
April 23, 2025
Retirement Co. Hit With $38.8M Jury Verdict In ERISA Action

A New York federal jury Wednesday awarded a 27,000-member class of retirement plan participants nearly $38.8 million after finding that Pentegra Retirement Services violated federal benefits law by saddling a $2.1 billion 401(k) plan with excessive administrative fees.
April 23, 2025
Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Minority Farmer COVID Debt Relief Suit

The Federal Circuit declined to revive claims by socially disadvantaged farmers who said the government owes them millions of dollars after repealing a coronavirus pandemic-era debt relief program, ruling Tuesday the farmers failed to show the government had a mutual intent to enter a binding contract.
April 23, 2025
Equipment Rental Industry Facing Algorithmic Pricing Claims

The construction equipment rental industry is the latest to face claims of algorithmic collusion, with several suits filed in the last few weeks accusing United Rentals, Herc, The Home Depot and others of using the same third-party service to set prices.
April 23, 2025
UMich Says It's Immune From Ex-Coach Hacking Suits

The University of Michigan has said it is immune from claims brought by student athletes who allege the university failed to protect them from a former assistant football coach's alleged hacking of their sensitive information, encouraging a federal judge to reject the students' request for speedy discovery until a conference next month.
April 23, 2025
Law Firm Fights Sanctions Bid In Mootness Fee Row

Attorneys at Monteverde & Associates PC urged an Illinois federal judge not to order certain sanctions against them in a challenge to so-called mootness fees paid to settle and dismiss allegedly baseless merger disclosure suits, saying more sanctions would be inconsistent with "well-established" pleading and sanctions standards.
April 23, 2025
Meta MDL Judge Doubts Insurers' Bid To Kick Fight To Del.

A California federal judge presiding over sprawling social media personal injury multidistrict litigation doubted on Wednesday insurers' arguments their multimillion-dollar coverage fight with Meta belongs in Delaware state court, questioning how moving the case would preserve judicial resources, while observing that Hartford's pre-litigation conduct may have been in bad faith.
April 23, 2025
NC Justice Hammers Home Depot's Reading Of Sales Law

A North Carolina Supreme Court justice reminded Home Depot on Wednesday that it was arguing to "a lot of textualists" in a case about the state's ban on referral sales programs, with the justice suggesting the language in the law does not require a showing of inducement to prove harm.
April 23, 2025
GoodRx Beats Investor Suit Over Kroger-Linked Biz

GoodRx Holdings Inc. has escaped a proposed shareholder class action alleging it concealed from investors the indispensability of its relationship with Kroger, according to an order signed by a California federal judge who said the suit does not show GoodRx knew Kroger had plans to renegotiate its contracts.
April 23, 2025
Severance Deal Bars 401(K) Suit, Whataburger Tells 5th Circ.

Whataburger asked the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday to uphold the dismissal of an ex-worker's suit claiming the company failed to trim underperforming investment funds from its $215 million retirement plan, stating the lower court correctly found a release he signed doomed his case.
April 23, 2025
Judge Lifts Biocon Eye Med Biosimilar Ban After Settlement

A West Virginia federal judge has vacated a permanent injunction that had blocked Biocon Biologics Inc. from selling a biosimilar to Regeneron's blockbuster eye medication Eylea in the U.S., citing a settlement agreement in the patent litigation allowing sales of the biosimilar in 2026.
April 23, 2025
Plastic Co. Asks 1st Circ. To Undo Class Cert In PFOA Suit

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Co. told the First Circuit that a New Hampshire federal judge's overly broad class certification for plaintiffs claiming it contaminated thousands of properties with a toxic forever chemical must be reversed, arguing that it opened courthouse doors to uninjured class members.
April 23, 2025
Airport Contractor Fails To Provide Breaks, Worker Says

An aviation services contractor fails to provide workers with mandatory 10-minute rest periods and declines to compensate them for this missed time, a proposed class action filed Wednesday in Colorado state court said.
April 23, 2025
Software Co. Can't Escape 401(k) Investment Suit

A California federal judge refused to toss a federal benefits lawsuit from former ServiceNow employees alleging the cloud computing company kept an underperforming suite of target-date funds in its 401(k) plan for over a decade, finding allegations of a deficient process should proceed to discovery.
April 23, 2025
Non-Wash. Landlords Want Out Of Yardi Rent-Fixing Case

A group of landlords pushed to be permanently dismissed from rent-fixing litigation against rent software company Yardi Systems Inc. and other parties, arguing that the presiding Washington federal court lacks personal jurisdiction over them since they're not connected to the state.
April 23, 2025
Costco Hit With Suit Over iPhone Warranty Omissions

Costco is the target of a proposed class action claiming the big box retailer sold iPhones without disclosures required under Washington state consumer protection laws, including omitting the terms of warranties and how much it costs for repairs.

Editor's Picks

NFL Seeks To End Race-Based Concussion Tests After Outcry

The NFL said Wednesday it will push to end the use of "race-norming," which assumes Black former players start with lower baseline cognitive test scores, in assessing claims for payouts from the more than $1 billion concussion settlement amid allegations that it is discriminatory.

Expert Analysis

10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.
How High Court's Cornell Decision Will Affect ERISA Suits

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cunningham v. Cornell, characterizing prohibited transaction exemptions as affirmative defenses, sets the bar very low for initiating Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, and will likely affect many plan sponsors with similar service agreements, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.
Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

The first quarter of 2025 was filled with the refinement of old theories in the property and casualty space, including in vehicle valuation, time to seek appraisal and materials depreciation, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.
The Benefits Of Aligning States On Legal Paraprofessionals

Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.
AI Use In Class Actions Comes With Risks And Rewards

The use of artificial intelligence in class actions holds promise for helping to analyze complex evidence, but attorneys and experts must understand how to use it correctly, and how to explain it clearly, say Simone Jones and Eric Mattson at Sidley and Anna Shakotko at Cornerstone Research.
10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
Addressing Antitrust Scrutiny Over AI-Powered Pricing Tools

Amid multiple recent civil complaints alleging antitrust violations by providers and users of algorithmic pricing tools, such as RealPage and Yardi, digital-era measures should feature prominently in corporate compliance programs, including documentation of pro-competitive benefits and when to use disclosures, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
Lessons From Pa. Wiretapping Class Action Dismissal

A recent wiretapping class action in Pennsylvania federal court resulting in the dispositive dismissal of the action provides key insights on how online notice and consent can be leveraged to directly address and mitigate legal risks and class action liability exposure, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.
Influencer Campaign Lawsuits Signal New Endorsement Risks

Recent class actions allege that companies' influencer campaigns violate the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides and various state laws, but it's not clear whether the failure to comply can sustain these lawsuits, or whether the plaintiffs' creative theory of damages will hold up to scrutiny, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.
Calif. Antitrust Laws May Turn More Zealous Than US Regs

California is poised in the next 18 months to significantly expand its antitrust laws, broadening the scope of liability and creating a premerger review process that could be more expansive than review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, say attorneys at Munger Tolles.
Digesting A 2nd Circ. Ruling On Food Delivery App Arbitration

The Second Circuit recently rejected Grubhub's attempt to arbitrate price-fixing claims, while allowing Uber Eats to do so, reinforcing that even broad arbitration clauses must connect to the underlying dispute and suggesting that terms of service litigation may center on websites' design and content, say attorneys at Greenspoon Marder.
E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.