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

Mealey's Class Actions

August 13, 2024
Judge Follows U.S. Supreme Court On Tolling Question In ACA Reinsurance Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing “a duty to follow intervening Supreme Court precedent” under which tolling pursuant to American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah does not apply, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge dismissed group health plans’ consolidated cases over allegedly illegal exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
August 13, 2024
Planned Parenthood’s $6M Data Breach Class Settlement Granted Conditional Approval

LOS ANGELES — A California judge conditionally granted final approval of a $6 million settlement to be paid by Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) to end a consolidated class complaint accusing the reproductive health care provider of failing to protect patients’ personally identifiable information and protected health information from being accessed and stolen.
August 13, 2024
5th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Class Suit Seeking TSA Security Fee Refunds

NEW ORLEANS — A putative class complaint by customers seeking damages from Southwest Airlines Co. after being given travel credits rather than refunds for security fees paid on reservations that were later canceled is preempted under the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA), a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a per curiam opinion, affirming a trial court’s decision.
August 13, 2024
HomeServices’ $250M Real Estate Commissions Settlement Granted Preliminary OK

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri granted preliminary approval of a $250 million settlement to be paid by HomeServices of America Inc., BHH Affiliates LLC, Long & Foster Companies Inc. and HSF Affiliates LLC (together, HomeServices) to end claims in a real estate commission class lawsuit in a federal court in Missouri that HomeServices conspired with the National Association of Realtors and other real estate franchises to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions.
August 13, 2024
High Court Told Preliminary Injunction Is Sufficient Relief For Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A preliminary injunction is “tangible relief” sufficient to determine a prevailing party, Virginians argue in a respondent brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing a petitioner brief by the commissioner of the Viriginia Department of Motor Vehicles, who is challenging a ruling by a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Virginians were the prevailing parties in a putative class complaint over a now repealed statute regarding the suspension of driver’s licenses.
August 13, 2024
Beyond Meat, Consumers Reach $7.5M Settlement In Protein Content Class Case

CHICAGO — Consumers who filed a consolidated class complaint in a federal court in Illinois accusing Beyond Meat Inc. of labeling its plant-based meat substitutes with inflated protein content and overstating the quality of the protein filed an unopposed motion for preliminary approval of a $7.5 million settlement.
August 13, 2024
3rd Circuit Appeal Filed Over Summary Judgment Against Class In ERISA Row

PHILADELPHIA — Retirement plan participants have filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging summary judgment for Evonik Corp. and related entities in their Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action.
August 12, 2024
Putative Class Action Focuses On TIAA Tool That Allegedly Favored Proprietary Annuities

NEW YORK — Alleging “an ongoing unlawful scheme to enhance corporate profits” based on a tool that they claim favored two proprietary annuities, plaintiffs who participate in university retirement plans filed a putative class action against Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) and Morningstar Inc. and related entities.
August 12, 2024
Judge Won’t Dismiss Class Suit Over ‘Liquid Smoke’ Claims Against Gouda Maker

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Aug. 9 denied a gouda cheese maker’s motion to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by a customer who claims the company violated California consumer protection laws by deceptively labeling its product as “smoked gouda” when the gouda was not smoked but had liquid smoke flavor added.
August 12, 2024
2nd Circuit Sets Oral Argument In ERISA Appeal Of Jury Ruling Against Class

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for Sept. 25 in an appeal involving whether the “could have” standard used in damages instructions is grounds for overturning judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that went before a jury, and Yale University and related appellees have filed a notice of supplemental authority regarding a sister circuit’s ruling.
August 12, 2024
Respondents To High Court: ERISA Doesn’t Need A New ‘Arms-Length’ Carveout

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Asserting in their Aug. 9 respondent brief that the “case would have come out differently in exactly zero circuits,” retirement plan participants urge the U.S. Supreme Court to deny review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision regarding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s prohibited transaction provision.
August 12, 2024
Facebook To High Court: Risk Disclosure Statements Weren’t Misleading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The social media giant formerly known as Facebook Inc. told the U.S. Supreme Court in an Aug. 9 brief that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it held that the company issued misleading statements about the risk of potential misuse of user data because the company was aware that it had already occurred; Facebook argues that it disclosed all information required under federal securities laws.
August 12, 2024
Reconsideration Of Attorney Fees Denied In Jack In The Box Workers’ Wage Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon denied a motion by Jack in the Box Inc. workers to reconsider an April opinion, which partially granted and partially denied motions for attorney fees and costs by both sides in a wage-and-hour suit brought by a class of workers who saw some success with their claims, and apply a prime rate enhancement, opining that there was no showing of clear error or that the “decision was manifestly unjust.”
August 12, 2024
Approval Of $18.2M Class Settlement Granted In Care Home Understaffing Suit

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval of an $18.2 million class settlement in a suit over inadequate staffing at memory care and assisted living facilities, also approving the class representatives and class counsel to act on the settlement class’s behalf.
August 12, 2024
Pet Owners To U.S. High Court: Amended Complaint Eliminated Federal Jurisdiction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An amended putative class complaint accusing two pet food companies of misleading consumers on the quality and value of prescription pet food belongs in state and not federal court as keeping a case in federal court where all references to federal law have been eliminated “upsets the federal and state court balance,” the consumers argue in a respondent brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to overturn Grable & Sons Metal Products, Inc. v. Darue Engineering & Manufacturing.
August 12, 2024
TPA Urges 9th Circuit To Reverse ACA Discrimination Ruling Over Exclusions

PASADENA, Calif. — In a reply brief urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a ruling that it violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care, a third-party administrator (TPA) argues in part that it “‘exercised no control’ over the plan design.”
August 12, 2024
Following Belknap, Judge Dismisses ERISA Annuity Row Over Mortality Assumptions

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Agreeing with the reasoning of a 2022 decision the plaintiffs called an outlier, a Georgia federal judge granted dismissal of a putative class suit in which Southern Company Services Inc. retirees argued that using outdated, “unreasonable” assumptions and mortality tables to calculate pension benefits violates actuarial equivalence requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
August 09, 2024
D.C. Circuit Tosses Class Certification Denial Appeal In Medicare Coverage Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal by Medicare beneficiaries of a district court’s denial of class certification, finding that the appellants, who received a favorable ruling from the lower court that deemed their continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) covered under Medicare, lacked standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to sue as class representatives.
August 09, 2024
Class Suit Filed Against Delta Over CrowdStrike Crash Causing Flight Cancellations

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines passengers whose flights were canceled as a result of an automatic update to CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software that caused computers, including those used by Delta, to crash filed a putative class action suit in a Georgia federal court, asserting that Delta violated its policies to provide flight refunds, hotel accommodations and related expenses when flights were canceled by breaching its contract with customers, resulting in them spending additional funds for alternative transportation methods.
August 09, 2024
Judge Denies Roblox’s Bid To Arbitrate Couple’s ‘Child Exploitation’ Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Aug. 8 denied online video game developer Roblox Corp.’s motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims that it violates California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by intentionally addicting children to its online game, which requires purchases of in-game currency to play, writing that Roblox did not show that the parents who filed the suit ever read or consented to its arbitration agreement.
August 09, 2024
TikTok Data Collection Claims Will Move Forward In California Federal Court

LOS ANGELES — A man who accessed an educational website that allegedly collected his personal information through software created by TikTok properly stated his data privacy claims against the website’s owner under California law, a California federal judge found in denying the owner’s motion to dismiss.
August 09, 2024
California Appeals Court: Minor Established Privacy Claims In Data Breach Suit

VENTURA, Calif. — A California appeals panel reversed a lower court’s decision to sustain a demurrer without leave to amend a putative class complaint brought by an 11-year-old who said an educational consulting company did not do enough to prevent his medical information from being accessed in a data breach, with the panel holding that the company is subject to two state data privacy acts.
August 09, 2024
Not ‘Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs’: Couple Says Cereal Brand’s Products Contain Lead

MINNEAPOLIS — A couple has filed a putative class action in Minnesota federal court seeking punitive damages that it projects as being more than $5 million against cereal maker General Mills Inc., contending that several of its products, including the iconic Cocoa Puffs cereal, are “unfit for consumption” because they contain high levels of lead.
August 08, 2024
Wash. High Court Answers Certified Questions On Amazon Pandemic Price Increases

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Price gouging may be an unfair act under Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA), but a 15% price increase during a declared emergency is not automatically prohibited, the Washington Supreme Court majority ruled Aug. 8, answering reformulated questions certified by a Washington federal court in a putative class suit over Amazon.com Inc.’s price increases during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
August 08, 2024
7th Circuit Affirms Parity Act Ruling For Insurer In Autism Treatment Coverage Row

CHICAGO — Affirming summary judgment for an insurer in a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA or Parity Act) suit over autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatments, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said a key shortcoming of the appellants’ argument was that their comparison focused only on pediatric chiropractic care while the statutory provision says “substantially all medical and surgical benefits.”