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

Mealey's Class Actions

June 05, 2024
Objector Appeals Approval Of Commissions Settlements With 3 Real Estate Franchises

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A notice of appeal was filed in a federal court in Missouri by a settlement class member and named plaintiff in two other lawsuits after three class settlements were approved totaling $208.5 million between home sellers and three of the real estate franchises found by a jury to have conspired to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions.
June 04, 2024
Tentative Settlement Reached In Consumer’s Deceptive ChapStick Label Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California woman who accuses GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings (US) LLC (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. of deceptively labeling of certain ChapStick products in violation of California law, including the state’s unfair competition law (UCL), filed a notice in a federal court in her state stating that a tentative settlement in principle has been reached.
June 04, 2024
Nonfiduciary ERISA Claim Against TIAA, Subsidiary Survives In Cross-Selling Case

NEW YORK — A retooled putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over cross-selling of TIAA Portfolio Advisor accounts has survived dismissal, with a New York federal judge ruling that a claim for nonfiduciary receipt of ill-gotten profits is sufficiently stated against a third-party service provider for numerous retirement plans and its subsidiary.
June 04, 2024
Judge Won’t Compel Class Member To Arbitrate New Gambling Claims

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington on June 3 denied a motion by gambling game makers to compel arbitration of claims brought against them by a consumer who was a member of a class that previously settled claims relating to one of the games at issue, finding that the consumer made clear her intent to opt out of an arbitration agreement, but the judge dismissed her illegal gambling claim as precluded by the previous settlement.
June 04, 2024
Navy SEALs Seek Preliminary Class Settlement Approval In COVID-19 Vaccine Case

FORT WORTH, Texas — Navy SEALs and members of the Navy who sued after they were denied religious exemptions from the Navy’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement filed a motion in a federal court in Texas seeking preliminary approval of a class settlement that will provide corrections to their personnel records, policy changes, public postings and attorney fees.
June 04, 2024
Mortgage Servicer Wins Summary Judgment On All But 1 Claim In Fee Class Suit

GREENBELT, Md. — Finding that “there is no dispute as to any material fact as to whether” a mortgage servicer improperly imposed fees in violation of Maryland state law other than a July 2018 property inspection fee that allegedly violated the state’s usury statute, a federal magistrate judge in Maryland granted the servicer’s motion for summary judgment on all claims in the class action except the claim relating to that inspection fee.
June 04, 2024
Awarding 1/3 Of $975,000 ERISA Settlement In Attorney Fees, Judge Gives Final OK

NEW YORK — In orders that didn’t specifically address the lone objection to the class resolution of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over alleged breach of the duty of prudence, a New York federal judge granted final settlement approval and awarded attorney fees totaling 33-1/3% of the $975,000 payment.
May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: Review Of Expert Causation Testimony Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 702: An Early Assessment Of The 2023 Amended Rule

By William L. Anderson and Mark A. Behrens
June 03, 2024
$8M Data Breach Class Settlement By Law Firm Preliminarily Approved

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on May 31 preliminarily approved an $8 million class global settlement to be paid by a law firm after its network was breached and the personal identifiable information (PII) of more than 630,000 individuals was potentially accessed.
May 31, 2024
$2.5M Settlement Reached In Wage-And-Hour Suit Between Chauffeurs, Employers

PHOENIX — Chauffer drivers alleging on behalf of a collective and class that they were improperly denied minimum, straight and overtime wages filed a motion in a federal court in Arizona seeking preliminary approval of a $2.5 million settlement with their employers.
May 31, 2024
Putative Class Suit Filed Against Ticketmaster For Hack Of 560M Customers’ Data

LOS ANGELES — Two consumers filed a putative class action in California federal court against Ticketmaster LLC and Live Nation Entertainment Inc. accusing them of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) for not protecting the data of approximately 560 million customers that was allegedly stolen from its servers in a recent hack.
May 31, 2024
Adult Entertainers Denied Motion To Drop Their Claims Against Meta, OnlyFans

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing the “time and effort” expended in a putative class action alleging tortious interference and unfair competition by Meta Platforms Inc. in blacklisting social media posts by most adult entertainment (AE) providers in favor of the OnlyFans AE platform, a California federal judge denied a motion by the three lead AE performer plaintiffs to dismiss their suit due to an inability to achieve class certification under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).
May 30, 2024
Master Complaints In Hair Relaxer MDL Allege ‘Reckless Acts,’ Knowledge Of Risk

CHICAGO — The plaintiffs’ leadership counsel in litigation brought by individuals who allege wrongful death and other injuries from chemicals in hair relaxer products has filed multiple master long-form complaints in Illinois federal court against eight defendants, seeking punitive damages. In a master complaint against Advanced Beauty Inc., the counsel contend that the defendant is liable for “wanton, willful, fraudulent, reckless acts” related to its awareness that its products posed an increased risk of cancer.
May 30, 2024
Judge Certifies Privacy, Publicity Rights Class Action Against Data Aggregator

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 29 granted a group of plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class action against a personal information data-aggregator website on behalf of two statewide classes accusing the company of violating plaintiffs’ rights of publicity and against misappropriation of name and likeness and denied the parties’ competing motions to exclude each other’s experts.
May 30, 2024
Retirees Urge Denial Of Dismissal Motion In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case

GREENBELT, Md. — Calling Thole v. U.S. Bank. N.A. “entirely distinguishable,” Lockheed Martin Corp. retirees urged a Maryland federal court to deny dismissal of their suit, which is one of a quartet of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
May 30, 2024
Defendants Are Granted Taxable Costs In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Row

DES MOINES, Iowa — Following summary judgment in their favor in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) record-keeping fees in Iowa federal court, grocery chain Hy-Vee Inc. and related defendants were granted taxable costs totaling $53,319.87, including $40,232.83 for discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), on May 29.
May 30, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Objections To $23M Roundup Settlement, Says Deal Is ‘Fair’

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 29 affirmed a lower court’s decision that rejected the arguments of two individuals who objected to a $23 million settlement in a class action for false advertising related to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, ruling that the district court did not abuse its discretion by rejecting the objectors’ argument that the nationwide class action settlement would extinguish higher-value claims in a separate class action.
May 30, 2024
Consumer Amends Suit Accusing Arrowhead Water Of Microplastics Contamination

LOS ANGELES — A consumer filed a second amended complaint in California federal court accusing the company that sells Arrowhead-brand bottled water of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by labeling its product as “100% Mountain Spring Water” when it allegedly contains microplastics that may be detrimental to human health.
May 30, 2024
Commissions Conspiracy Claims Stayed Against Tenn. Brokerage Due To Pending Pact

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri in light of a notice of pending settlement stayed the proceedings against a Tennessee brokerage in a consolidated class case by home sellers accusing the National Association of Realtors (NAR), real estate franchises and brokers of violating the Sherman Act by entering into an agreement to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions.
May 30, 2024
1st Circuit Denies Rehearing After Finding Mass. Law Bars Pandemic Closure Suit

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by students who brought a class complaint against the trustees of Boston University (BU) for allegedly breaching the promise of in-person instruction and services when the school transitioned to online learning in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic; the petition was filed after the First Circuit ruled that the retroactive application of a Massachusetts law signed into effect in August 2022 that bars such lawsuits does not violate the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
May 29, 2024
Judge Certifies Class Of Consumers Allegedly Deceived By ‘Italy’s #1 Pasta’ Label

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 28 granted two consumers’ motion to certify their class action against an Illinois-based pasta manufacturer for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by selling pasta products labeled with an “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta” statement and Italian flag colors and denied the manufacturer’s motion to exclude a plaintiff expert as moot.
May 29, 2024
Dismissal Bid Fails In 1 ERISA Lawsuit Over Forfeiture Reallocation

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge has denied dismissal in one of the handful of recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases filed against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited nonvested matching contributions toward administrative expenses.
May 29, 2024
Dating App User Dismisses Biometric Data Collection Class Suit After Settlement

CHICAGO — A dating application user and the companies associated with the operation of the app filed a stipulation of voluntary dismissal without prejudice of the user’s putative class complaint under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA); the filing in a federal court in Illinois came approximately three months after the parties stated that they reached a settlement.
May 29, 2024
N.J. High Court: Real Estate Independent Contractor Agreement Is Enforceable

TRENTON, N.J. — An independent contractor agreement between a broker and a real estate salesperson is enforceable under the New Jersey Real Estate License Act, also known as the Brokers Act, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled, reversing an appellate panel’s affirmance of a trial court’s denial of a broker’s motion to dismiss and remanding for dismissal of the salesperson’s putative class complaint.
May 29, 2024
California Federal Judge Orders Individual Arbitration In ERISA Forfeiture Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has compelled individual arbitration in one of the handful of recent cases filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited funds toward administrative expenses.