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

Mealey's Class Actions

December 16, 2024
9th Circuit Vacates Sending Wage Class Suit Arbitrability To Arbitrator

PASADENA, Calif. — A collective bargaining agreement’s (CBA) arbitration provision requires a court, not an arbitrator, to determine the arbitrability of wage-and-hour class claims brought under California law, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a Dec. 13 unpublished memorandum, vacating an order that denied the employers’ motion to compel arbitration pending a decision by an arbitrator.
December 13, 2024
$69M Class Settlement Is Proposed In ERISA Date Funds Challenge

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal court was asked on Dec. 13 to preliminarily approve a $69 million proposal that the class representative says would be “the largest settlement in the history of investment performance cases in an [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] context.”
December 13, 2024
Hawaii Supreme Court Considers Subrogation Issues For Wildfire Settlement

HONOLULU — How the subrogation rights of property and casualty insurance carriers bear on a proposed global settlement of claims related to the August 2023 Maui wildfires is the focus of three reserved questions the Hawaii Supreme Court is considering, with some recent filings involving how reinsurance could be affected.
December 12, 2024
$3.5M Settlement In ERISA Suit Over TDFs, Another Fund Wins Final Approval

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge has granted final approval to a $3.5 million class settlement that resolved retirement plan participants’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of target-date funds (TDFs) and another investment option.
December 12, 2024
DOL Files Amicus Brief In 11th Circuit ERISA Over Outdated Pension Assumptions

ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed an amicus curiae brief supporting revival of a putative class action over the calculation of annuities for married pension plan participants,arguing that part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires using “reasonable assumptions” and that the challenged ruling is “[c]ontrary to the meaning and purpose of the statute, governing regulation, and overwhelming weight of case law.”
December 12, 2024
Judge Finds For Plaintiffs On 1 Claim In ERISA Benefits Suit Over Spin-Off

PHILADELPHIA — After conducting a bench trial, a Pennsylvania federal judge reached a split partial verdict in a class action over corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits, finding that the defendants are liable on a claim for optional retirement benefits but not on a claim for early retirement benefits.
December 11, 2024
Split 3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Suit Over Cannabis Use Firing

PHILADELPHIA — A New Jersey law prohibiting the firing of workers for cannabis use does not create a private cause of action, a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, declining an alternative request to certify a question on the law and a question regarding pre-employment discrimination to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
December 11, 2024
2nd Circuit Refusal To Revive ERISA Fees Case Draws Concurring Opinion

NEW YORK — As urged by amicus curiae the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 10 refused to revive a putative class case in which participants in a Deloitte retirement plan challenged record-keeping fees under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, with one member of the panel concurring “in part . . . and in the judgment.”
December 11, 2024
U.S. High Court Requests Response From Former Detainee To County’s Wage Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court asked a former detainee to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Maryland county seeking a ruling on “[w]hether inmates working in furtherance of public works projects for the government charged with their custody and care” are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
December 11, 2024
Credit Unions Ask Court To Deny Wawa Discovery, Approve Data Breach Suit Agreement

PHILADELPHIA — A group of financial institutions (FIs) suing Wawa Inc. over its 2019 data breach filed a motion asking a Pennsylvania federal court to deny the defendant’s motion to compel certain communications related to the claims filing process for class members and to grant final approval to a three-tiered settlement agreement that received preliminary approval more than a year ago.
December 10, 2024
Health Plans Seek Revival Of 12 Cases In ACA Reinsurance Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that “the well-established rule for suspending the running of statutes of limitation in class actions for putative class members” remains available in what are called “Tucker Act” cases, group health plans on Dec. 9 asked the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a ruling that their 12 consolidated cases against the government were untimely.
December 10, 2024
Consumer Asks 9th Circuit To Rehear Fruit Cup Labeling Claims

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A consumer filed a petition for panel and en banc rehearing with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, urging it to rehear her appeal of the dismissal of a putative class complaint accusing a food processing company of deceiving consumers about the ingredients of its fruit cups, arguing that the panel misapplied precedent and the reasonable consumer standard.
December 10, 2024
Final Approval Granted In Class Action Over ‘100% Natural’ ChapStick Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Dec. 9 granted final approval to a no-damages settlement of a class action against GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings (US) LLC (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. for labeling certain ChapStick products as “100% Natural,” with the defendants agreeing to remove that phrase from labels, admitting no wrongdoing, and plaintiffs’ attorneys awarded more than $250,000 in fees.
December 09, 2024
Partial Settlement Breakdown Reported In ERISA Suit Over Alleged Cost-Shifting

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In Dec. 6 filings in North Carolina federal court, parties in a class action concerning an alleged cost-shifting scheme say they had expected to seek preliminary approval of a full settlement, but the tentative deal fell apart at last minute in regard to one defendant.
December 09, 2024
Dismissal Of Claims Apple Lured Users Into ICloud Subscriptions Affirmed

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of a putative class complaint brought by plaintiffs who claimed that Apple “addicted” them to its free iCloud data storage service and then required them to pay once the data they stored exceeded its free storage maximum of five gigabytes, writing that they failed to plead any misrepresentations.
December 09, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Review Big ERISA Multiplan Opt-Out Class Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 9 declined to review a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that three service providers said “raises serious constitutional concerns as to the allowable breadth of class actions brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of participants in thousands of unrelated employer-sponsored [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] benefit plans.”
December 06, 2024
Residents Say 3M Is Liable For ‘Wanton’ Conduct That Tainted Water With PFAS

MADISON, Wis. — Residents have filed a putative class action against 3M Co. in Wisconsin federal court seeking punitive damages for groundwater contamination they say is the result of “willful, wanton, malicious, and/or reckless conduct” in connection with 3M’s operation of a quarry and a facility where roofing shingles containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been created and disposed of for decades.
December 06, 2024
$2.5M Class Settlement Would Be Almost 17% Of Max Damages, ERISA Plaintiffs Say

OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs challenging a 401(k) plan’s record-keeping fees and fund offerings under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act have asked a California federal court for preliminary approval of a $2.5 million class settlement they say works out to about 16.86% of their “maximum possible damages.”
December 06, 2024
‘Wicked’ Dolls Led Daughter To Pornographic Website, Mother Claims

LOS ANGELES — A mother filed a putative class action against toymaker Mattel Inc. accusing the company of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws due to its products, specifically dolls of characters from the movie “Wicked,” being labeled with a link to a pornographic website, writing that her minor daughter was “horrified” when she visited the link printed on the box of the toy.
December 06, 2024
Google, Advertising Developer Denied Early Appeal Of Minors’ Data Collection Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied Google LLC and its advertising subsidiaries’ motion to certify for interlocutory appeal the court’s earlier order denying their motion to dismiss a nationwide putative class action brought by minors under 13 who say their personal data was unlawfully collected, finding that the issues involved don’t warrant an early appeal.
December 05, 2024
$30M 23andMe Data Breach Settlement Gets Court’s Conditional Preliminary OK

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing a multidistrict litigation involving claims against genetic testing company 23andMe Inc. for failing to protecting users’ data from hackers granted preliminary approval on Dec. 4 to a $30 million settlement of the claims on the condition that the plaintiffs amend their definition of the settlement class to exclude parties who are pursuing arbitration and despite “serious concerns” with the plaintiffs’ $7.5 million attorney fees request.
December 05, 2024
Class Counsel Confirms $92M Was Wired To Administrator In Insurers’ ACA Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After a federal judge entered an order requiring class counsel to return “$92,424,335.84, the excess of the $184,848,671.67 previously distributed for fees over the current fee award,” counsel filed a notice in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims confirming that it wired the $92,424,335.84 to nondispute subclass members in a risk-corridor payment dispute under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
December 05, 2024
Target Denied Dismissal, Sanctions In Facial Scanning Privacy Class Complaint

CHICAGO — Four customers of Target Corp. have sufficiently alleged violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) via the use of in-store facial recognition technology, an Illinois federal judge found, denying the retail giant’s motions to dismiss and for sanctions in light of the early stage of litigation and the undeveloped record.
December 04, 2024
Magistrate Judge Approves $65M Deal In Securities Case Against Fracking Operator

HOUSTON — A federal magistrate judge in Texas issued a final judgment and order of dismissal after approving a $65 million settlement in a securities fraud lawsuit investors brought against a hydraulic fracturing operator.
December 04, 2024
Scienter Is Focus Of Dismissal Arguments In Securities Suit Involving Reinsurance

NEW YORK — Scienter is the key issue in dismissal arguments in a putative class action, with the named plaintiff telling a New York federal court that “improperly accounting for reinsurance premiums” led to material overstatements and investors were also misled on “internal controls,” and the defendants challenging “the misguided assumption that the Company’s identification of an accounting error and weakness in internal controls necessarily equates to securities fraud.”