Mealey's Class Actions
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November 11, 2024
Immigrant Separation Class Awarded More Than $6.4M In Attorney Fees, Costs
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California awarded a class of immigrants separated from their children who sued the federal government and settled more than $6.4 million for attorney fees and expenses.
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November 11, 2024
Converse Website User Asks 9th Circuit To Find Wiretap Law Applies To Internet
SAN FRANCISCO — A California woman who claimed wiretap and privacy violations related to the customer chat feature on Converse Inc.’s website asks the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reinstate her putative class action, arguing that a trial court improperly disregarded her evidence that a third-party vendor intercepted and read chat communications in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).
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November 08, 2024
Judge Stands By Determination That ERISA Governs Deferred Compensation Plans
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has declined to alter or withdraw an Employee Retirement Income Security Act determination that financial services firm Morgan Stanley and related defendants said caused issues in derivative arbitrations; the unchanged November 2023 holding in the putative class action is that ERISA governs the compensation incentive and equity incentive plans at issue.
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November 08, 2024
Judge Consolidates Air Travelers’ Suits Against CrowdStrike For Outages
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge appointed interim lead counsel and consolidated two putative class complaints accusing tech company CrowdStrike Inc. of causing travelers to experience significant air travel delays by failing to properly test its cybersecurity software before issuing an update that allegedly caused 8.5 million computers and devices to go offline.
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November 08, 2024
Tentative Settlement Announced In CareFirst Data Breach Class Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight days after a group of policyholders whose personally identifiable information (PII) was exposed in a data breach experienced by their insurer was denied the opportunity to appeal a class certification ruling, the plaintiffs and the insurer informed a District of Columbia federal court that a tentative settlement of the nine-year-old suit had been reached.
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November 08, 2024
Consumers, Target Agree To End Case Over Misleading ‘Non-Drowsy’ Medicine Label
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge dismissed claims by consumers who allege that Target Corp. misled its customers by labeling its cold medicine as “non-drowsy” after the parties filed a joint stipulation agreeing to settle the case.
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November 08, 2024
Dismissing ERISA Forfeiture Suit, Judge Aims To Narrow Future Briefing
OAKLAND, Calif. — In the latest of a handful of rulings on dismissal motions in similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions, a California federal judge granted dismissal of all claims with limited leave to amend.
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November 07, 2024
Justices Question Facebook, Investors Over Disclosing Data-Sharing Incident
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In oral arguments held Nov. 6 in the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for Facebook Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms Inc.) and a group of its investors fielded queries about whether Facebook’s failure to disclose its past sharing of users’ data with a third-party analytics firm in risk statements constituted securities fraud because the incident amounted to a risk of future harm.
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November 07, 2024
3rd Circuit: Fracking Royalties Were Not Underpaid Based On Lease Interpretation
PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling in a hydraulic fracturing royalty dispute, concluding that royalties were not underpaid based on the proper interpretation of the lease agreements involved.
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November 06, 2024
Meta’s Advertising Fraud Dispute Distributed For Conference In Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 6 distributed for conference a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Meta Platforms Inc. seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the certification of a damages class in a suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment related to Meta’s online advertising services.
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November 06, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Partly Reviving Pension Benefits Class Action
PASADENA, Calif. — After partly reviving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action after a bench trial in an unpublished memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for panel or en banc rehearing that was supported by an amicus curiae brief.
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November 05, 2024
After Bench Trial Loss, Class Takes ERISA Suit Over TDFs To 9th Circuit
LOS ANGELES — After being granted only a slight amendment of the findings issued after a bench trial, retirement plan participants who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) and were taxed nearly $94,000 in costs are challenging the judgment against them and the trial court’s latest order in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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November 05, 2024
9th Circuit Sets January Argument In Appeal Of Ruling That TPA Discriminated
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set Jan. 17 oral argument in an appeal where a third-party administrator (TPA) seeks reversal of a ruling that it violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care.
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November 05, 2024
U.S. High Court Again Lets An ERISA Effective Vindication Ruling Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As it did with several previous requests for review of decisions that applied the “effective vindication” doctrine in such cases, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 denied a certiorari request in which trustees of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) urged the high court to address what they argued is a circuit split on whether to “recognize the availability of individual arbitration for [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] claims.”
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November 04, 2024
Judge Approves $21M Class Settlement Over Silver Mine’s Alleged Misrepresentations
DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado approved a settlement of $21 million to end class allegations that a silver mine overstated its reserves in several Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
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November 04, 2024
Energy Company, Execs Win Dismissal Of Securities Suit Concerning Hawaiian Fire
SAN FRANCISCO — Ruling in part that shareholders didn’t sufficiently allege that some challenged statements were false or misleading, a California federal judge granted dismissal with leave to amend in a putative class case over claims that an energy company in Hawaii and certain of its executives made false claims about the company’s level of preparedness for events such as the August 2023 wildfires in Maui.
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November 04, 2024
LinkedIn Seeks Dismissal Of Wiretap, Privacy Claims In California Court
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In the first of at least five lawsuits accusing LinkedIn Corp. of privacy violations related to its use of tracking pixels on advertisers’ websites, the professional network operator filed a motion in California federal court to dismiss the putative class action, calling it an attempt “to attack routine website analytics tools as a criminal wiretap.”
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November 01, 2024
Applying Texas Law To Biometric Privacy Suit, Judge Dismisses Illinois Law Claims
DALLAS — Finding a Texas forum selection clause on Match Group Inc.’s websites to be valid, a Texas federal judge granted the company’s motion to dismiss putative class claims against it under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), ruling that they failed as a matter of law.
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October 31, 2024
Judge Grants Final Approval To Nearly $20M Settlement Of Ticket Insurance Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a nearly $20 million settlement resolving claims that insurers including Allianz Global Assistance (AGA) violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws in relation to its online marketing of travel and event insurance, with the plaintiffs’ attorneys awarded nearly $5 million in attorney fees.
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October 31, 2024
Negligence Claim Against Software Firm After Data Breach Dismissed Again
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The creator of a file transfer program failed to establish that the facts alleged about a negligence claim in an amended class complaint were sufficiently different from the original complaint to merit dismissal of the claim that was previously dismissed, a California federal judge ruled, denying the software firm’s renewed dismissal motion in a lawsuit over a 2020 data breach.
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October 31, 2024
11th Circuit Won’t Revive ERISA Suit Over FTCs Against Service Provider
ATLANTA — Saying two Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims challenging a 401(k) plan service provider’s retention of foreign tax credits (FTCs) “present issues of first impression,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 30 affirmed summary judgment against the class, ruling that the FTCs were not plan assets and that the service provider was not a functional fiduciary.
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October 31, 2024
Judge Allows Breach Of Contract Class Claim For Bank’s Cash Advance Fees
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part dismissal of a putative class action against Capital One NA asserting claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and breach of contract for failing to warn her that her payment over Venmo for a beauty treatment would be processed as a cash advance, causing her to incur fees that accrue interest.
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October 31, 2024
Privacy Claims Against YETI Did Not Establish Derivative Liability, Judge Finds
SAN FRANCISCO — A customer of YETI Coolers LLC failed to show that the company was aware that its payment processing partner was improperly retaining and using consumers’ personally identifiable information (PII) or intentionally participated in these actions, a California federal judge found, granting YETI’s motion to dismiss putative class claims against it for invasion of privacy.
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October 31, 2024
Final Judgment Issued After Approval Of Up To $145M Kia, Hyundai Theft Settlement
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge in California issued final judgment as to all consumer class cases in the multidistrict litigation over the theft of Kia and Hyundai vehicles; the judgment came several weeks after final approval of the up to $145 million settlement for consumers who allege that design flaws permit thieves to steal their vehicles in less than two minutes.
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October 30, 2024
Class Seeks To Burst Hershey’s Bubble, Says Gum Increases Risk Of PFAS Exposure
LOS ANGELES — A man in California has filed a putative class action against the Hershey Co. in state court contending that its bubble gum called “Bubble Yum” contains organic fluorine, which places consumers at risk of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in violation of state codes, including those pertaining to false advertising.