A tidal wave of increased class action activity is breaking in New England courts. Through the first six months of 2025, total class action filings in First Circuit federal and state courts across New England have already...more
As securities class action filings continue to rise in the First Circuit, courts in the District of Massachusetts are setting a high bar for pleadings—especially when it comes to alleged material misrepresentations....more
This is part one of a three-part series exploring the recent uptick in securities class action filings in the First Circuit and examining recent decisions issued by the District of Massachusetts. This post examines current...more
In the last month, we have gained additional insight into the future of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulation and how class action litigation might be shaped by...more
7/23/2025
/ Class Action ,
Do Not Call List ,
FCC ,
Hobbs Act ,
Judicial Deference ,
Judicial Review ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates Inc v McKesson Corporation ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Robocalling ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing
On June 12, 2025, in Watkins v. Musk, the District of Massachusetts granted Elon Musk’s motion to dismiss a putative class action and to refer the claim to arbitration. The court ruled Musk could enforce an arbitration...more
In March 2025, we reported that the District of Massachusetts had denied class certification of the plaintiff’s Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) claims in Therrien v. Hearst Television Inc. for failure to meet the implied...more
On April 29, 2025, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Labcorp v. Davis, in which it considered the question of whether Article III standing must be determined for all members of the class, including uninjured members,...more
On January 31, 2025, in Campos v. TJX Companies, Inc., No. 24-cv-11067, the District of Massachusetts granted a motion to dismiss a class action due to the plaintiff’s lack of standing. The court concluded that the named...more
The first months of 2025 have brought a number of notable developments in TCPA litigation and compliance, kicking off with the eleventh-hour announcement by the FCC on January 24 that it would postpone the effective date of...more
5/1/2025
/ Appeals ,
Consent ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
FCC ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Proposed Rules ,
Robocalling ,
Rulemaking Process ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing
Social media influencing is an estimated $30 billion annual global industry, with brands increasingly electing to partner with influencers over traditional marketing channels.
But, while social media and influencer...more
We are pleased to present our final 2024 update to the New England and First Circuit Class Action Tracker, which focuses on class action filings in state and federal courts within the boundaries of the First Circuit in New...more
3/27/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Class Action ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Health Care Providers ,
Popular ,
Securities Regulation ,
TCPA
On February 14, 2025, in Therrien v. Hearst Television, Inc., the District of Massachusetts denied a motion for class certification due to the plaintiff’s failure to meet the implied ascertainability requirement of Rule 23....more
3/27/2025
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Collection ,
Geolocation ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mobile Apps ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Video Privacy Protection Act
With the increase in AI-related litigation and regulatory action, it is critical for companies to monitor the AI technology landscape and think proactively about how to minimize risk. To help companies navigate these...more
On Friday, January 24, 2025, just one business day before it was to take effect on January 27, the Eleventh Circuit vacated the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) One-to-One Consent Rule that was adopted as an...more
1/30/2025
/ Appeals ,
Chevron Deference ,
Compliance ,
Consent ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Privacy ,
FCC ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Robocalling ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing
With the increase in AI-related litigation and regulatory action, it is critical for companies to monitor the AI technology landscape and think proactively about how to minimize risk. To help companies navigate these...more
1/23/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Class Action ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Privacy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Privacy Laws ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
State Privacy Laws ,
Tracking Systems ,
Wiretapping
The District of Massachusetts recently issued an opinion decertifying a class of medical students formerly enrolled at Saba University School of Medicine, a for-profit medical school in the Dutch Caribbean that is...more
In a closely watched decision, the highest court in Massachusetts has rejected the theory that third-party website tracking technology violates G. L. c. 272, § 99, the Massachusetts Wiretap Act....more
This summer, the First Circuit revived a privacy class action based on debt collection practices. In Nightingale v National Grid USA Service Company, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants and...more
10/1/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Debt Collection ,
Popular ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Privacy Laws ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Remand ,
Summary Judgment ,
Vacated
We are pleased to present our second quarter 2024 update to the New England and First Circuit Class Action Tracker, which focuses on class action filings in state and federal courts within the boundaries of the First Circuit...more
Three recent Supreme Court Decisions—Coinbase v. Suski, Smith v. Spizzirri, and Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries—based on consumer and employment disputes have resolved significant circuit splits over arbitration. These cases...more
In 2023, we discussed the uptick in data privacy and cybersecurity class action lawsuits; as expected, this trend has persisted throughout 2024 as plaintiffs continue to test new theories of liability and the boundaries of...more
7/19/2024
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Privacy Laws ,
Video Privacy Protection Act ,
Wiretapping
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) recently issued an advisory clarifying that existing Massachusetts law applies to artificial intelligence (AI) to the same extent as any other product in the stream of...more
6/27/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Breach of Warranty ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Enforcement ,
False Advertising ,
Machine Learning ,
Misrepresentation ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proposed Rules ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Privacy Laws ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On April 29, 2024, the Supreme Court issued an Order List indicating that certiorari had been denied in Brinker International, Inc. v. Steinmetz, Docket No. 23-648.
The Eleventh Circuit Brinker Decision -
Brinker was...more
We recently highlighted two Boston-based COVID-19 tuition refund class action suits, against Brandeis University and Boston College, and the impact of a provision in the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget that grants...more
In Part 2 of our series on our Massachusetts and Boston-based COVID-19 tuition refund class action suits, we reviewed the legal backdrop of this wave of class action litigation and explored some common pitfalls in...more