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
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
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
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
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
At the close of 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of petitioner Acheson in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer as moot and vacated the underlying decision by the First Circuit that Laufer had constitutional standing to...more
1/11/2024
/ Acheson Hotels LLC v Laufer ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Dismissals ,
Jurisdiction ,
Mootness ,
Oral Argument ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement Negotiations ,
Standing ,
Vacated ,
Website Accessibility
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, a case that we have summarized in prior blog posts. Just months ago, there was doubt whether the Supreme Court would hear the case at...more
10/6/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Class Action ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Mootness ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Oral Argument ,
Public Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility
Earlier in 2023, we launched our New England and First Circuit Class Action Tracker, as a tool to analyze class action litigation trends in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. In July, we updated our...more
Courts and class action counsel have been considering what kinds of injuries can confer standing to pursue federal claims following the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, which held that the...more
7/27/2023
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
TransUnion LLC v Ramirez
We are pleased to present our updates to the New England and First Circuit Class Action Tracker, which focuses on the filings and decisions in state and federal courts within the boundaries of the First Circuit in New...more