Two years ago, in Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC, the Eleventh Circuit upended decades’ worth of precedent by categorically forbidding incentive payments to class representatives in class action settlements...more
On January 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a short unanimous opinion in Hughes v. Northwestern University. The importance of the opinion will likely be modest. At a basic level, all the Supreme Court did was reinstate a...more
The 11th Circuit recently addressed the issue of competing or overlapping class actions, which often create problems for both the plaintiffs’ counsel and the defense. In Medical and Chiropractic Clinic, Inc. v. Oppenheim, the...more
Class actions typically involve a proposed class of plaintiffs seeking recovery from the same defendant on similar grounds. But that is not the only animal in the class action corral. Rule 23 makes this clear in its very...more
5/9/2019
/ Calculation of Damages ,
Class Action ,
Class Members ,
Class Representatives ,
Decertification ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 23(b)(1) ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Just when you thought litigating Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class actions was as unsafe as it could get for defendants, the Ninth Circuit said, “Not so fast.”
In McKesson v. True Health, two chiropractic...more
4/1/2019
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Amicus Briefs ,
Burden of Proof ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Consent ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Reversal ,
TCPA ,
Unsolicited Faxes
We wrote recently about how the certiorari petition in Zappos.com, Inc. v. Stevens was a possible vehicle to put the question of standing in data breach cases back before the Supreme Court. Alas, the Court denied the...more
Last week the Sixth Circuit took a big step to extend its reputation as one of the most class-friendly circuits in the country. In Martin v. Behr Dayton Thermal Prods. LLC, Judge Jane Stranch, writing for a unanimous panel,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear two important cases next year involving important issues for class action lawyers and the clients they serve.
In Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela, the Supreme Court will decide “whether...more
5/21/2018
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Certiorari ,
Charitable Donations ,
Class Action ,
Class Arbitration ,
Cy Pres Funds ,
Due Process ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Frank v Gaos ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
SCOTUS
From the standpoint of class action practice, 2017 was as important for what did not happen as for what did. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the 2017 class action scorecard, with a look forward to how the...more
1/26/2018
/ American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah ,
Appellate Review ,
Ascertainable Class ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co v Superior Court of California - San Francisco County ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Class Certification ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
FACTA ,
FCC ,
Financial Institutions ,
FRCP 23 ,
Microsoft v Baker ,
New Amendments ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Retirement ,
Richard Posner ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
SLUSA ,
Split of Authority ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Statutory Damages ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
TCPA ,
The Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2015 ,
Tolling ,
Trump Administration ,
Voluntary Dismissals
All class-action practitioners understand the importance of a court’s decision to certify a class—the pivotal point at which a putative class action can transform into a reality, promising vast settlement pressure on the...more
Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens, No. 13-719, a case involving the procedural requirements for removing a class action from state to federal court under the Class...more
A unanimous United States Supreme Court has now ruled that self-appointed would-be class representatives cannot defeat Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) removal by simply purporting to limit the damage claims of class members...more