A fair amount of attention has been given in the legal media to the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, H.R. 985, which has passed the House of Representatives and is currently under consideration by the Senate....more
3/28/2017
/ Appeals ,
Ascertainable Class ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Class Representatives ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Discovery ,
FRCP 23(b)(2) ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Proposed Legislation
I’ve regularly followed on my blog key developments in the numerous class actions against the insurance industry involving the application of depreciation to the labor cost component of estimated replacement cost value in...more
2/22/2017
/ Cash Value ,
Class Action ,
Depreciation ,
Fair Market Value ,
Homeowner's Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
NE Supreme Court ,
Property Insurance ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Real Estate Market ,
Replacement Costs
Justice Scalia made major contributions to class action law, writing the Supreme Court’s opinions in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes and Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, two of the Court’s most significant class action decisions in...more
2/3/2017
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
BP ,
CAFA ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Judicial Appointments ,
Neil Gorsuch ,
Nominations ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in class action cases involving: (1) class action waivers in employment contracts; and (2) whether filing of a securities class action tolled a statute of repose. In both...more
1/19/2017
/ American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Collective Actions ,
Ernst & Young ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Murphy Oil USA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Putative Class Actions ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities ,
Statute of Repose ,
Tolling
One of the first significant class action appellate decisions of 2017 was issued this week. In Briseno v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 15-55727 (9th Cir. Jan. 3, 2017), the Ninth Circuit held that Rule 23 does not require that it...more
I recently attended a presentation by futurist Michael Rogers that sparked me to think about what the courtrooms of the 2020s might look like. According to Rogers, one of the next big advances in technology will be augmented...more
I thought readers might find helpful some broader observations on strategies for defending class actions in 2016...
Dig in Deep Early: Some defense counsel are accustomed to the practice of filing a motion to dismiss...more
I have had a busy summer and am overdue in updating readers on recent decisions in class actions against insurers involving the “labor depreciation” issue. The issue involves whether, when insurers estimate the “actual cash...more
Last week, the Second Circuit reversed the approval of what was reportedly the largest antitrust class action settlement in history, valued at $7.25 billion. In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust...more
The Defense Research Institute (DRI) will be hosting its annual class action seminar in Washington, D.C. on July 21-22, 2016. If you haven’t been, this is the year to go. If you’ve been before, you won’t want to miss this...more
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, addressing whether the plaintiff had standing to sue in a putative class action brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”)....more
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, addressing the use of statistical evidence in class actions. The plaintiffs’ bar will undoubtedly claim the decision as a victory because class...more
3/23/2016
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Popular ,
Rules Enabling Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
One of the issues I’ve been covering on this blog is a series of putative class actions in Georgia arising out of a Georgia Supreme Court decision in 2012, which held that diminution in value of real property is potentially...more
Last week, I attended an excellent program of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel regarding how the December 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are impacting the defense of class actions and...more
A recent decision in the District of New Jersey addressed an auto insurer’s obligations to comply with the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. Auto insurers may wish to review their practices and procedures in light of this...more
As our nation and especially the legal community mourn the death of one of the most charismatic and influential Supreme Court justices in our history, one question that might be asked is how Justice Scalia’s death might...more
Yesterday the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its opinion in Wilcox v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, a putative class action alleging that State Farm, in estimating the “actual cash value” of property damage under...more
A recent decision by a Florida appellate court highlights an important point that defendants can effectively raise in other jurisdictions as well – a named plaintiff’s failure to timely seek certification can, by itself, be...more
A while back, I wrote about a Georgia Supreme Court decision, Royal Capital Development LLC v. Maryland Casualty Co., that held that diminution in value of real property is potentially covered under a property insurance...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857. The question presented was whether an unaccepted offer of full relief on the named plaintiff’s individual claim will render a putative class...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857. The question presented was whether an unaccepted offer of full relief on the named plaintiff’s individual claim will render a putative class...more
It’s been a while since I updated you on the status of class action litigation regarding the application of depreciation to labor costs on property insurance claims. There have been three decisions since my last update, with...more
Various amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are taking effect on December 1. Here are my thoughts on how these amendments may impact the defense of class actions:
- Greater Emphasis on Proportionality:...more
Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, the third and last of the three class action cases that the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing this Fall was argued yesterday. Articles in the New York Times and USA Today have suggested that the...more
I’ve been following closely a series of class actions around the country alleging that, in calculating the “actual cash value” of property damage under a homeowners or commercial property insurance policy, insurance companies...more