Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339 (SCOTUSBlog page). The question presented is “Whether Congress may confer Article III standing upon a plaintiff who suffers no concrete...more
11/4/2015
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Data Privacy ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Insurance Industry ,
Privacy Laws ,
Private Right of Action ,
SCOTUS ,
Spokeo ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
TCPA
Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez was argued yesterday in the U.S. Supreme Court. It is one of several major class action cases that will be decided by the Court this Term. It presents the question of whether a putative class...more
Ascertainability has been a hot topic in class action appeals recently. The Third Circuit recently clarified its ascertainability standard (see my April 20 blog post). The committee considering potential Rule 23 amendments is...more
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide next Term, in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, whether a class can be certified when many class members lack injury (see my June 16 post for more on that). The Ohio Supreme Court...more
There has been a lot of activity in the federal courts of appeals recently regarding the use of offers of judgment to named plaintiffs in class actions. The Fifth and Seventh Circuits recently held that an unaccepted Rule 68...more
9/3/2015
/ Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Genesis HealthCare ,
Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mootness ,
Private Schools ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Right to Privacy ,
Rule 68 ,
SCOTUS ,
TCPA ,
Unsolicited Faxes
As highlighted in my June 16 blog post, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari, in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857 (SCOTUSblog page), to decide whether an offer of complete relief to a named plaintiff renders a...more
The filed rate doctrine can often provide a strong defense to an insurer in a class action claiming that insurance premiums were too high for some reason. A recent Second Circuit decision applied the doctrine broadly. This...more
8/12/2015
/ Borrowers ,
Class Action ,
Filed-Rate Doctrine ,
Forced-Placed Insurance ,
GMAC ,
Homeowner's Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Kickbacks ,
Lender-Placed Insurance ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Premiums
As an update to my March 29, 2015 blog post on the status of class actions on the labor depreciation issue, a Kansas federal court recently granted summary judgment in favor of an insurer.
In Graves v. American Family...more
Self-driving or autonomous vehicles is a hot topic in insurance industry media and mainstream media as well. I attended a great program on this at the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC) annual meeting last...more
Andrew Pincus, lead counsel in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins (to be decided by the Supreme Court next Term, see my May 1, 2015 blog post), spoke on this subject. The question presented is whether a federal statute can confer...more
As I’ve done in past years, this post and the next one will summarize some takeaways I gleaned from this year’s DRI Class Action Seminar.
Impact of Dart Cherokee: Nowell Berreth, who argued this case in the Supreme...more
7/28/2015
/ Attorney's Fees ,
CAFA ,
Class Action ,
Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens ,
Daubert Standards ,
Dukes v Wal-Mart ,
FRCP 23 ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mediation ,
SCOTUS ,
Wal-Mart
A recent Florida appellate court decision caught my eye because it addressed a potentially-important issue that is not expressly addressed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, and has rarely been litigated: whether persons who have opted...more
Liability insurers are sometimes faced with a difficult scenario: Their insured has been sued in a class action with potentially large stakes. The insurer believes they have no duty to defend and a denial of coverage is...more
I’ve been delayed a bit in reporting on this, but the October 2015 term of the U.S. Supreme Court is shaping up to be a blockbuster one for class action law. Perhaps even bigger than the October 2010 term, which brought us...more
6/17/2015
/ Article III ,
AT&T ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Bayer ,
Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Dukes v Wal-Mart ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Genesis HealthCare ,
Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk ,
Popular ,
Property Damage ,
Public Works ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Robocalling ,
Safety Equipment ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement Offer ,
Spokeo ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Summary Judgment ,
TCPA ,
Text Messages ,
Trial-by-Formula ,
Tyson Foods ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
U.S. Navy ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wal-Mart
The Rule 23 Subcommittee of the federal Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules recently issued a report with proposed amendments to Rule 23. These are at an early stage and far from final recommendations....more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339 (SCOTUSblog page), to decide whether a plaintiff who does not suffer any injury has Article III standing to sue for violation of a...more
It is important to remember that when a putative class action is remanded to state court under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), that may not be the end of the jurisdictional battle. ...more
The Third Circuit recently joined the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits in holding that, where a Daubert challenge is made to the use of expert testimony in support of class certification, the Daubert challenge must be...more
Ascertainability is an implied requirement for class certification, not expressly addressed in Fed. R. Civ. P. 23. While there are different formulations of the requirement, in essence it requires that there be an adequate...more
Class action litigation is spreading across the country involving the application of depreciation in calculating the actual cash value of property damage under homeowners and commercial property insurance policies. This blog...more
Defendants who are defending multiple class actions involving the same issue in different jurisdictions can sometimes be faced with a quandary when they want to settle....more
The Second Circuit recently addressed a panoply of class certification issues in two opinions. Both decisions ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but will help defendants tailor their arguments in future cases....more
One of the “hot” issues in class actions today is whether, or to what extent, a class can be defined to include members who were not injured, and do not have standing to sue. ...more
One theory that has been raised by plaintiffs’ lawyers in some insurance class actions is that policyholders should receive a partial refund of their premiums because they are not receiving the coverage they paid for, or...more
Over the last several years, federal courts of appeals have been closely scrutinizing cy pres distributions to charitable organizations in class action settlements. This includes opinions by the First Circuit, Third Circuit...more