Mealey's Class Actions

  • November 04, 2026

    Judge Limits Fees In $47.75M Hawaiian Electric Securities Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval of a $47.75 million settlement to end a securities class action alleging that Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HEI) and certain executives inflated the company’s stock price by misleading investors about its efforts to mitigate wild fire risk before the August 2023 Maui fires but cut the amount of requested attorney fees from 30% of the fund to 20% after finding problems with the counsel’s billing.

  • November 04, 2026

    ACA Reinsurance Plans Ask High Court To Revisit Tolling Precedent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States was “wrong when it issued and even more clearly wrong today,” group health plans whose claims challenging exactions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) were dismissed as untimely by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC) and whose dismissals were affirmed by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals request the high court in a petition for a writ of certiorari to overrule the precedent holding that the Tucker Act’s six-year statute of limitations is jurisdictional and not subject to equitable tolling.

  • November 04, 2026

    Deal Closing ERISA Severance Case Wins Final Approval

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Noting that only one of the 220 class members had opted out of the settlement in the decade-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over severance benefits, a California federal judge issued a final approval order under which class members will receive payments totaling more than $9,531,455 and class counsel will separately get $3.5 million for attorney fees and costs.

  • November 04, 2026

    Class, Subclass Decertified In Contract Price-Hike Suit Against Ricoh

    LOS ANGELES — Common questions of law and fact don’t predominate over individual questions in a lawsuit accusing Ricoh USA Inc. of breach of contract, unfair competition and other violations in connection with yearly price increases that allegedly exceed the contractual percentage permitted, a federal judge in California ruled, decertifying a class and subclass that had been certified in June.

  • November 03, 2026

    9th Circuit Panel Affirms 2 Challenged Travel Insurance Class Settlements

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California man who is an attorney and who separately objected to the settlement agreements reached in two separate travel insurance cases failed to show any abuse of discretion in either case, including when it came to incentive awards for the class representatives, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled in two memorandums issued the same day.

  • November 03, 2026

    Judge Excludes 2 Swifties From Parallel Class Action, Denies Discovery Motion

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge adopted as final his tentative ruling in which he agreed to exclude two Taylor Swift fans who are plaintiffs in a ticket sales antitrust suit against online ticket seller Ticketmaster LLC, its parent company Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and a venue owner from being considered members in an earlier-filed class action against Live Nation for similar claims but declined to exclude hundreds of other plaintiffs from membership and declined to order production of discovery from the parallel case.

  • November 03, 2026

    $8.75M Deal Gets Initial OK In Long-Running Multiplan ERISA Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge granted preliminary approval to an $8.75 million settlement that would resolve an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action filed over allegations that retirement and health benefit plan service providers breached their fiduciary duty to the participants in thousands of plans by, among other things, charging excessive fees.

  • November 03, 2026

    Stay Of Injunction Halting Detentive Stops Without Reasonable Suspicion Denied

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Nov. 2 denied an ex parte application filed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and other federal government parties seeking to stay an October preliminary injunction that enjoined the government from using apparent race and class without reasonable suspicion to conduct detentive stops within the Central District of California.

  • November 02, 2026

    4th Circuit Won’t Reconsider Boeing Class Certification Decision

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a request from investors to rehear the court’s decision to reverse class certification in their securities fraud suit against The Boeing Co. and its former officials over alleged misstatements about the company’s emphasis on safety that artificially inflated the company’s stock price.

  • November 02, 2026

    ICE Officials To High Court: Hold Petition In Alien Class Detention Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and other federal government parties filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hold their petition in a class case by detained aliens seeking bond hearings under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) until a ruling is issued in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, a case that raises a similar question and was granted cert on Oct. 1.

  • November 02, 2026

    7th Circuit Dismisses DuPont Appeal Over Lead Exposure Monitoring Class

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed a chemical manufacturer’s appeal of a class certification ruling in a lead exposure lawsuit following the manufacturer’s filing of an unopposed voluntary motion to dismiss.

  • October 30, 2026

    Rescoring Settlement OK’d, Objections Overruled In Former NFL Players’ Suit

    BALTIMORE — Overruling objections, a Maryland federal judge granted final approval to a class settlement implementing rescoring of neuropsychological test scores to resolve a suit former NFL players filed over what they alleged was “race-norming” of the scores used to determine whether they receive disability and related benefits.

  • October 30, 2026

    Pension Funds Sue Insurance, Reinsurance Company Over Concealed Casualty Risks

    NEW YORK — Two pension funds filed a securities class action against a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance company and four executives in New York federal court, alleging that they misled investors about the adequacy of the company’s casualty loss reserves, concealed risks associated with its underwriting practices and overstated earnings, resulting in investor and shareholder losses.

  • October 30, 2026

    Class Action ERISA Claims Dismissed; Texas Federal Judge Rejects Fund Benchmarks

    DALLAS — A Texas federal judge said retirement plan participants can no more meaningfully compare a challenged Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Co. guaranteed income fund to an industry benchmark than “they can compare the moon to a baseball, though they are both spheres,” dismissing with prejudice an amended class action alleging that retirement plan fiduciaries breached their duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by retaining an underperforming fund despite concerns about offshore reinsurance arrangements and Prudential Retirement’s financial condition.

  • October 28, 2026

    5th Circuit Revives Union Pacific Worker’s ADA Suit, Finds Class Tolling Applies

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded a Texas federal judge’s ruling rejecting a former Union Pacific Railroad Co. conductor’s assertion that he was entitled to American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah tolling in an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) suit filed over denial of a follow-up vision test needed to remove work restrictions, finding that the company did “not prevail” because the employee “was not unambiguously excluded from” a previously filed class action’s revised class definition.

  • October 28, 2026

    5th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Eyewear Website Data-Sharing Class Action

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded a Texas federal judge’s dismissal of a putative class action alleging that an eyewear retailer shared customers’ individually identifiable health information (IIHI) with Meta Platforms Inc. through website tracking technology, finding that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that their prescription eyewear searches and eye examination scheduling disclosed identifiable health information to Meta without their consent, constituting an injury sufficient to establish Article III standing.

  • October 28, 2026

    2nd Argument Scheduled In Appeals From Wave Of Tobacco Surcharge Cases

    The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear oral argument on Dec. 10 in the second of at least six appeals arising from a wave of putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to tobacco surcharges; in another recent development, employers in three of the appeals have filed notices of supplemental authority regarding frequently asked questions (FAQs) that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and other agencies released in August.

  • October 27, 2026

    Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $2.5M Data Breach Class Action Settlement

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge granted final approval of a $2.5 million class action settlement resolving claims against a legal services firm arising from a 2024 data breach that allegedly compromised the personal information of tens of thousands of individuals, finding the settlement fair, reasonable and adequate and dismissing the action with prejudice.

  • October 27, 2026

    Magistrate Advises Tossing Suit Alleging Computer Rigged Racing Betting Scheme

    CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A federal magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation advising that a court should dismiss a putative class action accusing horse racing betting companies and certain computer-assisted wagering (CAW) companies of participating in a scheme with a group of privileged bettors by using computer technology and algorithms based upon artificial intelligence to “rig” betting pools and divert money away from average bettors, saying in part that the suit should be dismissed for lack of standing.

  • October 27, 2026

    Attorney Fees Appeal Terminated In Acura Bluetooth Case After Settlement Reached

    SAN FRANCISCO — American Honda Motor Company Inc.’s nearly year-and-a-half appeal of a trial court’s award of attorney fees and costs that was much larger than the monetary settlement for a consumer class who alleged defective HandsFreeLink (HFL) Bluetooth systems in certain Acura vehicles that cause excessive electric drain was terminated by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the parties notified the appellate court that they reached a settlement.

  • October 27, 2026

    Bench Trial Vacated After Deal Report In Class Suit Over 2017 ESOP Transaction

    DENVER — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal would be resolved under an unspecified agreement in principle the parties announced three days before a bench trial had been slated to begin in Colorado federal court.

  • October 27, 2026

    Exclusion Of Experts Partly Ruled On In Hair Relaxer MDL; Bellwether Cases Selected

    CHICAGO — In a pair of rulings in a multidistrict litigation in which consumers allege wrongful death and other injuries from endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in chemical hair relaxers (CHRs), a federal judge in Illinois stated that the parties agreed on the final five bellwether cases and, addressing a motion to exclude the 10 general causation experts, partly denied the motion as to two of the experts presented by the consumers.

  • October 27, 2026

    5th Circuit: Market Efficiency Error Halts Securities Fraud Class Certification

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated the class certification order in a securities fraud class action against a biopharmaceutical company and certain of its executives, finding that the lower court did not properly assess evidence of market inefficiency.

  • October 26, 2026

    Amazon, Residents Oppose Discovery Motions In Port Of Morrow RCRA Class Actions

    \PORTLAND, Ore. — Amazon Data Services (ADS) and a group of residents from in and around the Lower Umatilla Basin separately filed oppositions on Oct. 23 to omnibus motions filed by the Port of Morrow, agricultural companies, food processors and an electric utility to compel discovery or modify a stay in two related putative class action suits in Oregon federal court alleging violations of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) over alleged groundwater contamination.

  • October 26, 2026

    DHS To High Court: Courts’ Review Of 3rd-Country Removals Limited

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — No federal court has jurisdiction to review “‘questions of law and fact’” that arise from the removal of noncitizens “except through a petition for review of a final removal order,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other parties argue in a petitioner brief filed Oct. 23 in the U.S. Supreme Court in an appeal challenging a February ruling by a federal court in Massachusetts that declared the DHS’s March 2025 third-country removals policy “unlawful.”