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Mealey's Class Actions

  • March 17, 2026

    Split 6th Circuit Revives 2 ERISA Cases, Requires Reasonable Assumptions

    CINCINNATI — In a 2-1 ruling, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 16 revived two putative class suits contesting the use of decades-old mortality tables in calculating certain pension benefits, with the majority concluding that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “prohibits employers from using unreasonable, inappropriate actuarial assumptions” when making those calculations.

  • March 17, 2026

    Judge Says PFAS Smartwatch Case Against Apple Valid As Plaintiffs Have Standing

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on March 16 denied Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class’s claims for fraudulent concealment and other causes of action in a case alleging that its smartwatch bands contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that the plaintiffs demonstrated standing and adequately pleaded an injury.  The judge granted Apple’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ fraudulent misrepresentation and implied warranty of merchantability claims, however.

  • March 17, 2026

    122K Cy Pres Award Approved In $27.5M Thomson Reuters Data-Selling Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge approved the cy pres distribution of $122,101.51 in remaining funds to a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization from a $27.5 million settlement of a class action over Thomson Reuters Corp.’s online gathering and sale of personally identifiable information (PII) of Californians, holding that the nonprofit has the requisite nexus to the privacy claims asserted on behalf of the class.

  • March 16, 2026

    Video Game Distributor To Pay $2.7M In Class Settlement For Privacy Violations

    NEW YORK — A video game distributor will pay $2.72 million to settle a class action complaint alleging that it sent personally identifiable information to Facebook and other third parties without its users’ knowledge or consent in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) after a New York federal magistrate judge gave final approval to the settlement agreement.

  • March 16, 2026

    Ga. Appeals Panel Upholds Class Certification In Condo Owners’ Assessment Challenge

    ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court did not abuse its discretion when it certified a class of Atlanta-area condominium owners who allege that their condo association incorrectly imposed an assessment on them for balcony repairs without first submitting the claim to its insurer, a Georgia appellate panel ruled.

  • March 16, 2026

    Deadlines Set In Suit Against JPMorgan Over Alleged $328M Crypto Scam

    SAN FRANCISCO — Deadlines and a case management conference were set in California federal court for a putative class action against JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. brought by a plaintiff who claims that the bank “enabled” a cryptocurrency “Ponzi scheme” that misled him into liquidating and then losing his retirement account in the scam, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.

  • March 16, 2026

    La. Appellate Panel Increases Fees For Class Counsel In 20-Year-Old Case By $16.7M

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A Louisiana appellate court affirmed attorney fees for the class counsel in a 20-year-old case over property boundaries, royalties and inverse condemnation but increased the fees by more than $16.7 million plus interest on the fee award running from 2017 until the full amount is paid and assessed costs of the appeal to the class representatives who sought to replace class counsel and challenged the fees, finding that the trial court abused its discretion when it failed to apply a multiplier or enhancement to the baseline lodestar fee.

  • March 13, 2026

    Split 4th Circuit Protects Musk, Others From Depositions In USAID Case, For Now

    RICHMOND, Va. — Issuing a 2-1 ruling concerning a class action challenging the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a petition for a writ of mandamus and directed the trial court to issue a protective order to prevent depositions of Elon Musk, Peter Marocco and Jeremy Lewin.

  • March 13, 2026

    Magistrate Rules On Discovery Motion In Suit Alleging Insurer Illegally Employs AI

    MINNEAPOLIS — A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs’ motion to compel an insurer to respond to discovery and produce certain documents in their class complaint alleging that it illegally uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deny elderly insureds medically necessary care based on a model it knows “has a 90% error rate,” ordering the insurer to produce all required documents within 21 days.

  • March 13, 2026

    Final Approval Granted For Injunctive Settlement In PII Free Trial Case

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted final approval of a class action settlement resolving allegations that a corporation violated the Illinois Right of Publicity Act (IRPA) by displaying individuals’ personally identifiable information (PII) in seven-day free trials of its data aggregation products, which the plaintiffs contended were used to market paid subscriptions; the settlement provides injunctive relief barring the use of Illinois class members’ PII in free trials, includes $2,500 service awards for two class representatives and $492,500 in attorney fees and costs.

  • March 13, 2026

    Costco Sought Tariff Refunds, Now Consumers’ Class Suit Seeks The Same

    CHICAGO — Costco Wholesale Corp., one of thousands of companies that sued the United States in 2025 seeking to halt tariffs put in place beginning in February of that year and seeking refunds for the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) duties plus interest, must return that money to consumers if they are successful in obtaining the refunds in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, an Illinois man and Costco member alleges in a class complaint filed in a federal court in the state.

  • March 13, 2026

    Deal For $27.5M Plus Passes Reported In Suit Over Early Retirement Policy

    CHICAGO — Plaintiffs who appealed dismissal of their putative class suit over a United Airlines Inc. early retirement policy would accept $27.5 million and “8 vacation passes” per member of the proposed settlement class to resolve the case under a deal they outlined for an Illinois federal court in a motion for an indicative ruling.

  • March 13, 2026

    Amazon Pledges To Seek High Court Review Of Class Certification In BIPA Suit

    CHICAGO — Amazon on March 12 told the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it plans to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court following the circuit court’s refusal to reconsider its ruling that a lower court did not err in certifying a class of users of its “virtual try-on” (VTO) feature and asked the Seventh Circuit to hold off on issuing its mandate.

  • March 12, 2026

    Government Asks High Court To Stay Orders Postponing End Of TPS For Syria, Haiti

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed two applications with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to stay orders issued in two putative class lawsuits that postpone the termination of temporary protected status (TPS) for individuals from Syria and Haiti; in the latest application filed March 11 and concerning individuals from Haiti, the government argues, referencing earlier rulings by the high court for the government concerning a similar case over Venezuela, that “[l]ower courts should be guided by this Court’s conclusions that the government was likely to succeed on the merits,” but instead “stop-and-start litigation over TPS terminations has become endemic.”

  • March 12, 2026

    Woman Tells High Court To Reject Petition Mulling Daubert Requirements For Class

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly found that a lower court relied on “an unexecuted damages model developed by an experienced economist” in granting certification of a class action, but in a petition for a writ of certiorari, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (J&J) “pivots and seeks review of a different question,” the representative of the class tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a March 11 opposition brief.

  • March 12, 2026

    Preliminary Injunction, Certification Granted In Oregon ICE Facility Protest Case

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Approximately a month after granting a temporary restraining order (TRO), a federal judge in Oregon granted provisional class certification and issued a preliminary injunction in a case by journalists and protesters who allege that they were shot at and tear-gassed while attending and covering immigration policy protests outside a building in Portland that they refer to as the “Portland ICE building.”

  • March 11, 2026

    Filed-Rate Doctrine Bars Class Action Against Allstate, 5th Circuit Affirms

    NEW ORLEANS —The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer and denial of the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in their lawsuit alleging that Allstate violated the Texas Insurance Code by charging its longstanding customers higher premiums than new customers for materially identical automobile insurance coverage, agreeing with the lower court that the filed-rate doctrine bars the action because the plaintiffs inherently challenge the reasonableness of the filed insurance rates that were reviewed by the Texas Department of Insurance.

  • March 11, 2026

    Judge Grants Preliminary OK To $2.9M Settlement For Toothpaste Water Contamination

    CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge granted preliminary approval to a settlement worth $2.9 million against a “naturally sourced” toothpaste maker and its subsidiary company who were accused of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by not informing consumers the toothpaste maker’s facility received a Food and Drug Administration warning letter in 2024 over water contamination.

  • March 11, 2026

    Certification Of 1 Subclass In COVID-19 Vaccine Case Against United Upheld

    NEW ORLEANS — A partially divided Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s certification of only one subclass out of several proposed classes and subclasses in a case by workers who accuse United Airlines Inc. of discrimination by failing to provide religious and medical accommodations, finding no abuse of discretion in the certification only of employees who sought an accommodation due to religious beliefs and were accommodated with unpaid leave.

  • March 11, 2026

    Preliminary Injunction, Class Certification Denied In ICE ‘Metro Surge’ Case

    MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota denied a preliminary injunction and provisional class certification to three individuals suing over allegedly unconstitutional practices by federal agencies carrying out “Operation Metro Surge” in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas by stopping and questioning people they perceive to be Somali and Latino without “reasonable suspicion” of removability and arresting people without warrants and probable cause.

  • March 11, 2026

    Judge Grants Final Approval Of Hospital Data Breach Class Action Settlement

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge issued an order granting final approval of a class action settlement comprising an $18 million cash settlement fund from which awards will be paid to settlement class counsel for $6 million in attorney fees and $40,223.84 for litigation costs in a suit over a cyberattack and data breach at a Connecticut health system, finding the settlement “reasonable” and the relief “adequate.”

  • March 11, 2026

    4th Circuit Undoes Mandatory Class In ERISA Suit Over Passive Target-Date Funds

    RICHMOND, Va. — Reversing and vacating certification of a mandatory class in a case challenging an employer’s decision to offer passively managed BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs) in its retirement plan, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 said the Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims at issue are “individualized” monetary ones that “cannot be joined in a mandatory class” and the lower court should not have “postponed the necessary rigorous analysis of commonality.”

  • March 11, 2026

    Judge Declines To Certify Class Of AirTag ‘Stalking’ Victims Suing Apple

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion that was filed by plaintiffs who claim that Apple Inc.’s “AirTag” tracking devices were used to stalk them in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, in which they sought to certify three nationwide classes of people allegedly “tracked without consent by Apple’s AirTag,” and directed the parties to prepare to discuss whether the cases should be severed.

  • March 11, 2026

    ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Developments Include 2 More Dismissals

    As federal judges resolve dismissal motions in a wave of putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges, denials still predominate, but defendants won dismissal in two of the latest four rulings.

  • March 10, 2026

    Prohibited Transaction Claims Survive In ERISA Suit Over Prescription Costs

    NEW YORK — After two similar putative class actions filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in other jurisdictions were dismissed for lack of standing, a New York federal judge on March 9 ruled that plaintiffs who sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. and related entities over purported mismanagement of a prescription drug program have standing but sufficiently stated only their prohibited transaction claims.