Mealey's Class Actions
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December 05, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Will Review Legality Of Birthright Citizenship Executive Order
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court today granted a petition by President Donald J. Trump and other federal government parties seeking a decision on the legality of an executive order (EO) Trump signed in January declaring that children born in the United States are not citizens when their mother is “unlawfully present in the United States” or their mother’s presence is “temporary” and their father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
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December 05, 2025
Settlement Between Microturbine Manufacturing Executives, Investors Approved
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted final approval to a $2.25 million settlement between investors and former executives of a microturbine manufacturer who the investors alleged defrauded investors by making false or misleading statements regarding the company’s revenue.
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December 05, 2025
Investors Granted Partial Summary Judgment In Dispute Over Cryptocurrency Sale
ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge granted partial summary judgment to investors who sued the trustee of a cryptocurrency and the company that managed the cryptocurrency for selling the cryptocurrency without filing a registration statement, finding that the investors met the first two prongs of the test established under Secs. & Exch. Comm’n v. W.J. Howey Co. but that there was a dispute over whether the promotional materials for the cryptocurrency “attracted Plaintiffs with an expectation of profits.”
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December 05, 2025
9th Circuit To Hear Argument In Appeal Class Filed Over Proprietary TDFs Suit
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear Dec. 9 oral argument in an appeal where retirement plan participants who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) lost on all counts following a bench trial; among other things, the participants seek vacatur of an order taxing them with nearly $94,000 in costs.
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December 04, 2025
Judge Dismisses ERISA Stable Value Fund Suit With Leave To Amend
CHICAGO — Citing the plaintiff’s failure “to identify a uniform sample” among his proposed comparator stable value funds (SVFs), an Illinois federal judge on Dec. 3 dismissed a putative class complaint concerning an allegedly underperforming SVF with leave to amend.
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December 04, 2025
$7M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case
PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Dec. 3 granted final approval to a class settlement with a present value of $7 million that resolves a suit challenging the use of allegedly outdated mortality assumptions to calculate annuities for married pension plan participants; as requested, the judge also awarded a third of that total for attorney fees.
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December 04, 2025
Judge Certifies Alexa Voice ID Biometric Data Class Suit, Excludes Named Plaintiff
CHICAGO — A named plaintiff who signed up for Amazon.com Inc.’s Voice ID program after the filing of a suit would be subject to unique defenses that render him unfit to be a class representative, a federal judge in Illinois said while certifying claims that the company violated Illinois law by collecting certain biometric data through its Alexa artificial intelligence system.
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December 04, 2025
Google Accuses AI Copyright Plaintiffs Of ‘Litigation-By-Ambush’
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google LLC opposed a motion to certify a class action and asked a federal judge in California to strike the allegations with prejudice as a sanction for artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ “midnight switch” of proposed classes and subclasses.
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December 04, 2025
Class Certification, Injunction Partially Granted In Warrantless Arrests Case
DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado partially granted a provisional motion for class certification and a preliminary injunction motion filed by four individuals challenging their immigrant status arrests in that state without warrants.
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December 03, 2025
U.K. Plaintiffs’ Restitution Claim For ‘Honey’ Discount Losses Dismissed
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with leave to amend a putative class action filed by citizens of the United Kingdom against two companies that own and operate the “Honey” discount-finding browser extension, finding that the plaintiffs’ claim for monetary restitution under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) is actually a claim for damages and, therefore, not recoverable.
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December 03, 2025
Drugmakers Urge High Court Review Of Class Certification Case, Cite Circuit Split
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decision by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found no error in the certification of a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos, despite the court recognizing that there is no way to calculate the number of class members that were not harmed, should be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split on when a court may certify the class action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), two drug companies argue in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
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December 03, 2025
Class Suit Seeks To Recover Wagers Placed With Allegedly Illegal Gambling App
NEW YORK — Seven users of the Kalshi App filed a putative class complaint in a federal court in New York seeking to recover wagers they placed regarding various aspects of professional sports games, arguing that the app-based platform marketed as a “prediction market” is actually an unlicensed sports gambling platform.
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December 03, 2025
$48.5M Deal That Followed ERISA Jury Verdict Wins Final OK, With Incentives
NEW YORK — Granting three $25,000 case contribution awards over the defendants’ opposition, a New York federal judge on Dec. 2 gave final approval to a class settlement that was struck after a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial in a challenge to the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan; the deal includes a $48.5 million payment that with interest now totals $49,539,537, and class counsel were awarded a third of that total for attorney fees as requested.
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December 03, 2025
Judge Grants Arbitration, Stays Wiretap Class Action Against Toyota, Progressive
SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 2 granted Toyota Motor North America Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration and stay a class action alleging that Toyota, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. and a provider of data analytics services in the automotive industry violated the Federal Wiretap Act and are responsible for injuries they inflicted on tens of thousands of class members because of their unauthorized collection and dissemination of private information from Toyota vehicles.
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December 03, 2025
Journalists, Protesters Allege 1st Amendment Violations Outside ICE Facility
PORTLAND, Ore. — Journalists and protesters filed a putative class complaint in a federal court in Oregon alleging that they were shot at and tear-gassed in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution while attending and covering immigration policy protests outside a building in Portland that they refer to as the “Portland ICE building.”
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December 03, 2025
Align Technology Settles Dental Aligner Antitrust Case For $31.75 Million
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted final approval of Align Technology Inc.’s renegotiated $31.75 million settlement ending antitrust claims by a class of those who purchased or paid for SmileDirectClub aligners and granted the requested attorney fees, expenses and $7,500 service awards for each of the three class representatives.
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December 03, 2025
Class Suit Alleges Certain Faulty Frigidaire Gas Ranges Leave Food Undercooked
WILMINGTON, Del. — Three models of Frigidaire gas ranges contain a defect that results in the ovens failing to achieve the set temperature, resulting in undercooked food, a California man alleges in a putative class complaint filed against Electrolux Home Products Inc. and Electrolux Consumer Products Inc. in a federal court in Delaware.
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December 03, 2025
Expert Challenges In Suit Over NFL Disability Denials Draw Mixed Ruling
BALTIMORE — Addressing three expert challenges in a putative class action concerning NFL disability benefits, a Maryland federal magistrate judge excluded one expert in full and one in part and declined to exclude the third.
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December 02, 2025
11th Circuit Finds Investors’ Alleged Losses Caused By Fraud Cover-Up
ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a lower court’s dismissal of investors’ class action against a utility holding company, its main subsidiary and executives for alleged misstatements made about the company’s involvement in an election interference scheme, finding that the investors adequately pleaded loss causation.
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December 02, 2025
2 Companies Appeal After Judgment For Worker Class Entered In WARN Act Suit
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Two companies found liable for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN Act) violations alleged by a class of bakery workers and ordered to indemnify the dissolution receiver filed a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a $2,987,040.60 judgment was entered for the workers by a federal court in Vermont.
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December 02, 2025
Judge Won’t Decertify ‘Orthodontic’ Pacifier Multistate Class Action
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Dec. 1 denied motions for class decertification and for summary judgment filed by two companies that are accused of deceptively marketing pacifiers as “orthodontic” in violation of Illinois law, California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and the consumer protection laws of several other states, and denied Daubert motions to exclude experts filed by both the plaintiffs and the defendants.
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December 02, 2025
1st Circuit Remands DOGE Fair Housing Grants Case Due To High Court August Order
BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals construed a notice of supplemental authority by four fair housing nonprofit organizations as a motion to remand and agreed that an appeal of a trial court’s April electronic order dissolving a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a putative class suit challenging the federal government’s termination of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) must go back to the trial court to allow the parties to litigate the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s August order in National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Ass’n.
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December 02, 2025
Fresno State Agrees To Gender Review, Other Relief To Settle Title IX Class Suit
FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a class settlement reached by students and California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) in a case accusing the school of unfair treatment when it comes to sports opportunities for female students; the agreement includes a gender equity review conducted by a neutral third party and the creation of a gender equity plan.
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November 26, 2025
9th Circuit: Investment Firm Owed No Duty When Recommending Account Switch
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing clients’ class action against a broker-dealer and investment advising firm for breach of fiduciary duty, finding that the firm did not owe the clients a fiduciary duty when recommending the clients switch to a different type of investment account.
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November 26, 2025
ERISA Forfeiture Case That Survived Dismissal Settles For Nearly $2M
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $1,995,000 class settlement won final approval on Nov. 25 in a case that had challenged the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s future matching contributions, with a California federal judge granting the requested $665,000 award for attorney fees and costs but directing that 10% of the fees be retained by the settlement administrator pending a determination “that the settlement distribution process has been completed.”