Mealey's Class Actions : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Class Actions

October 22, 2025
Bank Of Canton’s $300,000 Settlement Approved In MOVEit Data Breach MDL

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Oct. 21 granted final approval to a $300,000 class settlement to be paid by The Bank of Canton, ending claims against it related to a security incident due in part to a vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer application; the settlement is one of several reached in the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 ransomware attack that affected users of the MOVEit file-transfer app.
October 22, 2025
Judge Approves $600,000 Pharmacy Data Breach Class Settlement

TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington granted final approval to a $600,000 settlement in a data breach case involving a pharmacy and found the $198,000 request for attorney fees reasonable.
October 22, 2025
U.S. Marshal Appeals After Reconsideration Of Stay Denied In Race Bias Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former deputy U.S. marshal who has spent more than three decades litigating alleged racial discrimination filed a notice of appeal after a federal judge in the District of Columbia declined to reconsider a stay of the putative class case pending resolution of appeals challenging a 2023 settlement between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS).
October 21, 2025
Weichert’s 2nd Attempt To Enjoin Commissions Litigation Pending Settlement Denied

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia denied Weichert of North America Inc.’s request to enjoin settlement class members from proceeding with parallel litigation in a federal court in Missouri pending final approval of Weichert’s $8.5 million settlement in a class case by home sellers who accuse the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and real estate franchises of conspiring to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions.
October 21, 2025
$1.9M Settlement Approved In Class Action Over Medical Patient Data Breach

CLARKSVILLE, Ark. — An Arkansas judge granted final approval of a $1.9 million class settlement resolving claims that a health system failed to adequately protect patient information compromised in a March 2024 cybersecurity breach and awarded $665,000 in attorney fees and $22,055.26 in expenses to class counsel and $2,500 service awards for each of the 11 named plaintiffs.
October 20, 2025
Air, Space Force Members Seek U.S. Supreme Court Consideration Of Vaccine Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to decide whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allows for reinstatement to include back pay and retirement points.
October 20, 2025
3rd Circuit: ‘Corporate Trauma,’ Negligence Don’t Constitute Securities Fraud

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of shareholders’ class complaint alleging that a real estate investment trust’s (REIT) failure to stop a tenant’s fraud against it made certain statements false or misleading; the panel found that most of the challenged statements were opinions that, while “ill-advised,” were not fraudulent.
October 17, 2025
Change Of Plans In Former Twitter Workers’ Severance Case Sparks Intervention Bid

SAN FRANCISCO — On Oct. 16 — just under two months after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to postpone oral argument based on the parties’ report of an unspecified “imminent class-wide settlement agreement” in former Twitter Inc. employees’ effort to revive their putative class action for more than $500 million in severance benefits — two former employees moved to intervene as of right on the grounds that the two named plaintiffs now intend only “to proceed with individual claims on an individual basis.”
October 17, 2025
2 Named Plaintiffs Have Standing To Pursue Claims Stemming From Data Breach

RICHMOND, Va. — Two of four named plaintiffs in a consolidated class action stemming from a data breach incident have standing to pursue their claims against the insurance companies whose network was hacked because their allegation that their driver's license numbers were posted on the dark web after the breach constitutes a concrete injury, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in partially reversing a district court’s opinion dismissing the case.
October 16, 2025
On Remand, ERISA Prohibited Transaction Case Is Sent Back To District Court

NEW YORK — Nearly half a year after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on the question of what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim involving a service provider, the appeals court on Oct. 15 issued two one-paragraph orders — one recalling the mandate and reinstating the case, then one remanding the case to a New York federal court.
October 16, 2025
Pennsylvania Federal Judge Gives Final OK To $450K Collective, Class Wage Settlement

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 15 granted final approval of a $450,000 settlement that resolves production workers’ claims that a manufacturer and seller of coffee and related products violated federal and state wage laws by failing to pay hourly workers for all hours worked, including failing to compensate for pre- and postshift work and miscalculating the regular rate of pay for overtime.
October 16, 2025
Motion To Compel Discovery Partly Granted In Software Data Sharing Class Dispute

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal magistrate judge on Oct. 15 granted in part a motion to compel discovery for production of documents and responses to interrogatories by a health care provider in a putative class suit filed by former and current patients alleging that the provider collected and shared patient medical data with third parties through use of pixel software developed by Meta Platform Inc., finding that the request for production related to social media use is “relevant to” the claims of the patients and the provider’s defenses.
October 16, 2025
Dismissal Denied In Class Suit Against Sirius Alleging ‘Deceptive Pricing Scheme’

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge denied dismissal to Sirius XM Radio LLC in a putative class action alleging that Sirius XM was “deceptive” in falsely advertising its music streaming plans at prices lower than what it actually charged subscribers, finding that the allegations in the complaint are sufficient at this point in the litigation.
October 16, 2025
Majority Of 11th Circuit Panel Criticizes Exhaustion Precedent But Applies It

ATLANTA — After applying a 40-year-old circuit precedent in a unanimous Oct. 15 panel ruling affirming dismissal of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) valuation case but remanding for clarification on “whether prejudice attaches,” two panel members suggested that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals convene en banc “to consider overruling” that precedent, which they said “imposed a judicially-created and atextual administrative exhaustion requirement for fiduciary-breach and statutory claims under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
October 16, 2025
Judge Finalizes $50,000 Sanction For Disclosures To U.S. Labor Department

OAKLAND, Calif. — Noting that the parties in a recently certified class action over alleged underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health treatment decided not to request oral argument after considering her tentative sanctions ruling, a California federal judge on Oct. 15 finalized an order for a law firm representing the plaintiffs to pay $50,000 for disclosures to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that she found constituted “a knowing and intentional breach of” a stipulated protective order.
October 15, 2025
Judge: Failure To Disclose Executives’ Misconduct Doesn’t Make Statements False

CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed investors’ class action complaint alleging a drug design company, its former CEO and former chairman of the board violated federal securities laws by not disclosing the former CEO’s and chairman’s misconduct in public filings about the company’s code of conduct and its fostering of an inclusive workplace, finding that most of the challenged statements were inactionable puffery and that the company’s failure to disclose the misconduct did not render the statements misleading.
October 15, 2025
High Court Won’t Hear Life Insurance Beneficiary’s Certifying Questions Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a life insurance policy beneficiary who brought a putative class complaint against the insurer and presented to the high court two questions regarding certifying state law issues to state high courts.
October 15, 2025
6th Circuit Upholds Class Settlement In Property Foreclosure Surplus Case

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s final approval of a class settlement between former property owners and 43 Michigan counties in a case over former property owners’ rights to any amount from tax foreclosure sales that was above and beyond the amount of unpaid taxes, rejecting arguments by objectors over the adequacy of class counsel and approval of the agreement.
October 15, 2025
Disney’s And Sodexo’s Wage Settlements Of Nearly $235M Granted Final Approval

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California judge in separate orders granted final approval of settlements totaling $234,750,000 by The Walt Disney Co. and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts US Inc. (Disney) and Sodexo Inc. and SodexoMagic LLC (together, Sodexo) in a wage class lawsuit by workers.
October 15, 2025
Class Complaint Alleges Popular Running Shoes Come With Unwanted Squeak

PORTLAND, Ore. — Running shoes that cost nearly $200 per pair are defective as technology intended to provide cushioned support causes “a noisy and embarrassing squeak with each and every step,” two consumers allege in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Oregon.
October 14, 2025
6th Circuit Majority Affirms Class Certification Order In Suit Against Auto Insurer

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority affirmed a district court’s class certification order in a suit alleging that an auto insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith in determining a vehicle’s total loss value after determining that the insured had standing to bring the suit and met the necessary requirements to certify a class.
October 14, 2025
U.S. High Court: U.S. May Participate In Arguments In Forced Labor Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 granted a motion by the U.S. solicitor general for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument in an appeal by the operator of a private immigration detention facility in Colorado that seeks a ruling on whether interlocutory orders holding that a federal contractor does not meet the requirements under Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. for a defense to liability for damages are immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.
October 14, 2025
Microsoft Accused Of Harming Competition With OpenAI Partnership

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of ChatGPT Plus subscribers on Oct. 13 filed a putative class action in California federal court against Microsoft Corp., seeking treble damages and injunctive relief — including “the divestiture or segregation of Microsoft’s Generative AI” business — based on allegations that Microsoft limited OpenAI’s access to computational power and drove up ChatGPT prices while promoting its own chatbot in competition with OpenAI.
October 14, 2025
Judge Clarifies Partial Dismissal Of Data Sharing Claims Against LinkedIn

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge issued an amended order clarifying a prior order partially dismissing claims under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and dismissing one of four putative class complaints in its entirety regarding allegations that LinkedIn Corp. used a tracking pixel to intercept and share users’ personal data with third-party advertisers.
October 13, 2025
Shutdown Pause Denied In Putative Class Suit Over Los Angeles Patrols

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Oct. 10 denied the federal government’s motion to pause due to the government shutdown a putative class case over “Operation At Large” being carried out in Los Angeles by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel who detain individuals in publicly accessible places to question their legal status based on the location, type of work being done, language being spoken, accent and race or ethnicity.