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Mealey's Class Actions

  • January 09, 2026

    2nd Circuit Urged Not To Let DOL Withdraw 2023 Amicus Brief In ERISA Appeal

    NEW YORK — Pushing back on a recent request by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to withdraw a December 2023 amicus curiae brief in an appeal involving whether the “could have” standard used in damages instructions is grounds for overturning judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that went before a jury, retirement plan participants on Jan. 8 urged the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny the request because “DOL fails to provide any logical basis, let alone reasoned analysis, for abandoning the persuasive argument in its amicus brief.”

  • January 09, 2026

    High Court OKs Dismissal Of Petition On ERISA Burden-Shifting Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 8 text-only docket entry, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a one-paragraph dismissal motion the parties filed the previous day regarding a certiorari petition for which the U.S. government filed an amicus curiae brief urging the high court to grant; the petition concerned an issue the high court has passed on several times and asked whether “burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 09, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Claims Over Most Of Alleged Misstatements In Stock-Drop Suit

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois dismissed investors’ claims against Walgreens Boots Alliance and several of its current and former executives as to numerous alleged misstatements the company made regarding its primary care clinic venture, leaving the claims as to only three alleged misstatements; the judge found the majority of the alleged misstatements not to be false or misleading.

  • January 09, 2026

    DOL Again Sides With Retirement Plan Sponsor In ERISA Forfeiture Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — Almost exactly six months after the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) first filed an amicus curiae brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting a retirement plan against plan participants’ efforts to revive their putative class action challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions, the agency on Jan. 8 did the same in one of the three similar appeals also pending in the Ninth Circuit.

  • January 09, 2026

    Investors, Online Home-Selling Company Reach $39M Settlement In Stock-Drop Suit

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted final approval to a $39 million settlement in a suit brought by retirement funds alleging that an online home-selling company made false statements about its artificial intelligence-powered pricing algorithm that the retirement funds alleged resulted in the funds’ losses.

  • January 09, 2026

    5th Circuit Won’t Rehear Decision To Allow Division Of Investor Subclasses

    NEW ORLEANS — A  Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied investors’ petition for panel rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc, deciding not to reconsider its decision to affirm a district court’s order that partially granted and partially denied class certification in its securities fraud class action against an offshore development company.

  • January 08, 2026

    9th Circuit Rules On 5 Appeals In Veterans’ Class Case Over L.A. Land, Housing

    PASADENA, Calif. — A class of disabled veterans who sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development over the leasing out of land in Los Angeles that was deeded for veterans housing will maintain their class status, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially affirming and partially reversing a trial court’s ruling on how the land should be used.

  • January 08, 2026

    Judge OK’s $10 Million Settlement Of Child Privacy Claims Against Disney

    LOS ANGELES — A proposed stipulation between the United States and Disney Worldwide Services Inc. to settle claims that the entertainment company enabled the collection of children’s personally identifiable information (PII) was approved by a California federal judge, who greenlighted a $10 million civil penalty against Disney and a permanent injunction requiring the company to make procedural changes regarding its posting and designation of videos directed toward children on YouTube.

  • January 08, 2026

    6th Circuit Declines Review Of Class Certification In TCPA Suit Against Humana

    CINCINNATI — A health insurance company accused of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) failed to show that a trial court abused its discretion when it certified a class even though the issue of whether class members consented to the calls may not be determined on a classwide basis, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, denying the company’s petition for permission to appeal the certification decision.

  • January 07, 2026

    Amicus Filers Support Drugmakers’ Petition For Review Of Class Certification Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pair of organizations representing business and biopharmaceutical research interests urged the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by two drug makers to resolve “an important, recurring question concerning courts’ authority to deviate from” the requirements under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) in a putative class action.

  • January 07, 2026

    Right Before Conference, Parties Agree To Drop ERISA Burden-Shifting Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two days before a scheduled U.S. Supreme Court conference on a certiorari petition that the U.S. government recently filed a consequential amicus curiae brief urging the high court to grant, the parties on Jan. 7 filed a one-paragraph dismissal motion, saying they agreed to each bear their own costs; the petition concerns an issue the high court has passed on several times and asks whether “burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 07, 2026

    Government Parties Argue Individuals Stopped In Mexico Can’t Seek Asylum

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Individuals stopped in Mexico before crossing into the United States can’t apply for asylum under 8 U.S. Code Section 1158(a)(1) or be inspected by immigration officers under 8 U.S. Code Section 1225(a), Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal government officials argue in their petitioner brief filed Jan. 6 in the U.S. Supreme Court in an appeal challenging a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that partially upheld a permanent injunction in a class case over a now-rescinded border metering policy.

  • January 07, 2026

    Judge Nixes Fees And Costs Deal For More Than $7.5M In Pension Case, For Now

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Citing “the uncertainty of the appellate relief and operation of the agreement,” a Kansas federal judge on Jan. 6 denied without prejudice the parties’ joint stipulation that “upon affirmance of the District Court’s decision that does not reduce the amount of the judgment” the defendants would pay $7,108,254.82 in attorney fees and $449,437.86 in costs plus interest in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action where labor union members whose early retirement benefits were stopped or denied because of non-boilermaker work largely prevailed following a bench trial.

  • January 07, 2026

    2nd Circuit Finds Channel-Stuffing Suit Fails To Allege Scheme Liability

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of a putative securities class action brought by investors alleging that an advanced driver-assistance systems technology company and its executives made misleading statements about the company’s minimum-order contracts that the investors claimed artificially inflated the price of the company’s stock; the panel found that the investors didn’t allege that material misstatements were made that would support scheme liability.

  • January 07, 2026

    9th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Class Suit Challenging Variable Rate Credit Cards

    SAN FRANCISCO — A trial court properly dismissed a putative class complaint accusing a bank of violating the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by changing interest rates on outstanding balances on variable rate credit cards, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, holding that the increases and decreases fall within the CARD Act’s exception as they are based on the prime rate, a number that is out of the bank’s control.

  • January 06, 2026

    9th Circuit OKs Dismissal Of Former Twitter Workers’ Severance Benefits Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — Resolving several motions, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted voluntary dismissal of an appeal where former Twitter Inc. employees had initially tried to revive their putative class action for more than $500 million in severance benefits, saying in part that “[i]t appears that the interests of any members of the putative class . . . can be protected adequately in” a similar suit filed Nov. 4.

  • January 06, 2026

    $150M Settlement Approved In Consolidated Action Over Defective EV Battery

    DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has granted final approval to a $150 million settlement that will resolve consolidated litigation alleging that the batteries in Chevrolet Bolt electronic vehicles for model years 2017 to 2022 had a defect that allowed them to overheat, finding that “the settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable; the attorneys’ fees and expense reimbursement and service awards are reasonable; and the settlement is in the best interest of the class as a whole.”

  • January 06, 2026

    Tesla ‘Self-Driving’ Cars Suit Paused For 9th Circuit Interlocutory Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Jan. 5 stayed a class action against Tesla Inc. and its affiliates for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting the capabilities of Tesla vehicles’ “self-driving” technology after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted the Tesla parties permission to file an interlocutory appeal of the court’s order granting the driver’s motion for class certification.

  • January 06, 2026

    Magistrate Judge Determines Settlement Amount In ‘Free Trial Scam’ Class Suit

    SAN DIEGO — A group of defendants referred to as the “Konnektive defendants” who are alleged to have provided software and other services used in a “free trial scam” will pay $2 million to settle consumers’ California Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) claims following a bench trial and Jan. 5 determination by a California federal magistrate judge that the consumers failed to prove their CLRA claims “by a preponderance of the evidence”; the parties agreed to the trial in order to decide whether the settlement amount would be $2 million or $5 million.

  • January 06, 2026

    Class Of Venezuelans Sent To Salvadoran Prison Certified, Granted Hearings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Venezuelan men detained by the United States and held in Texas before being sent to a megaprison in El Salvador, referred to as CECOT, and then released to Venezuela with no opportunity to challenge their removals are entitled to class certification and hearings, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled, granting motions by the men for class certification and summary judgment.

  • January 06, 2026

    Certification Of 4 Classes, Summary Judgment Denied In Jail Strip Searches Case

    DETROIT — Individualized questions prevent certification of four classes of formerly incarcerated women, and “genuine issues of material fact as to qualified immunity and Monell [v. Department of Social Services] liability” prevent summary judgment for the defendants in a case accusing a Michigan county and a police officer of carrying out unlawful strip searches, a federal judge in Michigan ruled, addressing motions by both sides.

  • January 05, 2026

    Judge Takes Cunningham Suggestion Regarding ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claim

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Taking a suggestion the U.S. Supreme Court made in an April ruling, a California federal judge ordered a reply to an answer in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case challenging a 2019 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal; the reply will concern a prohibited transaction claim to which a defendant raised an affirmative defense.

  • January 05, 2026

    Federal Workers’ Privacy Suit Over OPM ‘Test’ Emails Dismissed For No Jurisdiction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a putative class complaint by federal workers suing under pseudonyms who alleged that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) failed to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before allegedly sending out “test” emails the workers claimed were being used to collect information on them.

  • January 05, 2026

    6th Circuit: Truck Drivers’ Contract Choice-Of-Law Provisions Can’t Be Enforced

    CINCINNATI — Choice-of-law provisions in independent contractor and lease agreements between truck drivers and a transportation company can’t be enforced where “there is no material connection between Tennessee and the parties’ transactions,” a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a Tennessee federal court’s dismissal of the drivers’ wage-and-hour putative class complaint brought under New Jersey law.

  • January 02, 2026

    9th Circuit Panel Reverses, Says Chemical Exposure Case Belongs In Federal Court

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has reversed and remanded a toxic chemical exposure case, ruling that a lower court relied on an unpublished opinion that is not the law of the circuit when it remanded the case based on the local controversy exception in the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).