Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Class Actions

  • November 11, 2025

    Judge Defers Ruling On Motion To Compel Class Members Who Sued Lender To Arbitrate

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Nov. 10 ordered a motion to compel arbitration held in abeyance, finding that genuine disputes remain as to the argument by consumer loan app operators that binding arbitration agreements exist as to more than 235,000 of 250,000 certified class members who sued the app operators for concealing fees while operating as an unlicensed lender in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and California finance laws.

  • November 11, 2025

    Class Suit Says UPS, GE And Boeing’s Recklessness Caused November Plane Crash

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Recklessness by United Parcel Service Inc., General Electric Co. and Boeing Co. caused the Nov. 4 crash of a UPS MD-11 cargo aircraft as it attempted to depart a Louisville airport for Hawaii, airport neighbors allege in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Kentucky.

  • November 11, 2025

    Consolidation Of 13 Data Breach Class Action Cases Granted, Interim Counsel OK’d

    MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin federal judge consolidated 13 class action lawsuits against a corporation over a 2023 data breach that exposed personal information of its employees and clients; the judge additionally granted the consolidated plaintiffs’ request to appoint interim co-lead class counsel and an executive committee to oversee the coordinated litigation.

  • November 10, 2025

    Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Immunity Appealability In Forced Labor Class Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal government contractors following federal government instructions are immune from a class case alleging forced labor, and a denial of such immunity is immediately appealable, the attorney representing the for-profit company that operates a private immigration detention facility in Colorado argued Nov. 10 before the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • November 10, 2025

    PayPal Denied Arbitration Of Content Creators’ Claims Over ‘Honey’ Browser Extension

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Nov. 7 deferred ruling on an administrative motion to relate four putative class actions brought by influencers and content creators active on YouTube and Instagram who accuse PayPal Inc. of interfering with prospective economic relations and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a popular browser extension to redirect their profits from market affiliate links to itself.

  • November 10, 2025

    8th Circuit Denies BNSF’s Petition For Rehearing On Reversal Of EEOC Suit Rulings

    OMAHA, Neb. —  An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition filed by BNSF Railway Co. to revisit a ruling reversing and remanding a trial court’s partial dismissal and grant of summary judgment on claims the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed alleging that the company created a hostile work environment for a female employee and a class of similarly situated female workers.

  • November 10, 2025

    Judge Holds ‘Puff Bar’ Vape Makers Liable For Deceptive Marketing Claims

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Nov. 7 entered default judgment, finding two companies that sell “Puff Bar”-brand synthetic nicotine vapes liable for claims brought against them by a consumer for violating New York and New Jersey consumer laws, but declined to enter judgment on the plaintiff’s request for $43,614,000 in damages after denying her motion for class certification.

  • November 10, 2025

    Sutter Health Settles Anticompetitive Tying Class Suit For $228.5 Million

    SAN FRANCISCO — A more than decade-long class suit accusing Sutter Health of monopolizing northern California hospital markets to raise prices and decrease competition will be settled for $228.5 million, according to a federal magistrate judge in California’s orders granting final approval of the settlement, attorney fees, costs and service awards.

  • November 07, 2025

    Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $1.35M Settlement Of Data Breach Suit

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge granted final approval of a $1.35 million settlement of negligence, contractual and other claims in a consolidated lawsuit brought against a health care provider following a 2023 data breach, holding that the “settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate” and satisfies the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.

  • November 07, 2025

    U.S. High Court Justice Stays Ruling On Marcos Funds Challenged By Class

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Supreme Court justice stayed pending further order a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that cleared the way for the Republic of the Philippines to receive the millions of dollars in a U.S. bank account opened by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos; that decision is being challenged by a class of individuals who were subject to Marcos’ human rights abuses.

  • November 07, 2025

    High Court Signals Interest In Petition For Review Of ERISA Releases Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 6 requested a response to a certiorari petition in which an employer and related entities seek review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits, with the petitioners arguing that the decision “creates a roadmap for plaintiffs to evade” releases of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.

  • November 07, 2025

    Split U.S. Supreme Court Stays Injunction In Passport Gender Policy Class Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Supreme Court divided by party lines on Nov. 6 stayed a trial court’s preliminary injunction that had halted the enforcement of a January executive order (EO) that removed the option to designate “X” on passports for those individuals who do not identify as female or male or who wish to keep a specified gender off their passports.

  • November 06, 2025

    6th Circuit Denies Objectors’ Appeal Of $600M Ohio Train Derailment Settlement

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 5 dismissed the appeal of a group of individuals who objected to the $600 million class action settlement in the Ohio train derailment lawsuit, ruling that the objectors failed to pay the $850,000 appeal bond in a timely manner and holding that they offered no valid justification for failing to pay the appeal bond.

  • November 06, 2025

    Ransomware Data Breach Class Suit Resolved With $1.9M Settlement

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge entered judgment after granting final approval to a $1.9 million settlement resolving class claims including for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) against a data hosting vendor on behalf of individuals whose personal data was hacked during a ransomware attack on the vendor’s accounting and health care customers, with the plaintiffs’ counsel awarded more than $633,000 in attorney fees.

  • November 06, 2025

    11th Circuit Remains Outlier On Class Service Awards 5 Years After Johnson v. NPAS

    In September 2020, a divided 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals cited century-old U.S. Supreme Court precedent when the majority ruled that a $6,000 incentive award for a class representative’s “‘role in prosecuting’” a Telephone Consumer Protection Act “‘case on behalf of the [c]lass [m]embers’” was improper as it was “part salary and part bounty.”

  • November 06, 2025

    Stable Value Funds Are Focus Of ERISA Suits Over Alleged Imprudence

    Often echoing arguments seen in recent pension risk transfer litigation concerning reinsurance arrangements and the risk of insolvency, a firm representing at least six different plaintiffs in various federal jurisdictions filed putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases challenging retirement plan use of certain guaranteed income funds (GIFs) and stable value funds (SVFs) that the plaintiffs claim no prudent fiduciary would have selected and retained.

  • November 06, 2025

    Judge Finds Company’s Offering Documents, Disclosures Not Inherently Misleading

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted a biopharmaceutical company’s motion to dismiss investors’ securities class action against it for allegedly failing to disclose the findings from clinical trials of its lead product candidate that, once revealed, caused the company’s stock to drop, holding that the risk disclosures were not inherently misleading even though they didn’t discuss the risks presented by the clinical trial findings.

  • November 05, 2025

    Full Dismissal Of Tobacco Surcharge Suit Granted In Rhode Island Federal Court

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Following a string of at least seven rulings in which similar putative class challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges survived wholly or in part, a Rhode Island federal judge on Nov. 4 granted full dismissal of a case that is part of a recent wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits.

  • November 05, 2025

    Judge OKs $167.5M Settlement In Fracking Securities Saga

    PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Nov. 4 granted final approval to a $167.5 million class action settlement in a long-running securities fraud case brought by investors who contended that a hydraulic fracturing operator had made false statements about its potential capacity for oil and gas production.

  • November 05, 2025

    Board Game, Display Items And Champagne Businesses File Class Suit Over Tariffs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three companies with wildly diverse products came together to file a class complaint Nov. 4 in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleging that the series of executive orders (EOs) on tariffs that President Donald J. Trump began issuing Feb. 1 are “ultra vires and unconstitutional.”

  • November 05, 2025

    ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M

    Class settlements below $5 million were proposed, granted preliminary approval or finalized in 25 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between early August and late October.

  • November 05, 2025

    Treadmill Horsepower Class Settlement Providing Product, Membership Options OK’d

    MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota granted final approval of a class settlement in a case over the advertised horsepower of treadmills for use in homes, opining that the results that provided consumers with options for products or memberships were fair and reasonable and that a nationwide class was appropriate despite differences in state law.

  • November 05, 2025

    Health Care Data Breach Settlement Giving Up To $5,000 Per Claimant Wins Approval

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee has determined that a settlement of class claims over a health care provider’s 2023 data security incident is “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” making official the judge’s prior ruling that granted preliminary approval to an agreement that provides payments of up to $5,000 for each claimant in the settlement class. The judge also approved attorney fees and expenses totaling $3.1 million.

  • November 04, 2025

    Parents’ Unlawful Gambling Class Claims Against Roblox Dismissed By Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted Roblox Corp.’s motion to partly dismiss a putative class lawsuit brought against it by the parents of minor Roblox players who allegedly lost money gambling with the in-game currency “Robux,” writing that the parents’ claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the unlawful prong and for negligence per se did not sufficiently allege that Roblox violated state gambling laws.

  • November 04, 2025

    Divided 5th Circuit Affirms Federal Class Does Not Toll State Limitations

    NEW ORLEANS — A divided Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of nearly 800 individual plaintiffs’ state law claims related to the release of allegedly toxic chemicals caused by a series of explosions at an industrial plant as time-barred, finding that the filing of a federal class action related to the incident does not toll the statute of limitations for the state law claims.