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Mealey's Class Actions

  • February 19, 2026

    9th Circuit: Ford Shimmy Manifestation Rates May Impact Class Certification Ruling

    PASADENA, Calif. — A trial court that certified multiple state classes in a case by consumers who allege suspension defects in various years and models of Ford trucks “abused its discretion by failing to evaluate shimmy manifestation rates across platforms in assessing predominance,” a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially vacating the class certification order and remanding.

  • February 19, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Nonresponsive Subclass Members In ACA Risk-Corridor Class Action

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge dismissed without prejudice six specified subclass members for failure to respond to class counsel in a risk-corridor payment class action filed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

  • February 19, 2026

    Hawai’i High Court: Insurers Cannot Intervene In Wildfire Class Action Settlement

    HONOLULU — The Hawai’i Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s order denying subrogating insurers’ motion to intervene in class action settlement proceedings that resulted in a $4.03 billion aggregate “global settlement” in favor of individual plaintiffs affected by the Lahaina wildfire, relying on an In re Maui Fire Cases holding that the insurers’ sole remedy is a lien on the settlement when the insureds settle with defendants and noting that adopting the subrogating insurers’ argument “would  functionally eliminate mass tort class settlements.”

  • February 19, 2026

    Drugmakers: High Court Must Hear Class Certification Case To Resolve Circuit Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two drug companies on Feb. 18 told the U.S. Supreme Court that opposition to their petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund is “revisionist history in the extreme” and that the court should hear the case to resolve whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in certifying a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos.

  • February 19, 2026

    Judge Allows Experts, Certifies Class On Whether UM/UIM Coverage Properly Applied

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge agreed to certify a class action alleging that an insurer underpaid insureds by failing to stack uninsured motorist (UM) or underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage for policyholders who had multivehicle policies and rejected efforts by the insurer to exclude expert testimony on class certification.

  • February 19, 2026

    StubHub Largely Granted Summary Judgment In Consumers’ Pandemic Cancellation Case

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted StubHub Inc.’s summary judgment motion as to the three remaining California law claims brought by a putative class of consumers seeking injunctive relief or restitution related to the company’s refund policy changes implemented for events canceled or rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic; the judge deferred ruling on claims in the multidistrict litigation seeking monetary damages to allow the parties to file briefs about why the claims should or shouldn’t be compelled to arbitration.

  • February 19, 2026

    2nd Circuit Rejects Objections To New York Times Auto-Renewal Settlement

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s approval of a $2,375,000 settlement to be paid by The New York Times Co. to end a class complaint accusing the newspaper publisher of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme over objections by a California attorney who has both litigated class actions and participated in a number of class actions as an objector.

  • February 19, 2026

    4th Circuit: Class Lacks Predominance, Superiority But May Still Be Certified

    RICHMOND, Va. — Noting the case is “unusual,” a split Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partially vacated a trial court’s decision to strike class claims in a mortgage discrimination case, finding that while certification could be denied “based solely on the face of the complaint” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) due to a failure to show predominance and/or superiority, it would be premature to deny certification under Rule 23(b)(2).

  • February 18, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms $115M Oracle Data Collection Settlement Over Objections

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the $115 million settlement of a privacy and wiretap class action against Oracle America Inc., rebuffing an objecting class member’s arguments that the class claims could have been worth $100 billion and should have been allocated based on which state’s members allegedly had more valuable claims.

  • February 18, 2026

    Attorney Fees Exceeding $96M Awarded In ERISA Residual Annuities Case

    NEW YORK — Wrapping up a decade-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over residual annuities (RAs) that resulted in a $332 million class settlement, a New York federal judge on Feb. 17 granted awards from the common fund as requested in amounts including $96.28 million for attorney fees and $10,000 for a service award.

  • February 17, 2026

    Parties Reach $7.25B Deal For Nationwide Settlement Of Roundup Injury Claims

    ST. LOUIS — Attorneys representing a putative class of plaintiffs who have sued Monsanto Co. in Missouri state court alleging that exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, causes cancer on Feb. 17 moved for preliminary approval of a $7.25 billion nationwide settlement with Bayer Corp., Monsanto’s parent company, which would resolve the claims.

  • February 17, 2026

    Judge Orders Government To Bring Back To U.S. Deported Venezuelan Class

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government — after “essentially [telling] the Court to pound sand” following a December 2025 opinion in which the government was given the opportunity to propose steps to facilitate hearings on habeas corpus claims by a class of Venezuelan men who were 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 — must “facilitate the return from third countries of those Plaintiffs who so desire,” a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled.

  • February 17, 2026

    Arbitration Of NFL Coaches’ Race Bias Claims Denied As High Court Mulls Petition

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Feb. 13 revised a March 2023 arbitration order in a race bias and retaliation putative class case brought by three current and former National Football League (NFL) coaches and denied in full arbitration sought by the NFL and three teams based on “[t]he NFL’s unilateral control over the dispute resolution process”; the trial court ruling was filed as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in the same case by the NFL and three teams concerning the enforceability of those same arbitration agreements that require Commissioner Roger Goodell to preside over the proceedings.

  • February 17, 2026

    $42.7M Class Deal Reported In ERISA Forfeiture Case Against Providence Health

    SEATTLE — A case that is part of a wave of putative class actions challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions would settle for an estimated $42,724,532 under a deal a Washington federal court was asked to grant preliminary approval in a Feb. 13 motion.

  • February 17, 2026

    Suit Against Milk Sellers Over ‘Sustainability’ Claims Partly Dismissed By Judge

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Feb. 13 largely granted motions to dismiss a putative class case against milk sellers and producers for allegedly falsely advertising their products as sustainable and environmentally friendly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding their specific misrepresentation claims too vague but allowing their claims that they were deceived by a milk logo with a happy cartoon cow to proceed.

  • February 13, 2026

    5th Circuit Uses Effective Vindication Doctrine In ERISA Cash Investment Case

    NEW ORLEANS — Becoming the eighth circuit to apply the effective vindication doctrine to Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered remand in the putative class suit over allegations that a bank holding company and related entities violated their fiduciary duties by, among other things, putting large portions of their retirement plan’s funds into proprietary cash investments; under the ruling, the lower court could compel arbitration of representative claims if it decides that the arbitration provisions that violate the doctrine are severable.

  • February 13, 2026

    Additional $42M In Real Estate Commissions Settlements Approved In 2 Class Suits

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri issued two orders on the same day granting final approval of settlements in two Sherman Act class lawsuits over the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions with a total of nine companies; the plaintiffs in the cases, one of which is a consolidated case, had jointly moved for approval of the agreements that provide practice changes as well as payments totaling more than $42 million, bringing the recovery in the overall litigation to more than $1.08 billion.

  • February 13, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Band-Aids PFAS Case But Allows Plaintiffs To Amend Complaint Again

    TRENTON, N.J. — In dismissing a putative class action against Johnson & Johnson and its affiliates brought by plaintiffs who alleged that they had been injured by the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Band-Aids, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate standing to pursue injunctive relief.  The judge said, however, that the plaintiffs could amend their complaint yet again to correct its deficiencies.

  • February 13, 2026

    Ethylene Oxide Defendants Seek High Court Review Of Expert Admissibility Standards

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Union Carbide Corp. and an affiliate have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that a lower court applied the incorrect legal standard for the admissibility of an expert under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 in a lawsuit over alleged injuries caused by exposure to ethylene oxide.  The petitioners say that the Supreme Court should hear the case because federal appellate courts are divided over whether challenges to the factual basis of an expert’s opinion “always go to weight, not admissibility.”

  • February 12, 2026

    Attorney Fee Denial In Federal Workers’ Lump-Sum Payment Class Case Vacated

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a trial court’s denial of attorney fees for former government employees who negotiated a settlement with the United States in a class case over unused leave payments and directed the lower court on remand to address in the first instance whether the United States’ conduct prior to the lawsuit was “substantially justified.”

  • February 11, 2026

    Panera Bread Settles Over Data Breach As More Class Complaints Mount

    ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on Feb. 10 granted final approval to a $2.5 million nonreversionary class settlement resolving data privacy claims arising from Panera LLC’s 2024 data security breach involving unauthorized access to the names and Social Security numbers of the company’s employees, authorizing reimbursements of up to $500 in ordinary losses and up to $6,500 in extraordinary losses; following a separate data breach in January, Panera has been named as the defendant in a series of class complaints in the same court.

  • February 11, 2026

    Migrant Support Group, Others Note Verb Tense In Asylum Rights High Court Brief

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal government parties who are arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that 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) are ignoring “Congress’s use of the present tense—as well as the present progressive ‘arriving’ in nearby provisions,” a migrant support group and others argue in their Feb. 10 respondent brief; the federal government is 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.

  • February 11, 2026

    Airline In ERISA Case Involving ESG Ordered To Pay Nearly $4.6M In Attorney Fees

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Feb. 10 awarded a class $4,596,287.50 of the $7,907,760.60 it requested for attorney fees following a bench trial in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of nonparty investment management firms; he also denied a request for a $15,000 service award and clarified aspects of the injunctive relief ordered in the Sept. 30 final judgment denying monetary damages.

  • February 11, 2026

    5th Circuit Affirms Remand Of Data Breach Suit Against Health Care Provider

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the remand of a putative class action against a Texas health care provider for allegedly failing to protect patient data from a cyberattack, writing that a federal statute allowing removal and substitution of the United States as defendant for private health centers receiving federal funds did not apply to this case in which the center was facing claims for a “criminal data breach.”

  • February 11, 2026

    Connecticut Supreme Court: State Law Requires Pay For Mandatory Security Screening

    HARTFORD, Conn. — The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Feb. 10 that state law requires employees to be paid for time spent undergoing mandatory security checks and that no de minimis exception exists, addressing two questions certified by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a putative class suit against Amazon entities.