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Mealey's Class Actions

  • January 22, 2026

    Job Seekers Accuse AI Application Screener Of Unfair Evaluations

    MARTINEZ, Calif. — Two unsuccessful job applicants filed a putative class action in California state court accusing an AI employee-screening company of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by evaluating the plaintiffs’ applications to companies that use the AI software at issue to score their applications based on “sensitive and often inaccurate information.”

  • January 22, 2026

    $5.48 Million Settlement Of Suit Over Analytics Firm’s Data Breach Approved

    NEWARK, N.J. — Seven months after preliminarily approving a settlement of $5,482,500 to resolve a consolidated class action over claims stemming from a 2023 data breach experienced by a health-oriented data management firm, a New Jersey federal magistrate judge granted final approval to the agreement as being “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

  • January 22, 2026

    Class, Education Department Oppose Petition Challenging Student Loan Settlement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should not grant a for-profit college’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of its failed attempt to intervene and challenge an approved student loan class settlement as the college, which was included in a settlement exhibit, lacked standing and raised no important question, the class and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and Education secretary separately argue in opposition briefs filed Jan. 21.

  • January 22, 2026

    Manhattan College Settles Undergrads’ Pandemic Closure Suit For More Than $740,000

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $742,940 settlement to be paid by Manhattan College to end class action litigation by students who alleged that they were not properly reimbursed for tuition, fees and other costs after the campus closed and all classes switched to remote learning in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • January 22, 2026

    9th Circuit Upholds Approval Of Up To $145M Kia, Hyundai Theft Settlement

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued two memorandums affirming a trial court’s approval of a class settlement between $80 million and $145 million in a multidistrict litigation based on the theft of Kia and Hyundai vehicles that was challenged separately by two objectors; a third appeal filed by a pro se objector remains pending.

  • January 22, 2026

    Putative Class Claims Over America PAC Payments Again Largely Survive Dismissal

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania largely denied a motion to strike and motions to dismiss two related cases accusing America PAC, Group America LLC and Elon Musk of failing to pay individuals the full amount promised for signing and referring others to sign a petition leading up to the 2024 presidential election that pledged support for the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

  • January 21, 2026

    Trump To High Court: Birthright Citizenship EO Complies With 14th Amendment

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A January 2025 executive order (EO) that declared 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 complies with the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), President Donald J. Trump and other federal government officials and agencies argue in a petitioner brief filed Jan. 20 in the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 21, 2026

    Church Autonomy Questions Posed In U.S. Conference Of Catholic Bishops’ Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) asks the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari to decide in a putative class case accusing the conference of fraud whether the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s church autonomy doctrine “protects churches from the burdens of litigating unconstitutional claims,” whether it can immediately appeal a ruling where it raised such a defense and whether “the ‘neutral principles’ approach developed for church property disputes” applies to a case concerning the use of annual offerings.

  • January 20, 2026

    ICE Appeals Preliminary Injunction In Minn. Class Suit By Protesters, Observers

    MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal government parties accused in a putative class complaint of violating the constitutional rights of protesters and observers in Minnesota filed a notice of appeal on Jan. 19, three days after a federal judge in that state ruled that federal agents conducting immigration enforcement activities as part of “Operation Metro Surge” and responding to protests opposing the operation may not arrest or detain peaceful protesters, use pepper spray or other nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against peaceful protesters and may not stop or detain “drivers and passengers in vehicles where there is no reasonable articulable suspicion that they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with” those federal agents.

  • January 20, 2026

    Radiology Provider Settles Data Breach Class Claims For $1.5M Plus Monitoring, Fees

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A radiology service provider will pay $1.5 million to those patients whose data were accessed during a cyberattack who can demonstrate loss, will provide medical data monitoring valued at more than $186 million to all class members and will pay class counsel $2.85 million, according to a settlement agreement granted final approval by a Florida judge.

  • January 20, 2026

    Nestle Given More Time To Seek Rehearing After Classes Upheld In Labeling Case

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals gave Nestle USA Inc. until Feb. 23 to petition for rehearing after a divided panel affirmed a trial court’s certification of two California classes of consumers in a case accusing the company of labeling that falsely implies that its chocolate products are produced without child labor and deforestation in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA).

  • January 20, 2026

    Panel Vacates Remand Of False Discount Suit Against Window-And-Door Sellers

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated the remand of a putative class action against a window-and-door replacement company and its affiliates for their alleged practice of misrepresenting their prices as time-limited discounts during consultations with customers in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to California state court, writing that the federal court should have given the appellants an “‘opportunity to waive’” the issue upon which remand was based.

  • January 16, 2026

    U.S. High Court Grants Petition On Role Of Benchmarks In ERISA Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari by retirement plan participants who asked the justices to decide a question concerning fund underperformance claims and whether a “meaningful benchmark” must be alleged; the high court left pending a similar petition in Parker-Hannifin Corporation, et al. v. Michael D. Johnson, et al. that was scheduled to be considered at the same conference.

  • January 16, 2026

    $30 Million Settlement Of Kids’ Privacy Suit Against Google Gets Final OK

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — About four months after preliminarily approving a $30 million agreement that would settle invasion of privacy claims against YouTube LLC and Google LLC (Google, collectively) for the purported collection of minors’ personally identifiable information (PII) in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a California federal magistrate judge granted a final approval motion, ending the more than six-year-old class action.

  • January 16, 2026

    3 U.S. Citizens File Class Suit Alleging Constitutional Abuses By ICE In Minnesota

    MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) are engaging in unconstitutional practices in Minnesota by stopping and questioning people they perceive to be Somali and Latino without “reasonable suspicion” of removability and arresting people without warrants and probable cause, three residents of Minnesota who are U.S. citizens allege in a Jan. 15 putative class complaint filed in a federal court in their state.

  • January 15, 2026

    Judge: Plaintiffs In ‘Important’ AI Employment Case Must Explain Discovery Delay

    SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs in what the court described as “an important case alleging use of biased artificial intelligence in hiring implicating potentially hundreds of millions of putative class members” must explain why discovery required for a certification motion appears incomplete, a federal judge in California held Jan. 14.

  • January 15, 2026

    $332M Settlement Of ERISA Class Action Over Residual Annuities Wins Final OK

    NEW YORK — Saying a separate order would follow regarding the pending motion for attorney fees and costs in the long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over residual annuities (RAs), a New York federal judge on Jan. 14 granted final approval to a $332 million class settlement the plaintiffs said will “yield the 1,177 Class members an average net settlement benefit of almost $200,000” even if the fees and costs are awarded as requested.

  • January 15, 2026

    NFL, Teams Seek High Court Opinion On Enforcement Of Arbitration In Race Bias Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should hear an appeal concerning the enforceability of arbitration agreements entered into by National Football League coaches as the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) permits parties to select their own arbitration procedures, including arbitrators, the NFL and three teams argue in a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in a race bias putative class suit after a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that denial of arbitration was proper based on the provision designating the NFL commissioner as the default arbitrator and allowing the commissioner to develop the arbitral procedures.

  • January 14, 2026

    $9.6M Class Settlement Of ERISA Forfeiture Case Wins Initial OK

    NEW YORK — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act case squarely focused on using forfeited nonvested matching retirement funds to reduce company contributions would be resolved under a $9.6 million class settlement that won preliminary approval in a New York federal court on Jan. 13.

  • January 14, 2026

    GEO Group Seeks U.S. High Court Review Of Immigration Detainee Class Wage Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The operator of immigration detention centers across the United States filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause permits a state, in this case Washington, to find detainees participating in a voluntary work program as employees who are owed state-mandated minimum wages.

  • January 13, 2026

    Judge Tosses Breach Of Contract Suit Against Insurer, Cites Misrepresentation

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Jan. 12 dismissed without prejudice a putative class action breach of contract suit filed against an auto insurer for its alleged failure to compensate a driver for her son’s auto accident while driving her insured vehicle, finding that the misrepresentation in the policy application by not listing her son as a driver “was material” because it prevented the insurer “from adequately assessing the risk” of insuring her vehicle.

  • January 13, 2026

    U.S. High Court Declines Fraud Concealment Question In Sherman Act Class Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 declined to decide whether an alleged unwritten no-poach agreement between companies that allegedly suppress wages for naval engineers is sufficient to constitute an affirmative act of fraudulent concealment tolling the Sherman Act’s statute of limitations in a putative class lawsuit.

  • January 13, 2026

    Defendants Win Dismissal Of Case Involving PRTs To Prudential And RGA

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a putative class pension risk transfer (PRT) case notable for focusing on transfers to nonparties Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and RGA Reinsurance Company (RGA), concluding that the Verizon Communications Inc. retirees who filed the suit lacked standing and failed to state their claims.

  • January 13, 2026

    3rd Circuit Affirms That Prudential Fiduciaries’ Process Was Prudent

    PHILADELPHIA — Issuing a nonprecedential disposition affirming summary judgment against a class of retirement plan participants, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that the fund selection and monitoring process at issue were “adequate to satisfy the duty of prudence imposed on fiduciaries by” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 12, 2026

    U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review 9th Circuit ERISA Releases Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A certiorari petition that drew U.S. Supreme Court interest for a ruling concerning Employee Retirement Income Security Act releases in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits was denied in the court’s Jan. 12 order list.