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

Mealey's Class Actions

January 30, 2025
Federal Judge Approves Catholic University’s $2M Pandemic Closure Settlement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued two orders, one granting final approval of a $2 million class settlement to be paid by The Catholic University of America to end a student’s claims over the school’s closure during the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the second awarding class counsel $666,666.66 in attorney fees and $132,048.14 in costs and the class representative $7,500 for a service award.
January 30, 2025
Allstate Prevails In Suit Over 401(k)’s Use Of Certain TDFs, Advisory Services

CHICAGO — Saying in part that without “relevant analysis and opinions,” an expert’s “report and testimony cannot create a genuine factual dispute,” an Illinois federal judge granted summary judgment against plaintiffs who challenged a retirement plan’s use of Northern Trust target date funds (TDFs) and advisory services under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
January 30, 2025
$47.5M Settlement Between Battery Maker, Shareholders Granted Final Approval

SAN FRANCISCO — A $47.5 million settlement was granted final approval by a federal judge in California, concluding a case brought by shareholders against the developer of a “solid-state” electronic vehicle battery alleging that the developer violated federal securities laws by misrepresenting the progress and effectiveness of their batteries.
January 29, 2025
Final Approval Of $200M Settlement Granted In Uber IPO Misstatement Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California issued final approval of a $200 million settlement to end a class action lawsuit bought by investors against ride sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. and certain of its executives that claimed that the company issued a series of misleading statements in the lead-up to its May 2019 initial public offering (IPO).
January 29, 2025
ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M

Class settlements below $5 million have been finalized or proposed in 17 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between mid-October and late January.
January 29, 2025
$4.5M Deal Gets Final OK In ERISA Lawsuit Over Proprietary Index Funds

NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge has granted final approval to a $4.5 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over the selection and retention of proprietary index fund products, awarding $1.5 million of that sum for attorney fees and a total of $45,000 for incentive awards.
January 29, 2025
Federal Judge Approves Alaska Airlines’ $4.75M USERRA Payless Leave Settlement

SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington granted final approval of a $4.75 million settlement between Alaska Airlines Inc., Horizon Air Industries Inc. and a class of commercial airline pilots who allege that they were denied pay during short-term military leaves; the agreement will result in a gross average of $8,928 per class member plus prospective relief.
January 28, 2025
Video Game Player, Amazon Announce Settling Of BIPA Suit; Judge Stays Deadlines

SEATTLE — The same day that Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) and Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon, collectively) and a plaintiff announced the settlement of claims under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) related to a basketball video game, a Washington federal judge stayed proceedings in the putative class action while the settlement is finalized.
January 28, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case On Whether CAFA Was Triggered In Zantac Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 27 declined to review a ruling by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found that a motion to consolidate did not trigger federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), which affirmed a district court decision to remand to state court nine cases asserting personal injury claims stemming from their use of Zantac.
January 28, 2025
Settlement With ‘Landmark’ Recovery In Mortality Table Row Wins Final Approval

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Jan. 27 granted final approval to a class settlement including what retirees said is a “landmark recovery” of $10 million in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans; he also approved the separate $4.75 million agreement, of which $4,366,908.05 is for attorney fees, $308,091.95 is for expenses and $75,000 is for service awards.
January 28, 2025
Securities Suit Involving Reinsurance Dismissed For Lack Of Scienter

NEW YORK — Ruling that the “allegations fail to raise the required strong inference of scienter” and that further amendment would be futile, a New York federal judge dismissed a putative class action that attempted to use a reported error on the reinstatement premium for a specialty casualty reinsurance treaty — and purported statements from confidential witnesses — as the basis for securities fraud claims.
January 28, 2025
Judge OKs $1.07 Million Settlement Of Pharmacy Service Data Breach Class Action

BOSTON — A proposed $1,075,000 settlement of class action negligence and breach of fiduciary duty claims over a pharmacy service’s 2021 data breach received final approval from a Massachusetts federal judge, who found that the agreement satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.
January 27, 2025
Oil, Gas Royalty Settlement Objectors Brief 10th Circuit On Attorney Fee Challenge

DENVER — A trial court in approving more than $17.3 million in attorney fees as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement ignored the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in Strack v. Continental Resources, which requires percentage-based common fund fee awards to be tested by a lodestar cross-check, and failed to follow the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandate to apply controlling Oklahoma law, objectors argue in separate appellant briefs filed in the 10th Circuit.
January 27, 2025
J&J Wins Dismissal Of Fiduciary Breach Claims In ERISA Drug Costs Lawsuit

CAMDEN, N.J. — One of the two high-profile Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty suits focused on health plans’ pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and prescription drug benefits has been partly dismissed with leave to amend, with a New Jersey federal judge on Jan. 24 ruling that the plaintiff lacks standing to assert the key claims in her putative class case.
January 27, 2025
$69M Settlement Gets Initial OK In ERISA Target Date Funds Challenge

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on Jan. 24 preliminarily approved a $69 million proposal that the class representative said would be “the largest settlement in the history of investment performance cases in an [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] context.”
January 27, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Consider Service Awards, Attorney Fees In Meta Privacy Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An objector to the $90 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation over Meta Platforms Inc.’s purported online tracking of Facebook users saw his petition for certiorari denied Jan. 27, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to take up his questions over the propriety of plaintiff service awards and attorney fees in the settlement.
January 27, 2025
Expectant Mothers’ Class Suit Challenges President’s Birthright Citizenship EO

SEATTLE — Three expectant mothers who live in Washington but are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents filed a class complaint on Jan. 24 in a federal court in that state challenging one of President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 Executive Order (EO) they say will alter birthright citizenship and leave their children “without status in” the United States.
January 27, 2025
U.S. High Court Grants Labcorp’s Article III Injury, Class Certification Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 24 agreed to decide a question posed by Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings’ (Labcorp) concerning certification of a class where some members lack injury under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
January 24, 2025
Hawaii Court Won’t Stay Allocation Proceeding Pending Subrogation Ruling

HONOLULU — Without explanation, a Hawaii Supreme Court justice denied a motion to stay a lower court’s allocation proceeding pending the resolution of reserved questions on how the subrogation rights of property and casualty insurance carriers bear on a proposed global settlement of claims related to the August 2023 Maui wildfires.
January 24, 2025
Man Sues Firm For Robocalls Attempting To Obtain Camp Lejeune Water Crisis Clients

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man has filed a putative class action against a law firm and a legal conversion center in North Carolina federal court contending that they violated federal law pertaining to robocalls in an attempt to solicit him as a client in the lawsuit for injuries allegedly caused by contaminated drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
January 24, 2025
U.S. High Court Will Consider Limited Question In Class Case Over Veterans’ Pay

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a veterans’ petition for a writ of certiorari in a class case over retired pay and agreed to hear a limited question concerning whether the Barring Act’s “default procedures and limitations” is displaced by a “settlement mechanism” in 10 U.S. Code Section 1413a.
January 23, 2025
Judge Gives Final OK To $2.2M Settlement Of Data Breach Suit Against Health Care Firm

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted final approval to a dual-fund settlement of a class complaint over a health care provider’s 2021 data breach, concluding that the $2.2 million total settlement, as well as an accompanying request for more than $424,000 in attorney fees, is reasonable.
January 23, 2025
LinkedIn Used Private Messages To Train Generative AI, User Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A user of the professional networking and social media site LinkedIn filed a putative class action lawsuit in California federal court accusing the company that operates the site of violating federal law and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by accessing Premium users’ private messages to train artificial intelligence models without their consent.
January 23, 2025
Plaintiffs Seeks Damages From Apple For Selling Smartwatch Bands That Contain PFAS

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs have filed a putative class action against Apple Inc. in California federal court contending that its smartwatch bands contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which the plaintiffs argue constitutes fraudulent business practices because Apple “intentionally misrepresented and/or concealed material facts with the intent to deceive” customers.
January 23, 2025
Consumers’ Claims Over Lead In Stanley Tumblers Inadequately Pleaded, Judge Says

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge dismissed putative class claims against the manufacturer of Stanley-brand drinkware for violating several states’ consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL), by failing to disclose the presence of lead in its products, writing that the plaintiffs didn’t allege a “plausible risk” from lead’s “mere presence,” but granted the plaintiffs leave to amend.