Mealey's Class Actions
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April 22, 2025
Harriet Carter Website User Appeals Wiretap Ruling To 3rd Circuit
PITTSBURGH — In the wake of a Pennsylvania federal court’s summary judgment ruling that disposed of her state wiretapping claim against Harriet Carter Gifts Inc., a plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the ruling that found that she gave her implied consent to a third party’s interception of her communications on the website.
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April 22, 2025
Officer Asks 3rd Circuit For Anonymity In Police, Judge Data Shield Law Row
PHILADELPHIA — A Jane Doe police officer moved to proceed anonymously in a coalition of data brokers’ appeal of a trial court ruling that upheld a New Jersey law requiring data brokers to remove, at a subject’s request, any data that identifies judges, law enforcement officer or family members, with Doe recounting, for the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, risks she has already faced that endangered her safety and that of her family.
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April 22, 2025
Former Employee Seeks Payment For Mandatory Pre-Shift COVID-19 Screening
CHICAGO — A former employee filed a purported class action against his employer seeking to recover unpaid wages for mandatory pre-shift COVID-19 screening during the pandemic under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL), the Illinois Wage and Payment Collection Act (IWPCA) and quantum meruit, contending that the time spent screening and awaiting screening was controlled by the employer and necessary to his job and, thus, compensable.
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April 21, 2025
U.S. High Court’s Other ERISA Prohibited Transaction Petition Is Redistributed
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act pleading standard for prohibited transaction claims, a separate review petition concerning a different prohibited transaction dispute on April 21 was distributed for conference for a second time.
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April 21, 2025
High Court Will Hear Arguments On Stay Of Birthright Citizenship EO Injunctions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order consolidating and deferring until after oral arguments consideration of three applications by the federal government seeking partial stay of nationwide preliminary injunctions in three cases, one of which is a putative class action, that are challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) concerning birthright citizenship.
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April 21, 2025
GM Agrees To $150M Class Settlement In Defective Engine Case
SAN FRANCISCO — General Motors LLC (GM) will provide a $150 million settlement to end an engine defect class case by consumers, according to a motion for preliminary approval filed in a federal court in California; the amount will provide each class member with $4,419 before attorney fees and other expenses are paid, an amount larger than that achieved at an October 2022 trial.
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April 21, 2025
District Court’s Contempt Related Ruling Stayed In Immigrant Removal Class Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 18 administratively stayed a trial court’s ruling that probable cause exists to determine that the government’s actions in an immigrant removal class case constitute criminal contempt in order for the appellate court to consider the government’s emergency motion for stay pending appeal or a writ of mandamus.
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April 21, 2025
Consolidated Donation Misuse MDL Against Mormon Church Dismissed With Prejudice
SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah dismissed with prejudice a consolidated multidistrict litigation accusing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of misusing donations, finding that the donors’ claims were barred by the statute of limitations and were “not adequately pled.”
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April 21, 2025
Split U.S. High Court Bars Removal Of Putative Class Of Texas Immigrant Detainees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on April 19 ordered the U.S. government to not remove under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) any member of a putative class of immigrant detainees in Texas until further order by the high court.
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April 21, 2025
Jury Awards $2.36M In ‘Made- In-The-U.S.’ California Tea Class Action Trial
LOS ANGELES — A California federal court jury awarded $2.36 million to a class of Californians who purchased tea from R.C. Bigelow Inc. after the jury found that the defendant violated the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) through unfair and deceptive trade practices, beached its express warranty and made false representations about the tea being made in the United States.
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April 18, 2025
Citing High Court, Judge Dissolves TRO In DOGE Fair Housing Grants Case
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Following U.S. Supreme Court precedent in a similar case, a Massachusetts federal judge dissolved his temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the federal government from terminating the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), saying the case belongs in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
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April 18, 2025
Tobacco Surcharge Suit That Is Part Of Recent Wave Survives Dismissal
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Saying in part that there is precedent under which the named plaintiffs “have adequately alleged that Defendant’s tobacco surcharge violated [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act] because it did not offer a retroactive reimbursement,” a Missouri federal judge declined to dismiss a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar suits.
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April 18, 2025
$20 Million Global Settlement Of Fortra Software Data Breach MDL Gets Initial OK
MIAMI — The Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 security breach, experienced by users of Fortra LLC’s file-transfer app, granted preliminary approval to a $20 million global settlement that encompasses eight of nine putative class actions filed against the software company, its clients and their customers that provides for payments of up to $5,000 for affected class members.
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April 18, 2025
OnlyFans’ California Profits Create Jurisdiction, Subscribers Tell 9th Circuit
SAN FRANCISCO — Two subscribers of adult website OnlyFans urge the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a California federal judge’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction of their lawsuit accusing OnlyFans’ foreign owner of unlawful subscription renewals in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), writing that the website purposefully avails itself of California and makes $400 million in annual revenue from the state.
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April 18, 2025
Pennsylvania Federal Judge Awards Reduced $982,998 In Fees In Denny’s Settlement
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge has awarded a plaintiff in a wage and hour class settlement involving Denny’s restaurants $982,998 in attorney fees, reducing the requested amount by 11% for a variety of reasons, including reasonable fees for the Pittsburgh legal market.
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April 17, 2025
$5M Deal Gets Final OK, With Trimmed Awards, In ERISA Fees, Funds Case
PHILADELPHIA — A $5 million class settlement including an agreement to conduct requests for proposals (RFPs) has been granted final approval in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging a multiemployer retirement plan’s fund choices, share classes and record-keeping, but a Pennsylvania federal judge awarded reduced incentive awards and attorney fees of $1,000 and $950,000, respectively, instead of the $8,000 and $1,666,500 requested.
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April 17, 2025
Colorado High Court: Discovery Sought In Hospital Lien Class Suit Isn’t Relevant
DENVER — In its second time considering a trial court’s order compelling discovery responses from an accident victim, the Colorado Supreme Court determined that the items sought by a hospital operator were not relevant to the plaintiff’s class claims under Colorado’s hospital lien statute and were not proportional to the needs of the case.
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April 17, 2025
Final Approval Granted To $4.75M Plus Bitcoin Settlement In Crypto Mining Suit
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York gave final approval to a settlement in which a cryptocurrency mining company agreed to pay $4.75 million in cash and the U.S. dollar equivalent of 25 bitcoin to settle a suit brought against it, certain executives and underwriters, by shareholders who alleged that the value of the company’s stock dropped after its initial public offering because it made misstatements and omissions in its offering statements in violation of the Securities Act of 1933.
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April 17, 2025
Defendant Seeks Immediate Appeal After PRT Challenge Survives Dismissal
GREENBELT, Md. — Requesting that denial of its dismissal motion be certified for immediate interlocutory appeal in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), Lockheed Martin Corp. told a Maryland federal court that a sister court’s contradictory ruling highlights the need for review by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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April 17, 2025
U.S. High Court Reverses 2nd Circuit On ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Issuing a unanimous reversal and accompanying concurrence in a dispute concerning what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim involving a service provider, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 17 ruled that a certain exemption is not a claim element that a plaintiff must negate but rather an affirmative defense for which the burden falls on the defendant.
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April 17, 2025
Judge Declines To Reconsider Opinion In Class Action Against Crypto Platform
NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge denied a cryptocurrency platform’s motion for reconsideration of his opinion and order mostly denying its motion to dismiss a putative class action brought by investors alleging that the company and several of its executives and directors misrepresented material aspects of the platform’s business, holding that he did not overlook any legal issue when issuing the opinion.
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April 17, 2025
Government Appeals Criminal Contempt Probable Cause Ruling In Removal Class Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed a notice of appeal on April 16 immediately following a ruling by a federal judge in the District of Columbia that probable cause exists to determine that the government’s actions in an immigrant removal class case constitute criminal contempt.
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April 17, 2025
Plaintiffs Lack DUFTA Standing, Insurance Holding Company Says In Delaware Court
WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that the plaintiffs in a putative class suit lack standing to bring a Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (DUFTA) claim, an insurance holding company and its affiliates seek summary judgment in the Delaware Chancery Court over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits.
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April 17, 2025
$195,000 Class Deal Gets Final OK In Suit Over Allegedly Fraudulent Policies
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Noting the absence of objections and that “the average class member payment will be $467.77, and the highest payment will be $5,204.40,” a California federal judge granted final approval to a $195,000 class settlement that resolves a suit over allegedly counterfeited insurance policies sold through a captive reinsurance arrangement.
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April 16, 2025
Driver’s License Swiping Row Remanded To Oregon Court Without Attorney Fees Award
PORTLAND, Ore. — A putative class action over a gas station chain’s practice of swiping customers’ driver’s licenses for age-restricted purchases was remanded to state court, with an Oregon federal judge fully adopting a magistrate’s recommendation to grant the plaintiff’s motion to remand for lack of standing.