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

Mealey's Class Actions

June 04, 2025
Judgment Amended To Add Over $10M In Prejudgment Interest In Insurers’ ACA Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge issued an order granting objecting members of nondispute subclasses’ motion to amend a judgment to include prejudgment interest in a risk-corridor payment class action dispute under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), finding that the equitable award should be based upon the common fund escrow account rate.
June 04, 2025
Judge Refuses To Exclude Experts Retained To Argue For Class Certification

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge denied without prejudice two motions to exclude experts in a putative class action over whether an arts and crafts store falsely advertised discounted sales prices, finding “that at this point in the proceedings,” the testimony is not inadmissible.
June 04, 2025
Investors Urge 9th Circuit Not To Hear Class Certification Issue In Stock Loss Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of investors urged the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals not to grant Wells Fargo & Co.’s petition for permission to appeal a California federal judge’s order granting class certification to the investors in their suit against Wells Fargo and certain executives alleging that news of the company’s practice of using fake interviews to give the impression of complying with internal diversity hiring practices led to a drop in stock value, arguing that the judge properly found that their out-of-pocket event study damages methodology satisfies the necessary requirements.
June 04, 2025
Wiretapping, Data-Sharing Claims Against Eyewear Website Dismissed For Second Time

DALLAS — Almost eight months after a Texas federal judge dismissed a putative class action alleging that an eyewear retailer’s website was sharing customers’ private health information (PHI) with Meta Platforms Inc., the judge dismissed an amended complaint, finding that the plaintiffs still failed to allege that any PHI, in the form of eyewear prescriptions, was among the data that was shared.
June 03, 2025
7th Circuit Won’t Revisit Mandamus Denial In ERISA Mortality Table Transfer Row

CHICAGO — In a one-paragraph June 2 order, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined to rehear an unsuccessful mandamus petition over refusal to transfer a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case that challenges the use of a 1984 mortality table in pension calculations; among other things, the petitioner argued that the order at issue “deviates from all eleven of its sister circuits and presents a question of exceptional importance that multiple circuits have decided en banc.”
June 03, 2025
Dismissal Of BIPA Suit Denied; Amendment Limiting Damages Is Not Retroactive

CHICAGO — An August 2024 amendment to the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that limits the amount of damages an individual may recover was a change rather than a clarification and was not retroactive, a federal judge in that state ruled, denying a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction filed by the operators of medical facilities accused by employees of collecting and storing their information.
June 03, 2025
Federal Judge Approves TCPA Class Settlement In Newspaper Subscription Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) settlement that will provide class members with at least $800 each “is in excess of many class-action settlements in cases under the” TCPA, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled, granting final approval of the $450,000 agreement between a telecommunications company and a certified class of individuals who received more than one newspaper subscription phone call in the last four years despite being on the National Do-Not-Call Registry (DNC).
June 03, 2025
Aerospace Engineering Firms’ Settlements Granted Final OK In No-Poaching Suit

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut issued a pair of orders granting final approval of approximately $60.5 million in settlements reached in a class case by workers who accuse aerospace engineering firms and executives of conspiring to not solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval or otherwise compete for engineers and other skilled employees and awarding attorney fees, costs and service awards.
June 02, 2025
Prejudgment Interest Denied After Verdict In Tea Labeling Class Suit

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied a motion for prejudgment interest filed by a class of tea consumers after a jury returned a verdict in their favor in a case over the labeling on R.C. Bigelow’s tea products, finding that the length of litigation was not the fault of the defendant and rejected settlement offers were not “grounds to warrant prejudgment interest in this case.”
June 02, 2025
Judge Consolidates Class Discovery In Deceptive Marketing Zyn Suits

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on May 30 granted an unopposed motion by the companies that manufacture and sell Zyn nicotine pouches to consolidate discovery in four pending putative class actions against them for allegedly deceptively marketing the products as nicotine cessation products.
June 02, 2025
U.S. High Court To Decide Appealability Of Order In Forced Labor Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court this morning granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the operator of a private immigration detention facility in Colorado that asked the justices in a class suit by detainees alleging forced labor to decide whether interlocutory orders holding that a federal contractor does not meet the requirements under Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. for a defense to liability for damages are immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.
May 30, 2025
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Student Loan Class Settlement Standing Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by a for-profit university after a split panel ruled that that school and two others failed to show that they had standing to challenge a final class settlement approval in a student loan dispute based on their inclusion in a settlement exhibit.
May 30, 2025
Ex-Employees’ Claims Over Duty-Free Shops’ Data Breach Partly Survive Dismissal

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Negligence and breach of implied contracts brought by two former employees against the operators of airport duty-free shops may proceed, a New York federal judge ruled, while dismissing unjust enrichment and fiduciary duty claims related to a 2023 data breach.
May 30, 2025
U.S. High Court Stays April Order In Class Suit Challenging Immigration Changes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on May 30 granted an application by the federal government and stayed an April order by a trial court in Massachusetts that granted temporary relief on a classwide basis in a case alleging that changes to immigration policies via President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive orders (EOs) and a memorandum issued the same day by the acting secretary of Homeland Security have dismantled “legally established and Congressionally authorized pathways to the United States.”
May 30, 2025
Judgment Partly Granted To Meta, App Maker In Ovulation App Privacy Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge delivered a mixed summary judgment ruling to Meta Platforms Inc. and Flo Health Inc., as he partly dismissed privacy and consumer protection claims in a class action over allegations that users’ personally identifiable information (PII) was shared when they used the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker app.
May 30, 2025
Nonprofits Whose Grants Were Canceled Sue DOJ, Seek Preliminary Injunction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five justice-related nonprofit organizations have filed a civil complaint against the U.S. Justice Department and related officials saying they violated the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional guarantees of due process by canceling, without notice or explanation, more than 370 agreements and contracts with private organizations worth more than $820 million.
May 29, 2025
E-Cig Maker Accused Of Deceiving Vapers With ‘Greenwashing’ Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Three e-cigarette users filed a putative class complaint on May 28 against R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and its affiliates, accusing them of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting their e-cigarette products to consumers as “carbon-neutral” to boost sales as part of an allegedly deceptive “greenwashing” campaign.
May 29, 2025
Ex-Employee’s Beef With Meatpacker’s Data Breach Response Sent To Arbitration

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Finding a beef producer’s arbitration agreement to be binding on a former employee that sued the company over a 2024 data breach, a Georgia federal judge directed the plaintiff to submit her putative negligence and breach of contract class claims to an arbitrator.
May 29, 2025
Final OK Given To $3.25 Million Settlement Of Class Action Over USAA Data Breach

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An almost 4-year-old suit over a 2021 data breach experienced by United Services Automobile Association (USAA) was resolved when a New York federal judge approved a $3.25 million settlement between the insurance company and a lone lead plaintiff, disposing of claims including negligence and violation of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA).
May 28, 2025
$8.9M Settlement By Soda Company For ‘Prebiotic’ Claims Gets Preliminary OK

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted an unopposed motion for preliminary approval of an $8.9 million settlement by the manufacturer of a soda product that was sued by consumers for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws due to the product being deceptively labeled as “Prebiotic” and “gut healthy” and approved the plaintiffs’ plan to request a 30% attorney fee award.
May 28, 2025
Golden Corral, Employees Settle Data Breach Class Action For $1.85 Million

RALEIGH, N.C. — A $1.85 million settlement of class claims over a 2013 data breach experienced by Golden Corral Corp. received final approval from a North Carolina federal judge, who deemed the restaurant chain’s agreement with a class of employees whose personally identifiable information (PII) was compromised in the breach to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the” class.
May 28, 2025
High Court Gets More Feedback On Review Bid Concerning ERISA Benchmark Issue

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retirement plan participants and an amicus curiae underwriter offer divergent views in briefing an Employee Retirement Income Security Act review petition, with the participants telling the U.S. Supreme Court that “participant-led ERISA fiduciary breach litigation has reduced by nearly 50% the expenses of retirement plan investments” and the underwriter contending that “lower courts’ failure to strike the right balance in fiduciary breach cases has been hugely disruptive and wasteful.”
May 28, 2025
Another ERISA Case Over A Health Plan Tobacco Surcharge Survives Dismissal

RICHMOND, Va. — Calling Mehlberg v. Compass Grp. USA, Inc. “analogous and compelling persuasive authority,” a Virginia federal judge declined to dismiss a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over health plan tobacco surcharges.
May 27, 2025
U.S. High Court Won’t Review Summary Judgment Reversal In Parking Fine Class Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 27 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Los Angeles after a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed summary judgment for the city in a putative class complaint challenging the city’s parking fee and late payment penalty.
May 27, 2025
2nd Circuit Finds It Has No Jurisdiction To Review State Labor Class Judgment

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain an appeal of a judgment on state law wage and hour class claims because the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ unadjudicated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims to allow for intermediate appeal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) was conditional.