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

Mealey's Class Actions

May 14, 2025
Government Dismisses TRO Appeal In Immigrant Removal Class Suit After Injunction

DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion by President Donald J. Trump and other federal government parties to voluntarily dismiss their appeal of a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued in a class case by immigrants subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) after the trial court granted a motion for preliminary injunction; that trial court injunction order was issued the same day class certification was granted.
May 14, 2025
Attorney Fees Clarified In Clearview Settlement While Objectors Appeal

CHICAGO — Almost two months after final approval was granted to a settlement of claims against the creator and curator of a massive digital photo database under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the Illinois federal judge who presided over the consolidated class action granted the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for amended judgment, clarifying that she also approved their request for an award of attorney fees.
May 14, 2025
$8.25M Class Settlement Wins Initial OK In ERISA Recordkeeping Fees Row

BOSTON — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly excessive recordkeeping fees would be resolved under a proposed $8.25 million class settlement that a Massachusetts federal judge granted preliminary approval; the plaintiffs say the deal would represent 20% to 30% of their estimated “maximum potential damages.”
May 13, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Ruling In Air, Space Force Members’ Vaccine Case

CINCINNATI — A trial court properly dismissed as moot a class complaint by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated as moot the preliminary injunction previously issued in the case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 12 in an unpublished opinion.
May 13, 2025
Government Argues High Court Relief Is Not Warranted In Immigrant Removal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Interim and permanent relief are not warranted in an immigrant removal case in which the federal government invoked the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), and a temporary injunction issued by a divided U.S. Supreme Court halting the removal of any member of a putative class of immigrant detainees in Texas must be modified to permit “unlawfully present aliens” to be removed from the United States under authorities other than the AEA, the federal government tells the high court in a May 12 supplemental memorandum.
May 12, 2025
Live Nation, Ticketmaster Seek High Court Review Of FAA Reach In Online Sales Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) protects all or only certain arbitration agreements and whether the federal act preempts California’s severability doctrine in a petition for writ of certiorari filed after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s denial of arbitration in a putative class complaint accusing the two companies of engaging in anticompetitive practices in online ticket sales.
May 12, 2025
DOE, Secretary Oppose Rehearing After 9th Circuit’s Loan Settlement Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel properly ruled that three for-profit universities failed to show that they had standing to challenge a final settlement approval based on their inclusion on a settlement exhibit in a class case over the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) alleged backlog of hundreds of thousands of unprocessed applications for borrower defense relief, the DOE and Education Secretary Linda McMahon argue in response to a petition for rehearing en banc filed by one of the schools.
May 09, 2025
RFK Jr.: Coal Miner’s Class Action Over Cuts To NIOSH Black Lung Program Fails

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved in West Virginia federal court to dismiss a putative class action filed by a coal miner with black lung who says Kennedy violated federal law when he terminated the majority of staff at the Respiratory Health Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, W.Va., arguing that the plaintiff lacks standing under the U.S. Constitution and the claims are barred by sovereign immunity.
May 09, 2025
Philadelphia Inquirer Users Will Receive $27.30 Each To Settle VPPA, Wiretap Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge decreed the settlement of class claims against the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC under the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) and a state wiretap law to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” granting final approval to the agreement, under which the newspaper operator will pay more than $1.1 million to cover class members’ claims, costs and attorney fees.
May 09, 2025
Judge: No Showing That Federal Government Breached 2023 Immigrant Separation Pact

SAN DIEGO — Immigrants who reached an agreement with the federal government in 2023 settling class claims they brought after being separated from their children failed to show that the agreement was breached when the government changed its method of providing legal services, one component of the agreement, a federal judge in California ruled, denying the immigrants’ motion to enforce the settlement agreement.
May 09, 2025
Tesla Owners’ Automatic Software Updates Case Dismissed After Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed with prejudice a putative class lawsuit accusing Tesla Inc. of rolling out automatic software updates that “deplete the battery and reduce the driving range of the vehicles by at least 20%” after the named parties stated that they reached a settlement agreement as to the named plaintiffs’ individual claims.
May 08, 2025
Final Approval Given To Settlement In Alleged Ponzi Scheme Involvement Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon granted final approval to a $90,000 settlement between investors who lost money to an alleged Ponzi scheme and two of the entities they allege aided the scheme.
May 08, 2025
$46M Pharmaceutical Company Stock-Drop Suit Gets Final Approval

TRENTON, N.J. — A $46 million settlement between current and former executives and members of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company that went bankrupt during the proceeding and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities law by making material misstatements that caused the price of the company’s stock to be artificially inflated has been granted final approval by a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Given To $9 Million Settlement Of Parking App Data Breach Suit

ATLANTA — Six months after a Georgia federal judge preliminarily approved a $9 million settlement of a class action over a 2021 data breach experienced by the operator of mobile parking apps, he granted a motion for final approval of the deal on May 6, finding it to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class.”
May 07, 2025
Claims Against Burger King For Deceptively Advertising Large Burgers May Proceed

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge denied Burger King Corp.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action accusing it of deceptively advertising its burgers including the “Whopper” with ingredients overflowing the bun to make the burgers appear 35% larger than they are, finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that Burger King violated the consumer protection laws of 11 states, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 07, 2025
Citing Smith, 6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ERISA Row Over Recordkeeping Fees

CINCINNATI — Citing Smith v. CommonSpirit Health and saying that “many of our sister circuits have found implausible similar complaints,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 6 upheld dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class action over 401(k) recordkeeping and administrative (RKA) fees.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Granted To $362.5M Settlement In Securities Action Against GE

NEW YORK — A $362.5 million settlement between General Electric Co. and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities laws in relation to its representations regarding its power division’s factoring of long-term receivables was given final approval by a federal judge in New York.
May 06, 2025
Final Approval Granted In North Carolina Class Suit Over Health System Data Breach

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina business court judge granted a motion for final approval of a $1.17 million settlement of negligence and privacy class claims over a May 2023 data breach experienced by a health care organization.
May 06, 2025
Judge Dismisses Child Abuse Victim’s Putative Class Suit Over ICloud File-Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed putative class claims against Apple Inc. for violating federal sex trafficking laws and child pornography laws brought against it by a 9-year-old victim relating to the alleged dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Apple’s iCloud service but granted the plaintiff leave to amend her claims for violation of consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 06, 2025
Plaintiffs: Class Claims In 4th Amended Complaint Against Fracking Firm Are Valid

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Plaintiffs have filed a brief in West Virginia federal court contending that it should deny a motion by a hydraulic fracturing operator seeking to strike class allegations from the fourth amended complaint in the parties’ dispute of mineral rights and allegations of breach of contract. The plaintiffs insist that contrary to the fracking company’s argument, there is no factual or legal basis to strike class allegations and there is no basis to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
May 06, 2025
ERISA, Breach Of Contract Claims Fail In Row Over ‘Pre-Separation Programs’

CHICAGO — Dismissing a putative class action over United Airlines Inc. early retirement programs with leave to amend but expressing skepticism “that the plaintiffs can cure the problems with the complaint,” an Illinois federal judge ruled in part that a policy the airline announced in 2017 “does not constitute an . . . employee welfare benefit plan” that is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
May 06, 2025
Class Suit Filed Against Google, LinkedIn Over Marketplace ‘Interceptions’

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California resident filed a putative class complaint against LinkedIn Corp. and Google LLC alleging violations of California and federal privacy laws when LinkedIn and Google purportedly intercepted communications without consent when she and other class members were completing health information forms on the Covered California website, California’s health insurance marketplace.
May 05, 2025
Judge OKs $20M Settlement, $5M Attorney Fees In Apple Watch Swelling Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $20 million settlement between Apple Inc. and plaintiffs who sought damages due to a battery swelling defect with early-model Apple Watches that in some cases caused watch screens to detach or shatter and also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for $5 million in attorney fees and nearly a half-million dollars in litigation expenses.
May 05, 2025
Class Largely Prevails On Summary Judgment In ERISA Early Retirement Row

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action is headed toward a bench trial on just a few remaining claims after a Kansas federal judge resolved exclusion and partial summary judgment motions, ruling in part that the plan at issue “does not permit Defendants to deny early retirement benefits regardless of the type of work the participants perform for Covered Employers.”
May 05, 2025
After $38.76M Jury Verdict, Deal Is Reported In ERISA Fees Challenge

NEW YORK — Just over a week after a federal jury returned a $38,760,232 verdict in favor of a class of retirement plan participants who challenged the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan (MEP), a New York federal judge on May 2 stayed all deadlines in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case on a report of “a settlement in principle.”