Mealey's Class Actions
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August 11, 2025
4th Circuit: Regular Appeal Notice Proper For Challenging CAFA Remand Order
RICHMOND, Va. — A regular notice of appeal filed under 28 U.S. Code Section 1291 is appropriate to seek review of a remand order based on the Class Action Fairness Act’s local controversy exception, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a remand order in a putative class complaint alleging community lead exposure following hydroblasting of a television tower in Baltimore.
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August 11, 2025
$6.9M Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Imprudence Row Over Fees And Funds
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal magistrate judge granted final approval to a $6.9 million class settlement of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit involving recordkeeping fees and proprietary target date funds (TDFs); according to retirement plan participants, the gross amount is “approximately 12% to 38% of damages” estimated by their expert.
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August 07, 2025
Fiduciary Breach Claim Partly Survives In Long-Running Insurance Coverage Row
SAN FRANCISCO — After more than a decade of litigation that includes numerous appellate court rulings in a class action over thousands of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims, a California federal magistrate judge ruled that part of a breach of fiduciary claim survives and exhaustion as to that remaining claim is not required or is excused.
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August 07, 2025
Judge Approves $6.8 Million Settlement Of Rite Aid Data Breach Class Action
PHILADELPHIA — A $6.8 million settlement of a consolidated class action over a 2024 data breach experienced by Rite Aid Corp. satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 and relevant case law, a Pennsylvania federal judge found, granting final approval to the settlement as well as to the plaintiffs’ requests for attorney fees, costs and service awards.
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August 07, 2025
False Advertising Suit Against IVF Embryo-Testing Company Dismissed
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action filed by two women against a company that advertises itself as testing embryos obtained through in vitro fertilization (IVF) for abnormalities before implantation, finding that the plaintiffs’ claims that the company misrepresented the accuracy of its tests in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws were not pleaded with sufficient specificity.
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August 06, 2025
$8.2M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Case Involving Target Date Funds
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act retirement plan case over the inclusion of Northern Trust target date funds (TDFs) and other purported pension benefit plan mismanagement has been closed after a Pennsylvania federal judge granted final approval to an $8.2 million class settlement.
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August 06, 2025
$26M Settlement In Mastercard Pay Discrimination Class Suit Wins Final Approval
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Mastercard Inc. will pay $26 million to settle a class and collective action alleging that it systematically treated female, Black and Hispanic employees less favorably than white or male employees performing similar work in violation of equal pay and antidiscrimination laws; a federal judge in New York granted final approval to the settlement, finding the relief “significant and meaningful.”
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August 06, 2025
2nd Round Of Settlements Ends Indirect Chicken Buyers’ Antitrust Claims
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval of a second round of settlements totaling $41.25 million between commercial and institutional indirect purchaser plaintiffs (CIIPPs) and 13 defendants in an antitrust case accusing broiler sellers of fixing the prices for chicken.
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August 06, 2025
ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M
Class settlements below $5 million have been finalized or proposed in 18 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between late April and early August.
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August 05, 2025
Magistrate: Fracking Royalty Case Warrants Partial Grant Of Class Certification
PITTSBURGH — A federal magistrate judge in Pennsylvania on Aug. 4 issued a report in which he recommended that leaseholders’ motion for class certification in their case against hydraulic fracturing operators for unpaid royalties be granted in part and denied in part, saying the plaintiffs have shown that the class is ascertainable but have not presented evidence to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2).
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August 05, 2025
9th Circuit Uses Effective Vindication Doctrine In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Case
PASADENA, Calif. — Calling the holding in the tobacco surcharge case “consistent with” decisions that five sister circuits issued in a variety of Employee Retirement Income Security Act disputes in the past few years, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 4 ruled in part that a health plan arbitration provision’s “representative action waiver violates the effective vindication doctrine and is unenforceable.”
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August 05, 2025
D.C. Circuit, Like Trial Court, Denies Injunction In Canceled Grants Class Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an emergency motion for injunction pending appeal sought by five justice-related nonprofit organizations after a federal judge dismissed their putative class complaint against the U.S. Department of Justice and related officials for canceling, without notice or explanation, more than 370 agreements and contracts with private organizations worth more than $820 million.
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August 04, 2025
D.C. Circuit Partially Stays Orders In Asylum, Noncitizen Removal Class Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Aug. 1 per curiam order stayed pending appeal a trial court’s rulings on an Inauguration Day proclamation that limited asylum and withholding of removal applications.
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August 04, 2025
Jury Finds Meta Liable For Intercepting Communications On Menstrual-Tracking App
SAN FRANCISCO — One day after a group of plaintiffs announced a mid-trial settlement of their privacy claims against the maker of an ovulation tracking app, a California federal jury on Aug. 1 found co-defendant Meta Platforms Inc. liable under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) for participating in the interception of the app users’ personal communications.
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August 04, 2025
Judge Gives Preliminary OK To $4.7M Settlement Of Deceptive Discount Claims
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval of a $4.7 million settlement of class action claims accusing an underwear and apparel company of deceiving online customers with “fake timers that countdown fake limited time sales” in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, with the amount of attorney fees sought by plaintiffs’ counsel not yet specified.
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August 04, 2025
Johns Hopkins University’s $18.5M Price-Fixing Financial Aid Settlement OK’d
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval of an $18.5 million settlement by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), one of more than a dozen schools accused in a class case of “participating in a price-fixing cartel that is designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid as a locus of competition.”
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August 01, 2025
Judge Approves $10 Million Settlement In NFT Securities Class Row With DraftKings
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge issued an order approving a $10 million settlement between parties in a class suit accusing DraftKings Inc. of violating securities laws through its sale of nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
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August 01, 2025
OnlyFans Operators Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of Subscribers’ Class Suit
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The entities that operate the adult website OnlyFans on July 31 filed a motion asking a California federal judge to reconsider a ruling refusing to dismiss on forum non conveniens a suit brought by California subscribers who claim that they were deceived into paying to communicate with “professional chatters” instead of adult content creators, writing that the court’s “public policy rationales” were recently overturned.
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August 01, 2025
Mass. Federal Judge Says Expert Can Testify In Dispute Over Rental Car Coverage
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has ruled that an expert retained by policyholders suing their insurers for prematurely terminating their rental car benefits can testify, finding that he is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and that any potential bias goes to the weight or the credibility of his testimony.
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August 01, 2025
3rd Circuit Affirms Class Certification In J&J Asbestos Stock Suit
PHILADELPHIA — A judge properly certified an asbestos talc securities class after finding that each of six disclosures about the safety of talc or the presence of asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talc led to a drop in the company’s stock price, a divided Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a divided nonprecedential opinion affirming class certification.
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July 30, 2025
Privacy Claims Against Meta, Google Over Prescription Website May Proceed
SAN FRANCISCO — Consolidated claims that Google LLC and Meta Platforms Inc. intercepted and used the protected health information (PHI) of users of a health services website mostly survived a dismissal motion, with a California federal judge finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged claims for invasion of privacy, unfair competition and unjust enrichment, among other things.
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July 31, 2025
Women’s Dating Advice App ‘Ignored’ Data Security Before Hack, Plaintiffs Say
SAN FRANCISCO — Two women filed separate putative class action lawsuits in California federal court against the developer of the Tea app, where women post anonymously about dating men, accusing it of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after its database of users’ identity-verification photos and drivers’ license pictures was hacked and posted online.
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July 31, 2025
Judge: Biotech Company’s Misstatements Inactionable, Not Material To Stock Drop Suit
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a stockholder’s class action complaint alleging that a biotechnology company and its top officer misled investors through certain financial disclosures that when corrected caused the stock’s price to drop, finding the subject misstatements inactionable or not material.
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July 31, 2025
Class Members To Net Over $3,400 Apiece In COBRA Notice Deal Granted Initial OK
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A $1 million proposal to settle a suit over allegedly deficient Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notice on a class basis won preliminary approval in Michigan federal court; in the granted motion, the named plaintiff estimated that about 184 class members would net approximately $3,451 apiece in a recovery “significantly higher than many other class action settlements in cases involving similar alleged violations.”
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July 31, 2025
University Of Pittsburgh’s $7.85M Pandemic Closure Class Settlement Approved
PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh’s $7,850,000 class settlement to end a case by students who sued over the school’s failure to refund tuition and housing, dining and student fees paid for the spring 2020 semester when classes were moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic was granted final approval by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.