Mealey's Class Actions
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January 10, 2025
After Revival, Defendants Win ERISA Disclosure Case With Release Agreement
NEW YORK — After the putative class action over annual benefit statements provided after a traditional defined benefit retirement plan was converted to a cash balance plan was partly revived on different grounds, a New York federal judge ruled against the plaintiff on all remaining claims, which she said were “barred by the release the plaintiff executed in exchange for receipt of his severance package.”
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January 10, 2025
2nd Circuit Affirms That Amended ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Complaint Was Futile
NEW YORK — Citing a different panel’s recent ruling in Singh v. Deloitte LLP, which had “substantially the same claims,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order and judgment affirming denial of leave to file a third amended complaint in a putative class action challenging a retirement plan’s record-keeping fees.
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January 10, 2025
2nd Circuit Again Upholds A Refusal To Compel Arbitration In An ERISA Case
NEW YORK — Granting a motion based on Cedeno v. Sasson, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel summarily affirmed a ruling that an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) arbitration clause is not enforceable because it conflicts with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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January 09, 2025
Hospice Provider Can’t Dodge Wiretapping, Privacy Lawsuit
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A customer of an end-of-life care provider sufficiently alleges that the company’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) software to record clients’ telephone conversations without their consent violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a California federal judge found Jan. 8, denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss.
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January 09, 2025
Content Creators Say PayPal Used ‘Honey’ Browser Extension To ‘Steal’ Profits
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Jan. 8 deferred ruling on an administrative motion to relate four putative class actions brought by influencers and content creators active on YouTube and Instagram who accuse PayPal Inc. of interfering with prospective economic relations and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a popular browser extension to redirect their profits from market affiliate links to itself.
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January 09, 2025
Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $15.25 Million Securities Settlement
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A medical device and pharmaceutical company and its shareholders received final approval of a settlement by a federal judge in North Carolina, ending a case brought by the shareholders, who alleged that they sustained financial losses based on false or misleading statements about securities offered by the company.
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January 09, 2025
4th Circuit Vacates Certification Of Bojangles Wage Class For Abuse Of Discretion
RICHMOND, Va. — A trial court abused its discretion when it certified two classes of Bojangles’ Restaurants Inc. shift managers in a wage-and-hour complaint as “it employed an inappropriately high level of generality when” it identified the policies allegedly related to the claim and when it created “overly broad class definitions,” a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating the certification order and remanding.
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January 09, 2025
Chicken Growers’ $100M Compensation Suppression Pact With Pilgrim’s Pride Approved
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma granted final approval of a $100 million plus interest settlement between a nationwide class of growers and one of the poultry processors accused of conspiring to suppress their compensation in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act and granted a motion for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
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January 09, 2025
Final Approval Granted To U.S. Portion Of Fracking Securities Global Settlement
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to the approximately $7 million U.S. portion of a global settlement in a case brought by investors alleging that an oil and gas exploration company violated securities laws.
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January 09, 2025
Vice Chancellor Addresses Privilege Claims In DUFTA Case Discovery Dispute
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor ordered plaintiffs to produce some documents they had argued were privileged and to pay for additional depositions in a putative class suit 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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January 08, 2025
$52.8 Million Settlement Approved In New York City Prison Confinement Case
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a more than $52.8 million settlement between New York City and prisoners who alleged that they were housed in “stealth isolation confinement facilities indefinitely” and denied due process.
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January 08, 2025
Amicus Argument Granted In High Court Case Over ERISA Pleading Standard
WASHINGTON, D.C. —The U.S. Supreme Court in a Jan. 8 order list granted the government’s request to be allowed to participate as amicus curiae in divided Jan. 22 argument concerning what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for a prohibited transaction between a retirement plan and a party in interest.
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January 08, 2025
Decade-Long Amazon Wage-And-Hour MDL Dismissed After $11.1M Settlement Approved
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky dismissed with prejudice a multidistrict litigation accusing Amazon.com Inc. and related parties of failing to pay workers for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings stating that all matters had been resolved; the order was filed a little over two weeks after an $11.1 million settlement between the online retailer and California workers was granted final approval.
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January 08, 2025
$4.95M ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Deal Proposed In Case That Preceded Recent Wave
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A suit filed months before a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plans’ tobacco surcharges would be resolved for $4.95 million under a class settlement to which the plaintiff has asked a Missouri federal court to grant preliminary approval.
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January 08, 2025
After Revival, Settlement Of Almost $1.5M Is Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Suit
DALLAS — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act fees and funds challenge that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived in an unpublished opinion would be resolved for $1,475,000 under a class settlement the plaintiffs have asked a Texas federal court to grant preliminary approval.
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January 08, 2025
Home Depot’s $9.5 Million Meal, Rest Period Settlement Granted Final Approval
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington in a pair of orders granted final approval of a $9.5 million class settlement by The Home Depot Inc. and Home Depot USA Inc. (together, Home Depot) in a complaint by workers who alleged that the companies owed unpaid wages and compensation for rest and meal breaks the workers were denied and approved the requested attorney fees, costs and incentive awards.
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January 08, 2025
Class Certification Denied In Amazon Driver’s Expenses, Misclassification Case
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington denied a renewed motion for class certification filed by an Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon Logistics Inc. (together, Amazon) driver who alleges that he and other have been misclassified and were made to pay for business expenses and dismissed the driver’s Massachusetts Wage Act claim “for failure to state a viable claim.”
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January 08, 2025
Wal-Mart Applicant Seeks Rehearing After Dismissal Of Cannabis Use Suit Upheld
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority erred in upholding a ruling finding that a New Jersey law prohibiting the firing of workers for cannabis use does not create a private cause of action as the “novel question of state law” needed to be certified to the New Jersey Supreme Court, the majority’s analysis of the case “conflicts with decisions of the Supreme Court and” the Third Circuit and the majority’s “interpretation effectively nullifies core employment protections that the New Jersey Legislature enacted, agues a job applicant whose job offer was rescinded after testing positive for cannabis in a petition for rehearing.
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January 07, 2025
$6.9M Settlement Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Case Over Fees And Funds
CHICAGO — Seeking preliminary approval of a $6.9 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit involving record-keeping fees and proprietary target date funds (TDFs), retirement plan participants on Jan. 6 told an Illinois federal court that the gross amount is “approximately 12% to 38% of damages” estimated by their expert.
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January 07, 2025
Federal Magistrate Judge OKs $17.75 Million Settlement In Securities Dispute
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California issued an order granting final approval to a $17.75 million settlement in a case brought by investors who alleged that a company provided several misleading omissions and misrepresentations in a proxy registration statement to secure a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
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January 07, 2025
Fracking Wells At Issue In Groundwater Case Belong To Other Party, Defendants Say
PITTSBURGH — Defendants in a class action over allegations that fracking waste fluid has contaminated residents’ water supply have filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed with regard to both parties because the plaintiffs “unambiguously plead” that only the other defendants own and operate the hydraulic fracturing wells at issue.
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January 07, 2025
Protective Order Violations Alleged In ERISA, RICO Suit Over Repricing Method
OAKLAND, Calif. — After the defendants alleged violation of a protective order in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit over alleged underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health treatment claims, saying in part that a government regulator not involved sent a confidential document from it in communications about a separate matter, the plaintiffs requested more time to respond and a California federal judge issued a text-only order.
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January 07, 2025
11th Circuit ERISA Ruling Rejecting Burden-Shifting Is Focus Of Certiorari Bid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Home Depot Inc. and related respondents have waived their right to respond to a certiorari petition in which 401(k) plan participants ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on “whether, consistent with trust law, burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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January 07, 2025
Class Certified In Worker’s WARN Act Case Against Digital News Company
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York certified a class of workers terminated by a now-defunct news organization, The Messenger, who allege that the mass layoff by JAF Communications Inc. violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
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January 07, 2025
N.J. Federal Judge Partially Dismisses Claims In Amended Insulin Pricing Dispute
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a motion to strike a fourth amended complaint alleging that three drug manufacturers engaged in an unfair and unconscionable pricing scheme for their analog insulin products but agreed to dismiss certain claims.