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

Mealey's Class Actions

September 20, 2024
Judge Gives $3M Securities Class Settlement Final OK, Lowers Attorney Fee

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted final approval of a $3 million settlement of a suit over alleged violation of federal securities laws but, without specific explanation, awarded class counsel about $44,000 less than the $1 million attorney fee requested.
September 20, 2024
Preliminary Approval Of $40M Settlement Sought In Securities Fraud Class Suit

BALTIMORE — Lead plaintiffs in a securities fraud class suit filed against a COVID-19 vaccine contractor that experienced contamination issues at its Bayview, Md., manufacturing facility and several of its executives seek preliminary approval of a $40 million settlement reached between the parties.
September 19, 2024
Judge Approves $6.5M Settlement For Breach Of Prisoners’ Health Data

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on Sept. 17 granted final approval of a nearly $6.5 million class action settlement including $2.1 million in attorney fees against a claims administrator for correctional facilities for a 2022 data breach that led to the personal health data of nearly 600,000 people being posted online.
September 19, 2024
Class Counsel Get A Third Of $7.5M Settlement In ERISA Proprietary Trusts Row

FLORENCE, S.C. — A $7.5 million global class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs) has been granted final approval, with a South Carolina federal judge awarding $2.5 million of the settlement for attorney fees, $100,000 for service awards and $659,240.95 for litigation expenses.
September 19, 2024
Preliminary Approval Of Settlement Granted In Payroll Processor Data Breach Suit

LOS ANGELES — A California state court judge granted preliminary approval of a settlement in a putative class action suit against an entertainment industry payroll processor whose alleged failure to implement cybersecurity measures to protect the plaintiffs’ personally identifiable information (PII) resulted in a data breach impacting more than 450,000 individuals, staying litigation in the case pending final approval of the settlement.
September 19, 2024
Sending Google Settlement Funds To Only Cy Pres Groups ‘Legal Error,’ Objectors Say

SAN FRANCISCO — Approval of a plan to distribute most of a $62 million settlement in a consolidated class action over Google Inc.’s collection of users’ location data to cy pres organizations while class members receive nothing runs afoul of a revised rule of federal procedure, warranting reversal and remand, three settlement objectors tell the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in their opening brief.
September 19, 2024
MrBeast Game Show Contestants File Wage, Harassment Class Complaint

LOS ANGELES — Five unnamed contestants of Beast Games, a game show produced in part by MrBeast and Amazon Alternative LLC, filed a class complaint in a California court accusing Amazon and others of wage-and-hour violations, harassment and unfair business practices after they say they were told they would be competing with 1,000 people for a $5 million prize but the odds of winning were actually far less when they began competing.
September 19, 2024
Maryland State Police Officers’ Race Bias Class Claims Trimmed By Federal Judge

GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge in Maryland partially dismissed putative class claims of racial discrimination by three Maryland state police officers who accuse the Maryland Department of State Police (MSP) and individual officials of ongoing discrimination against officers of color, leaving in place the officers’ claims for bias and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Maryland law against MSP only.
September 19, 2024
Failure To Allege NFL Prerecorded Videos Were Viewed Deemed ‘Fatal’ To VPPA Claim

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed a putative class complaint accusing the National Football League of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing personal data about users of the NFL’s website, mobile application and video service with a third party, opining that the lead plaintiff’s failure to allege that prerecorded videos were viewed was “fatal” to the complaint.
September 19, 2024
Appeal Is Filed Over Dismissal Of Case Ruled Untimely In ACA Reinsurance Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dismissal of a group health plan’s claims regarding allegedly illegal exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is being appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
September 19, 2024
Planned Parenthood’s $6M Data Breach Class Settlement Given Final OK

LOS ANGELES — A $6 million settlement by Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) to end a consolidated class complaint accusing the reproductive health care provider of failing to protect patients’ personally identifiable information and protected health information from being accessed and stolen was granted final approval by a California judge, following the submission of additional documentation.
September 18, 2024
Judge Denies Meta’s Dismissal Bid In Class Suit Over Facial Recognition Software

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill.— An Illinois federal judge on Sept. 17 denied a dismissal motion filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) in a putative class action suit alleging violations of a state privacy law regarding Meta’s collecting biometric information using facial recognition software through its Facebook messenger and messenger kids applications, finding that Meta did not “overcome the presumption against preemption” by federal law and did not show that the complaint failed to allege that Meta collected and possessed biometric data.
September 18, 2024
Class Action Alleges Insurance Provider Negligently Failed To Prevent Data Breach

NEW YORK —A class action complaint was filed in a New York federal court against a financial organization that offers insurance, retirement and investment services primarily to teachers, alleging that the defendant failed to prevent a May 2023 data breach that resulted in the theft of the personally identifiable information (PII) of its current and former clients.
September 18, 2024
11th Circuit Agrees That Timeshare Loans Are Covered By Military Lending Act

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit panel affirmed a trial court’s determination that timeshare loans do not fall within the Military Lending Act’s (MLA) exception for “residential mortgages” and that the MLA overrides the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) but dismissed an appeal by a timeshare resort company seeking to compel arbitration of a putative class lawsuit accusing it of extending consumer credit in violation of the MLA, opining that the panel lacked jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeal.
September 17, 2024
Class Suit Over College’s Handling Of Rapes Dismissed With Prejudice

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan dismissed with prejudice a putative class complaint filed by two female college students against their school over the way in which their reports of being raped by other students were handled.
September 17, 2024
23andMe Asks MDL Judge To Approve $30M Data Breach Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — Genetic data company 23andMe Inc. filed a brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to grant preliminary approval to a $30 million settlement to resolve claims in a multidistrict litigation brought by plaintiffs whose genetic data on 23andMe’s website was hacked and offered for sale online and asking the court to enjoin separate litigation and arbitrations brought against it for the breach that it says could “jeopardize . . . the Settlement.”
September 17, 2024
Pa. Health Provider’s $65M Data Breach Settlement Granted Preliminary Approval

SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania judge granted preliminary approval of a $65 million settlement to be paid by Lehigh Valley Health Network Inc. (LVHN) to end a class complaint alleging that a February 2023 data breach resulted in the disclosure of personal information and medical records, including nude photographs.
September 16, 2024
4th Circuit OKs Interlocutory Appeal On Class Certification In Index TDF Case

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 13 agreed to interlocutory review of a grant of class certification in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs).
September 16, 2024
Stay Granted Pending Settlement In Computer Operation FLSA Suit

LAS VEGAS — A federal judge in Nevada granted a joint motion to stay pending court approval of a settlement in a collective Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case by Las Vegas call center employees seeking compensation for time spent turning on and off their computers; the motion and order come just over a month after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a mandate finding triable issues in the case.
September 13, 2024
Summary Judgment Bid Largely Fails In ERISA Class Row Over Proprietary Funds

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has mostly denied summary judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging the selection and retention of proprietary funds, also denying the defendants’ requests to partly exclude the opinions and exhibits of two of the plaintiffs’ experts.
September 13, 2024
Attorney Fees Judgment Stayed In Jack In The Box Workers’ Wage Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon in a docket entry granted an unopposed motion by Jack in the Box Inc. to approve a supersedeas bond and stay the enforcement of judgment for attorney fees in a wage-and-hour suit by workers pending resolution of post-trial motions and appeal.
September 13, 2024
Stay Granted After NextHome Reaches Settlement In Real Estate Commissions Suit

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri in a docket entry stayed the deadlines pertaining to NextHome Inc. pending a settlement with home sellers in a consolidated class complaint accusing the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and real estate franchises of conspiring to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions.
September 12, 2024
Magistrate Addresses Row Over Documents DOL Gave Plaintiffs Challenging ESOP Deal

DENVER — Ruling that a common interest agreement (CIA) does not protect the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from waiving its privileges and protections by sharing investigative materials with plaintiffs challenging an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal, a Colorado federal magistrate judge on Sept. 11 said the plaintiffs gained “access to information they can leverage, use to take shortcuts, and rely upon to circumvent ordinary discovery protocols.”
September 12, 2024
11th Circuit Won’t Rehear ERISA Fees, Funds Ruling Rejecting Burden-Shifting

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc in which 401(k) plan participants argued that the panel ruling “conflicts with Supreme Court precedent, this Court’s precedent, and other circuits’ authoritative decisions” and that “[w]hich party bears the burden on causation, what satisfies that burden, and the standard for inadvertent waiver of all available remedies are questions of exceptional importance.”
September 11, 2024
Judge Finds PFAS Claims Against Drink Maker Exceed Proposition 65

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge said a consumer’s putative class action against a sports drink maker for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes is not barred under the state’s Proposition 65 because her allegations of health risks caused by the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the product exceed those covered by the regulation, but dismissed several of her claims as insufficiently pleaded.