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

Mealey's Class Actions

June 04, 2024
Awarding 1/3 Of $975,000 ERISA Settlement In Attorney Fees, Judge Gives Final OK

NEW YORK — In orders that didn’t specifically address the lone objection to the class resolution of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over alleged breach of the duty of prudence, a New York federal judge granted final settlement approval and awarded attorney fees totaling 33-1/3% of the $975,000 payment.
May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: Review Of Expert Causation Testimony Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 702: An Early Assessment Of The 2023 Amended Rule

By William L. Anderson and Mark A. Behrens
June 03, 2024
$8M Data Breach Class Settlement By Law Firm Preliminarily Approved

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on May 31 preliminarily approved an $8 million class global settlement to be paid by a law firm after its network was breached and the personal identifiable information (PII) of more than 630,000 individuals was potentially accessed.
May 31, 2024
$2.5M Settlement Reached In Wage-And-Hour Suit Between Chauffeurs, Employers

PHOENIX — Chauffer drivers alleging on behalf of a collective and class that they were improperly denied minimum, straight and overtime wages filed a motion in a federal court in Arizona seeking preliminary approval of a $2.5 million settlement with their employers.
May 31, 2024
Putative Class Suit Filed Against Ticketmaster For Hack Of 560M Customers’ Data

LOS ANGELES — Two consumers filed a putative class action in California federal court against Ticketmaster LLC and Live Nation Entertainment Inc. accusing them of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) for not protecting the data of approximately 560 million customers that was allegedly stolen from its servers in a recent hack.
May 31, 2024
Adult Entertainers Denied Motion To Drop Their Claims Against Meta, OnlyFans

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing the “time and effort” expended in a putative class action alleging tortious interference and unfair competition by Meta Platforms Inc. in blacklisting social media posts by most adult entertainment (AE) providers in favor of the OnlyFans AE platform, a California federal judge denied a motion by the three lead AE performer plaintiffs to dismiss their suit due to an inability to achieve class certification under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).
May 30, 2024
Master Complaints In Hair Relaxer MDL Allege ‘Reckless Acts,’ Knowledge Of Risk

CHICAGO — The plaintiffs’ leadership counsel in litigation brought by individuals who allege wrongful death and other injuries from chemicals in hair relaxer products has filed multiple master long-form complaints in Illinois federal court against eight defendants, seeking punitive damages. In a master complaint against Advanced Beauty Inc., the counsel contend that the defendant is liable for “wanton, willful, fraudulent, reckless acts” related to its awareness that its products posed an increased risk of cancer.
May 30, 2024
Judge Certifies Privacy, Publicity Rights Class Action Against Data Aggregator

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 29 granted a group of plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class action against a personal information data-aggregator website on behalf of two statewide classes accusing the company of violating plaintiffs’ rights of publicity and against misappropriation of name and likeness and denied the parties’ competing motions to exclude each other’s experts.
May 30, 2024
Retirees Urge Denial Of Dismissal Motion In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case

GREENBELT, Md. — Calling Thole v. U.S. Bank. N.A. “entirely distinguishable,” Lockheed Martin Corp. retirees urged a Maryland federal court to deny dismissal of their suit, which is one of a quartet of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
May 30, 2024
Defendants Are Granted Taxable Costs In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Row

DES MOINES, Iowa — Following summary judgment in their favor in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) record-keeping fees in Iowa federal court, grocery chain Hy-Vee Inc. and related defendants were granted taxable costs totaling $53,319.87, including $40,232.83 for discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), on May 29.
May 30, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Objections To $23M Roundup Settlement, Says Deal Is ‘Fair’

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 29 affirmed a lower court’s decision that rejected the arguments of two individuals who objected to a $23 million settlement in a class action for false advertising related to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, ruling that the district court did not abuse its discretion by rejecting the objectors’ argument that the nationwide class action settlement would extinguish higher-value claims in a separate class action.
May 30, 2024
Consumer Amends Suit Accusing Arrowhead Water Of Microplastics Contamination

LOS ANGELES — A consumer filed a second amended complaint in California federal court accusing the company that sells Arrowhead-brand bottled water of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by labeling its product as “100% Mountain Spring Water” when it allegedly contains microplastics that may be detrimental to human health.
May 30, 2024
Commissions Conspiracy Claims Stayed Against Tenn. Brokerage Due To Pending Pact

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri in light of a notice of pending settlement stayed the proceedings against a Tennessee brokerage in a consolidated class case by home sellers accusing the National Association of Realtors (NAR), real estate franchises and brokers of violating the Sherman Act by entering into an agreement to artificially inflate the cost of commissions in residential real estate transactions.
May 30, 2024
1st Circuit Denies Rehearing After Finding Mass. Law Bars Pandemic Closure Suit

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by students who brought a class complaint against the trustees of Boston University (BU) for allegedly breaching the promise of in-person instruction and services when the school transitioned to online learning in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic; the petition was filed after the First Circuit ruled that the retroactive application of a Massachusetts law signed into effect in August 2022 that bars such lawsuits does not violate the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
May 29, 2024
Judge Certifies Class Of Consumers Allegedly Deceived By ‘Italy’s #1 Pasta’ Label

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 28 granted two consumers’ motion to certify their class action against an Illinois-based pasta manufacturer for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by selling pasta products labeled with an “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta” statement and Italian flag colors and denied the manufacturer’s motion to exclude a plaintiff expert as moot.
May 29, 2024
Dismissal Bid Fails In 1 ERISA Lawsuit Over Forfeiture Reallocation

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge has denied dismissal in one of the handful of recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases filed against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited nonvested matching contributions toward administrative expenses.
May 29, 2024
Dating App User Dismisses Biometric Data Collection Class Suit After Settlement

CHICAGO — A dating application user and the companies associated with the operation of the app filed a stipulation of voluntary dismissal without prejudice of the user’s putative class complaint under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA); the filing in a federal court in Illinois came approximately three months after the parties stated that they reached a settlement.
May 29, 2024
N.J. High Court: Real Estate Independent Contractor Agreement Is Enforceable

TRENTON, N.J. — An independent contractor agreement between a broker and a real estate salesperson is enforceable under the New Jersey Real Estate License Act, also known as the Brokers Act, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled, reversing an appellate panel’s affirmance of a trial court’s denial of a broker’s motion to dismiss and remanding for dismissal of the salesperson’s putative class complaint.
May 29, 2024
California Federal Judge Orders Individual Arbitration In ERISA Forfeiture Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has compelled individual arbitration in one of the handful of recent cases filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited funds toward administrative expenses.
May 29, 2024
Bank Of America Settlement Valued At $29M Given Final OK In ACH Transfer Fee Case

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina granted final approval of a settlement by Bank of America N.A. (BOA) providing an $8 million common fund and practice changes that the parties value at $21 million, ending a class complaint by consumers who accused BOA of misleading them about the National Automated Clearinghouse (NACHA) system and the necessity of Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) transfer fees.
May 28, 2024
$3.5M Settlement In ERISA Imprudence Suit Over TDFs, Another Fund Gets Initial OK

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on May 24 granted preliminary approval of a $3.5 million class settlement to resolve retirement plan participants’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of target-date funds (TDFs) and another investment option.
May 28, 2024
10th Circuit: No Jurisdiction Over New Mexico COVID-19 Vaccine Order Class Case

DENVER — A putative class complaint by a nurse and an individual looking to have her children show animals at a state fair that challenged a New Mexico public health order (PHO) requiring certain individuals to be vaccinated against coronavirus should have been dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) as there is no jurisdiction over their claims, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, finding that one of the individual’s claims was moot and the other lacked standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
May 28, 2024
Judge Certifies Class In ESG Row Focused On Proxy Voting, Shareholder Activism

FORT WORTH, Texas — Rejecting numerous arguments advanced by American Airlines Inc. and a related defendant in a suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, a Texas federal judge granted certification of a narrowed class that reflects the decision to drop one theory of liability.
May 28, 2024
Judge Faults Lengthy ChatGPT Complaint As Akin To Town Hall Fodder

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs’ lengthy complaint against Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI entities over the training of artificial intelligence raises policy concerns more appropriate in a town hall than a courtroom, a federal judge in California said May 24 in granting motions to dismiss a class complaint that includes allegations under the California unfair competition law (UCL) and other state laws.
May 24, 2024
$3.25M Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Imprudence Case Over Retirement Plans

BALTIMORE — Resolving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over use of the GoalMaker asset allocation service and other aspects of a Maryland hospital system’s retirement plans, a Maryland federal judge on May 23 granted final approval to a $3.25 million class settlement and awarded a third of that as attorney fees.