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Mealey's Class Actions

  • December 10, 2025

    Child Support Processors Appeal $7.6M Judgment For 50-Cent Customer Service Fees

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three companies that send child support payments to recipients filed a notice of appeal in California federal court on Dec. 9 stating they are appealing the court’s $7.6 million restitution award against them in favor of a certified class of child support recipients, who the court found were charged 50-cent service fees for making customer support phone calls in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • December 10, 2025

    Government Urges High Court Review Of ERISA Burden Question, Shifts Position

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saying that now is the time for the U.S. Supreme Court to address a question it has thrice declined to consider — and acknowledging that the position it now takes represents a change from its historical one — the U.S. government on Dec. 9 filed an amicus curiae brief urging the high court to grant a certiorari petition that asks whether “burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • December 10, 2025

    Government To High Court: Resolve ERISA Meaningful Benchmarks Circuit Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 9 amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a certiorari petition, the U.S. government opines that there were two significant errors in the challenged decision concerning the role benchmarks play in pleading Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims; the 2-1 ruling by a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel revived a putative class action over a passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs).

  • December 10, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Recommends Denying Injunctive Relief In AI Discipline Challenge

    NEW YORK — A federal district court lacks jurisdiction over a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ referral of an attorney to a grievance panel based on its conclusion that she misused artificial intelligence, and the attorney has not demonstrated a likelihood of success otherwise, a magistrate judge said in recommending that the court deny injunctive relief.

  • December 10, 2025

    Judge Won’t Stay AI Discrimination Case Pending U.S. Supreme Court Petitions

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California declined to stay an artificial intelligence age discrimination case while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a pair of petitions involving Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) collective actions, saying any harm from having to reassess the notice process is speculative and does not outweigh the harm the plaintiffs would experience from the delay.

  • December 10, 2025

    Drug Manufacturer Agrees To $1.89M Settlement To End Claims In Losartan MDL

    CAMDEN, N.J. — A manufacturer of losartan products has agreed to pay $1,899,000 to settle claims brought against it by consumers and third-party payers (TPPs) who allege in a multidistrict litigation in a New Jersey federal court that the blood pressure medication was contaminated, according to a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement agreement.

  • December 09, 2025

    8th Circuit Finds Movie Theater Chain Isn’t Video Provider, Didn’t Violate VPPA

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A trial court’s dismissal of a putative class claim that a movie theater chain violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) was affirmed by an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 8, which concluded that although the chain shares certain consumer information with Meta Platforms Inc., it does not qualify as a video tape service provider (VTSP) under the statute.

  • December 09, 2025

    $84M Deal To Resolve Wells Fargo ESOP Dividends Case Gets Initial OK

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on Dec. 8 granted preliminary approval of a settlement under which Wells Fargo & Co. would pay $84 million to resolve a class action against it and two other defendants; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenges how Wells Fargo used dividends of its preferred stock held in its 401(k)’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) fund.

  • December 08, 2025

    DOL Mulls Amicus Brief In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Appeal Over Standing

    RICHMOND, Va. — On the heels of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s appellant brief in its interlocutory appeal of a ruling that retirees had standing to file a putative class lawsuit that is part of a much-watched string of pension risk transfer (PRT) challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Dec. 5 asked the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for extra time to decide whether to file an amicus curiae brief; among other things, the retirees generally allege that the use of offshore captive reinsurers makes the insurers that are responsible to pay annuities because of the PRTs more likely to fall short of their obligations.

  • December 08, 2025

    $14 Million Settlement Of Data Breach Suit Against Turnkey Payer Gets Final OK

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge deemed the $14 million settlement of a consolidated class action over a turnkey payer service’s 2022 data breach to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” granting final approval and issuing final judgment to the plaintiffs.

  • December 05, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Will Review Legality Of Birthright Citizenship Executive Order

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 5 granted a petition by President Donald J. Trump and other federal government parties seeking a decision on the legality of an executive order (EO) Trump signed in January declaring that children born in the United States are not citizens when their mother is “unlawfully present in the United States” or their mother’s presence is “temporary” and their father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

  • December 05, 2025

    Settlement Between Microturbine Manufacturing Executives, Investors Approved

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted final approval to a $2.25 million settlement between investors and former executives of a microturbine manufacturer who the investors alleged defrauded investors by making false or misleading statements regarding the company’s revenue.

  • December 05, 2025

    Investors Granted Partial Summary Judgment In Dispute Over Cryptocurrency Sale

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge granted partial summary judgment to investors who sued the trustee of a cryptocurrency and the company that managed the cryptocurrency for selling the cryptocurrency without filing a registration statement, finding that the investors met the first two prongs of the test established under Secs. & Exch. Comm’n v. W.J. Howey Co. but that there was a dispute over whether the promotional materials for the cryptocurrency “attracted Plaintiffs with an expectation of profits.”

  • December 05, 2025

    9th Circuit To Hear Argument In Appeal Class Filed Over Proprietary TDFs Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear Dec. 9 oral argument in an appeal where retirement plan participants who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) lost on all counts following a bench trial; among other things, the participants seek vacatur of an order taxing them with nearly $94,000 in costs.

  • December 04, 2025

    Judge Dismisses ERISA Stable Value Fund Suit With Leave To Amend

    CHICAGO — Citing the plaintiff’s failure “to identify a uniform sample” among his proposed comparator stable value funds (SVFs), an Illinois federal judge on Dec. 3 dismissed a putative class complaint concerning an allegedly underperforming SVF with leave to amend.

  • December 04, 2025

    $7M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Dec. 3 granted final approval to a class settlement with a present value of $7 million that resolves a suit challenging the use of allegedly outdated mortality assumptions to calculate annuities for married pension plan participants; as requested, the judge also awarded a third of that total for attorney fees.

  • December 04, 2025

    Judge Certifies Alexa Voice ID Biometric Data Class Suit, Excludes Named Plaintiff

    CHICAGO — A named plaintiff who signed up for Amazon.com Inc.’s Voice ID program after the filing of a suit would be subject to unique defenses that render him unfit to be a class representative, a federal judge in Illinois said while certifying claims that the company violated Illinois law by collecting certain biometric data through its Alexa artificial intelligence system.

  • December 04, 2025

    Google Accuses AI Copyright Plaintiffs Of ‘Litigation-By-Ambush’

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google LLC opposed a motion to certify a class action and asked a federal judge in California to strike the allegations with prejudice as a sanction for artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ “midnight switch” of proposed classes and subclasses.

  • December 04, 2025

    Class Certification, Injunction Partially Granted In Warrantless Arrests Case

    DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado partially granted a provisional motion for class certification and a preliminary injunction motion filed by four individuals challenging their immigrant status arrests in that state without warrants.

  • December 03, 2025

    U.K. Plaintiffs’ Restitution Claim For ‘Honey’ Discount Losses Dismissed

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with leave to amend a putative class action filed by citizens of the United Kingdom against two companies that own and operate the “Honey” discount-finding browser extension, finding that the plaintiffs’ claim for monetary restitution under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) is actually a claim for damages and, therefore, not recoverable.

  • December 03, 2025

    Drugmakers Urge High Court Review Of Class Certification Case, Cite Circuit Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decision by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found no error in the certification of a national third-party payer (TPP) class of entities that paid for the diabetes drug Actos, despite the court recognizing that there is no way to calculate the number of class members that were not harmed, should be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split on when a court may certify the class action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), two drug companies argue in a petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • December 03, 2025

    Class Suit Seeks To Recover Wagers Placed With Allegedly Illegal Gambling App

    NEW YORK — Seven users of the Kalshi App filed a putative class complaint in a federal court in New York seeking to recover wagers they placed regarding various aspects of professional sports games, arguing that the app-based platform marketed as a “prediction market” is actually an unlicensed sports gambling platform.

  • December 03, 2025

    $48.5M Deal That Followed ERISA Jury Verdict Wins Final OK, With Incentives

    NEW YORK — Granting three $25,000 case contribution awards over the defendants’ opposition, a New York federal judge on Dec. 2 gave final approval to a class settlement that was struck after a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial in a challenge to the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan; the deal includes a $48.5 million payment that with interest now totals $49,539,537, and class counsel were awarded a third of that total for attorney fees as requested.

  • December 03, 2025

    Judge Grants Arbitration, Stays Wiretap Class Action Against Toyota, Progressive

    SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 2 granted Toyota Motor North America Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration and stay a class action alleging that Toyota, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. and a provider of data analytics services in the automotive industry violated the Federal Wiretap Act and are responsible for injuries they inflicted on tens of thousands of class members because of their unauthorized collection and dissemination of private information from Toyota vehicles.

  • December 03, 2025

    Journalists, Protesters Allege 1st Amendment Violations Outside ICE Facility

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Journalists and protesters filed a putative class complaint in a federal court in Oregon alleging that they were shot at and tear-gassed in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution while attending and covering immigration policy protests outside a building in Portland that they refer to as the “Portland ICE building.”