Class Actions Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions Litigation Privacy Class Actions Standing US District Court - Mass

District of Massachusetts Dismisses Data Breach Class Action for Lack of Injury

November 16, 2022 by Melanie Conroy

On October 18, 2022, in Webb v. Injured Workers Pharmacy, LLC, the District of Massachusetts dismissed a class action complaint brought by former pharmacy patients alleging that their sensitive personal information had been exposed in a data breach affecting more than 75,000 customers. In its analysis, the court determined that the named plaintiffs and putative […]

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Appeals Class Actions Consumer Class Actions Employment Class Actions Fair Credit Reporting Act First Circuit Decisions Jurisdiction Litigation Standing Supreme Court US District Court - Maine

First Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Website Tester Has Standing for ‘Informational Injury’, Deepens Circuit Divide

October 27, 2022 / May 3, 2023 by Melanie Conroy

On October 5, 2022, in Laufer v. Acheson Hotels LLC, the U.S Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a suit against Acheson Hotels, LLC, which operates an inn on Maine’s southern coast. With this reversal, the First Circuit has addressed a matter of first impression and deepened a […]

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Class Actions First Circuit Decisions Privacy Class Actions

First Circuit Holds That College Does Not Owe Fiduciary Duties to Students, Rejects Data Privacy Class Action Claims

April 3, 2020 by Melanie Conroy

On March 25, 2020, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Squeri v. Mount Ida College upheld the lower court’s dismissal of prospective and former Mount Ida College students’ claims against the college and its Board of Trustees arising from the college’s abrupt closure and sale of its campus to UMass Amherst in May 2018. […]

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Antitrust Class Actions Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions US District Court - Mass US District Court - Rhode Island

After-Effects of In re Asacol: Recent District Court Decisions on Certification and Uninjured Class Members

November 18, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

About a year ago, I observed that the First Circuit in In re Asacol Antitrust Litigation had constrained plaintiffs’ ability to rely on affidavits to prove injury-in-fact.  In so doing, the First Circuit substantially curtailed its prior decision in In re Nexium Antitrust Litigation, which certified a class containing uninjured consumers because class members would […]

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Class Certifications First Circuit Decisions

In re Celexa and Lexapro – The First Circuit Weighs in on China Agritech and American Pipe Tolling

February 19, 2019 / February 19, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

The Supreme Court meant what it said in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh – that is the primary lesson from the First Circuit’s January 30th decision in In re Celexa and Lexapro Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation.  As my partner, Don Frederico, explained in a blog post last year, the Supreme Court observed in China […]

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Antitrust Class Actions Class Certifications First Circuit Decisions Jurisdiction

In re Asacol Antitrust Litigation: Article III Standing in Multi-State Class Actions

November 6, 2018 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico

In his October 17th post, Josh Dunlap describes in detail the First Circuit’s landmark ruling in In re Asacol Antitrust Litigation concerning classes that include uninjured members. As Josh points out, although the district court had referred to ascertainability in its decision certifying the class, the First Circuit opinion reversing class certification did not, and for good reason. […]

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Antitrust Class Actions First Circuit Decisions US District Court - Mass

In re Asacol Antitrust Litigation – An Antidote to In re Nexium and “Ascertainability-by-Affidavit”

October 17, 2018 / February 26, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

When last I wrote about ascertainability, I noted that a debate over the propriety of “ascertainability-by-affidavit” continued to percolate within the First Circuit even as lower courts relied on In re Nexium Antitrust Litigation to certify classes containing uninjured class members.  Specifically, I noted a couple of developments.  First, in In re Asacol Antitrust Litigation, […]

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Arbitration Class Arbitration Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions

In Cullinane v. Uber, First Circuit Addresses Arbitration Clauses in Online Contracts

June 26, 2018 / February 26, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

Yesterday the First Circuit weighed in on a hot topic – the enforceability of arbitration provisions in online contracts.  In Cullinane, several plaintiffs brought a putative class action alleging that Uber had violated Massachusetts’ consumer protection statute by assessing certain fees.  Uber filed a motion to compel arbitration under its Terms of Service, which contained […]

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Antitrust Class Actions First Circuit Decisions US District Court - Mass US District Court - New Hampshire

Ascertainability & In re Nexium – The Side-Effects Continue

December 7, 2017 / February 26, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

As various contributors to this blog have noted (here, here, and here), a divided panel of the First Circuit adopted a “loose” approach to the ascertainability requirement in In re Nexium Antitrust Litigation.  Specifically, while acknowledging that “the definition of [a] class must be ‘definite,’” the majority concluded that this requirement could be satisfied by […]

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Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions

When you get what you pay for: the First Circuit examines the injury requirement under Massachusetts chapter 93A.

August 2, 2017 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico

On July 26th, the First Circuit issued rulings in putative consumer class actions brought by the same attorney against two national department store chains, challenging their allegedly deceptive use of comparative pricing on their in-store price tags.  In the first case, brought against Nordstrom, the court engaged in a careful review of a series of […]

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