Appeals Class Action Litigation Class Actions Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions Litigation Privacy Class Actions Standing Supreme Court

Supreme Court Declines to Take Up Circuit Split on Whether Courts May Grant Class Certification by Averaging Different Class Member Damages

April 30, 2024 by Melanie Conroy

On April 29, 2024, the Supreme Court issued an Order List indicating that certiorari had been denied in Brinker International, Inc. v. Steinmetz, Docket No. 23-648. The Eleventh Circuit Brinker Decision Brinker was a July 2023 Eleventh Circuit decision affirming class certification and holding that class members’ exposure of their payment information to the dark web […]

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Part 4: Making a COVID-19 Tuition Suit Last

February 13, 2024 / February 13, 2024 by Sarah Remes

We recently highlighted two Boston-based COVID-19 tuition refund class action suits, against Brandeis University and Boston College, and the impact of a provision in the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget that grants retroactive immunity from claims arising out of tuition or fees paid for the Spring 2020 term. In both cases, with orders issued just […]

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The Budget Saves Brandeis: An Update on COVID-19 Tuition Litigation

February 1, 2024 by Sarah Remes

In Part 2 of our series on our Massachusetts and Boston-based COVID-19 tuition refund class action suits, we reviewed the legal backdrop of this wave of class action litigation and explored some common pitfalls in education-based claims, noting that even where cases are able to proceed based on adequate framing of the claims and underlying […]

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Supreme Court Dismisses ADA Website Accessibility Class Action for Mootness, Vacates First Circuit Decision

January 11, 2024 / January 11, 2024 by Melanie Conroy

At the close of 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of petitioner Acheson in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer as moot and vacated the underlying decision by the First Circuit that Laufer had constitutional standing to bring her ADA claims. The decision came as no surprise following the Justices’ sharp focus on mootness during […]

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District of Rhode Island Rules that Class Action Waivers are Not Enforceable Outside of Arbitration

October 19, 2023 / May 17, 2024 by Melanie Conroy

Earlier this month, in Elsie Metcalfe v. Grieco Hyundai, LLC, the Rhode Island Federal District Court invalidated a class action waiver in an agreement without an arbitration clause that was therefore not subject to the Federal Arbitration Act. In Metcalfe, Plaintiff Elsie Metcalfe leased a car from Defendant Grieco Hyundai, LLC, in May 2019.  The […]

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SJC Amends Notice Requirements Under Mass. R. Civ. P. 23

August 14, 2023 by Nicholas Anastasi

Earlier this year, the SJC approved several amendments to the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure, which are to take effect on September 1, 2023.  One such amendment applies to Mass. R. Civ. P. 23, and specifically to the section concerning notice to the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee prior to the disposition of residual or “cy pres” […]

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First Circuit Revives Data Breach Class Action Claims in Webb v. Injured Workers Pharmacy, LLC

July 27, 2023 by Melanie Conroy

Courts and class action counsel have been considering what kinds of injuries can confer standing to pursue federal claims following the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, which held that the defendants’ alleged actions that “deprived [plaintiffs] of their right to receive information in the format required by statute” was not sufficient […]

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Staying Put: Supreme Court Holds that District Courts Must Stay Proceedings Pending Arbitration Appeals

June 29, 2023 by Melanie Conroy

On June 23, 2023, in Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, the Supreme Court resolved a deeply divided circuit court split and ruled that a district court must stay its proceedings while an interlocutory appeal on the question of arbitrability is ongoing. Justice Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court, with Justices Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett […]

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Part 2 – Slowing the Spread of Litigation: An Update on First Circuit COVID-19 Tuition Refund Class Actions

May 23, 2023 by Sarah Remes

Part 2: The Legal Backdrop In Part 1 of this series, we provided a brief overview and introduction of the Boston-based COVID-19 tuition refund class action cases, noting generally that most similar suits haven’t made it very far, as courts tend to rule early and often for the educational institution. Below is a brief discussion […]

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Appeals Class Action Litigation Class Actions Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions Litigation Standing Supreme Court US District Court - Maine

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Appeal from First Circuit of Website Accessibility Tester Case

May 18, 2023 / May 18, 2023 by Melanie Conroy

On March 27, 2023, the Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari by Acheson Hotels in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Deborah Laufer, Case No. 21-1410. In its petition to appeal from an earlier First Circuit decision analyzed in a prior post,  Acheson Hotels asks the Supreme Court to resolve the following question: […]

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