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

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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Class Action Litigation First Circuit Decisions Jurisdiction Standing Supreme Court

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument on Article III Standing of Testers to Bring ADA Website Accessibility Class Actions

October 5, 2023 / October 5, 2023 by Melanie Conroy

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, a case that we have summarized in prior blog posts.  Just months ago, there was doubt whether the Supreme Court would hear the case at all. While the Court granted Acheson Hotels’ petition for a writ of certiorari in March […]

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Appeals Arbitration Class Action Litigation Class Actions Class Arbitration Litigation Supreme Court

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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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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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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Appeals Class Actions Consumer Class Actions Privacy Class Actions Standing Supreme Court

Supreme Court Addresses Concrete Harm, Limits Standing in FCRA Class Action

June 28, 2021 by Melanie Conroy

On June 25, 2021, the Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated 5-4 ruling in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez. In a 27-page decision by Justice Kavanaugh, the Court reversed the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding the certification of a class of 8,185 consumers whom the credit reporting agency TransUnion had  mistakenly labeled as potential terrorists and drug traffickers. […]

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Antitrust Class Actions Appeals Arbitration Class Action Fairness Act Class Arbitration Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions Privacy Class Actions Securities Class Actions Supreme Court

Class Action Update from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018-2019 Term

June 20, 2019 / June 20, 2019 by Melanie Conroy

The 2018-2019 term of the U.S. Supreme Court opened with a newly configured court in which Justice Kavanaugh joined as an Associate Justice following the retirement of Justice Kennedy. Since October of last year, the Court has heard 69 argued appeals, several of which arose from class action litigation. Over the past nine months, the […]

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Class Arbitration Supreme Court

Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela: Class Arbitration Must Be Expressly Authorized

April 24, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

Class arbitration came back before the Supreme Court this term in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela.  Today, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Lamps Plus, holding that, under the Federal Arbitration Act, “courts may not infer from an ambiguous agreement that parties have consented to arbitrate on a classwide basis.”  Rather, class arbitration […]

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Class Action Settlements Supreme Court

Questions Regarding Cy Pres Settlements Remain after Frank v. Gaos

March 20, 2019 / March 20, 2019 by Josh Dunlap

Today, in a case that was being watched closely for its potential ramifications for class settlements, the Supreme Court opted not to address the merits of the cy pres issues that were presented to it.  Frank v. Gaos involved a settlement that would have distributed millions of dollars to cy pres recipients and class counsel, […]

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