Just before the holidays, Judge Singal issued an order de-certifying a class in Loef v. First American Title Insurance Company. The Loef decision both provides an excellent example of the ch…
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, upholding the enforceability of a class action waiver in a consumer arbitration agreement, was applauded by employe…
As recently discussed on this blog, the Seventh Circuit – in an opinion authored by Judge Posner – reversed a district court’s denial of class certification regarding claims involving Whirlp…
In a recent Seventh Circuit decision that has received much attention, Judge Posner explained the predominance requirement of Rule 23(b)(3) in a way that no doubt will be cited frequently by…
A few weeks ago I read a blog post by a contributor to Forbes, expressing concern that the Supreme Court is “trying to impose substantial restrictions on class actions.” The post gets off t…
Matamoros v. Starbucks and Rule 23
In our last post, Katy Rand ?explored both the substantive Massachusetts employment law issues and the Rule 23(a)(4) analysis in the First Circuit’s recent Starbucks tips case. This post wi…
Matamoros v. Starbucks: First Circuit Affirms $14 Million Judgment for Violation of the Massachusetts Tips Act
Last week, in Download Matamoros et al v Starbucks Corporation, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed decisions of the District of Massachusetts (Hon. Nathanial M. Gorton), granting cl…
This week I had the privilege of serving as a panelist at the ABA’s 16th Annual National Institute on Class Actions. This year’s’ program, like last year’s, was organized and moderated by D…
In George v. NWMCC, CA No. 10-10289-DJC (D. Mass., September 27, 2012), United States District Judge Denise Casper granted class certification to a group of employees and former employees of…
The District of Massachusetts Stays True to Wal-Mart
After the Supreme Court decided Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, it was fashionable for some in the plaintiffs’ bar to argue that the deciding factor was the size of the class. After all, it…