Uncategorized
February 22, 2015 / January 11, 2023 by mindgrub
I am frequently asked whether a company sued in a putative class action in Massachusetts state court would be better off in federal court. Despite the common perception that class action defendants in any state are always better off in federal court, there has never been a simple answer to this question in Massachusetts, and it is even more difficult today than it was a few years ago. One reason for the difficulty is that the quality of judges at both levels in Massachusetts is very high. Unlike many jurisdictions...
Read more »
February 14, 2015 / January 11, 2023 by mindgrub
When the Class Action Fairness Act was passed ten years ago, many businesses breathed a collective sigh of relief. No longer would the plaintiffs' bar be able to keep their cases in certain magnet jurisdictions (a/k/a "judicial hellholes") known for looking favorably on class action lawsuits. Many of the cases now would be removable to federal courts, where defendants felt that they had a better chance for fair treatment...
Class Certifications First Circuit Decisions
January 26, 2015 / February 26, 2019 by mindgrub
As my colleague Don Frederico noted in his January 24th post, a divided First Circuit panel recently affirmed the district court’s class certification decision in In re Nexium Antitrust Litigation. In so doing, the First Circuit weighed in on a critical issue that arises in many class cases: is class certification proper where certain members of the class have not suffered injury?
Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions
The First Circuit’s split decision last week affirming class certification in the Nexium antitrust case is sure to receive much attention in product defect class actions. Over the last several years, a chief battleground in such actions has been the import of the fact that many of the people that bought the particular product – indeed, often an overwhelming majority of those people – had no problem at all with it after many years of use...
January 24, 2015 / January 11, 2023 by mindgrub
In a November 30, 2013 post, we wrote about the District of Massachusetts' class certification decision in the antitrust case, In re Nexium. There, the district court certified a class of c...
Class Action Fairness Act Supreme Court
December 19, 2014 / May 17, 2024 by mindgrub
The United States Supreme Court held this week in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co., LLCv Owens that defendants removing cases from state to federal court, including class action defendants...
Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions
November 16, 2014 / January 12, 2023 by mindgrub
In early 2001, I was asked to argue in opposition to a class certification motion in federal court on behalf of the prominent owner of an automobile distributorship. The case was brought on...
Consumer Class Actions Massachusetts Decisions
October 31, 2014 / January 12, 2023 by mindgrub
In December 2008, a major ice storm caused massive and lengthy power outages in several towns in Massachusetts. Twelve residential and business customers of Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light...
Class Action Fairness Act Employment Class Actions First Circuit Decisions
October 30, 2014 / January 12, 2023 by mindgrub
You represent the defendant in a putative wage and hour class action filed in state court, alleging that certain categories of employees were denied mandatory meal breaks. The complaint doe...
July 26, 2014 / January 12, 2023 by mindgrub
This week I attended the annual Class Actions Seminar sponsored by DRI (the Defense Research Institute). It was an excellent program, covering many recent trends in class action practice of...
