Class Actions Class Arbitration Employment Class Actions Massachusetts Decisions
August 9, 2022 by Melanie Conroy
On July 27, 2022, in Archer v. Grubhub, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court considered whether Grubhub delivery drivers within the Commonwealth are exempt from arbitration under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). FAA Section 1 exempts “seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” The SJC […]
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Class Actions Jurisdiction Massachusetts Decisions
May 6, 2022 / January 3, 2023 by Don Frederico
Over the past 25 years, I have had the good fortune of getting to know and working with both plaintiff and defendant class action lawyers from many states, and to teach class action practice in dozens of local and national CLE programs and at a great law school. I also have represented clients in class […]
Class Actions Class Notice Massachusetts Decisions
April 19, 2022 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico
The Backdrop Class actions are like butterflies; they must undergo a metamorphosis before they fly. The transformation occurs when a court grants class certification. At that instant, what had started out as an individual lawsuit emerges as its own entity, with a number of legal consequences flowing from the change. Among them, plaintiff’s counsel becomes […]
Class Actions Maine Decisions
July 16, 2020 / July 17, 2020 by Josh Dunlap
I’m pleased to say that I recently published an article, Class Actions: A Survey and Comparison of Federal Law and Maine State Law, that considers Maine class action law in light of federal law, particularly case law in the First Circuit. While class actions are prevalent at the national level, the story thus far has […]
Class Actions First Circuit Decisions Privacy Class Actions
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. […]
Appeals Class Actions Litigation
March 17, 2020 / May 17, 2024 by Katherine Kayatta
We have previously written about the Supreme Court’s personal jurisdiction decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017) and how the federal district courts were applying it. Now, two Courts of Appeals have finally weighed in, issuing the very first appellate decisions addressing whether Bristol-Myers applies to class actions in […]
Arbitration Consumer Class Actions US District Court - Mass
December 11, 2019 / January 3, 2020 by Melanie Conroy
It is a legal maxim that arbitration is a creature of contract. A recent District of Massachusetts decision explores critical questions about when that creature can exist outside of the confines of a binding agreement to arbitrate among the parties. The November 27, 2019 decision by Senior U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole ordered that […]
Antitrust Class Actions Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions First Circuit Decisions US District Court - Mass US District Court - Rhode Island
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 […]
Arbitration Consumer Class Actions Privacy Class Actions US District Court - Mass
November 15, 2019 / November 18, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
On November 4, 2019, in Wainblat v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, et. al., No. 19-cv-10976, the District of Massachusetts ordered that a consumer privacy class action against Comcast must be arbitrated on an individual basis because the claims are subject to a valid and enforceable arbitration provision. Against a backdrop of rapidly expanding consumer class […]
Consumer Class Actions Privacy Class Actions US District Court - Mass
October 1, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
On September 24, 2019, the District of Massachusetts held in Katz v. Liberty Power Corp., LLC that the government debt collection exemption to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. §§ 227 et seq., is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. No. 18-cv-10506-ADB, 2019 WL 4645524 (D. Mass. Sept. 24, 2019). Following the […]
