Antitrust Class Actions Appeals Arbitration Class Action Fairness Act Class Arbitration Class Certifications Consumer Class Actions Privacy Class Actions Securities Class Actions Supreme Court
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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Consumer Class Actions Legislation Privacy Class Actions US District Court - Mass
May 29, 2019 / May 30, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
As we have recently reported, the Massachusetts legislature is currently considering a comprehensive data privacy law that would create a private right of action for consumers who allege a violation of any provision of the proposed law. Last week, a Massachusetts federal court dismissed a data privacy class action, concluding that the plaintiffs failed to […]
Class Representative Lead Plaintiff Securities Class Actions Standing US District Court - Mass
May 20, 2019 / May 22, 2019 by Melanie Conroy
On May 16, 2019, the District of Massachusetts denied a lead plaintiff’s motion to amend a complaint that sought to overcome standing deficiencies of the original class representative by adding a new named plaintiff. The Court dismissed the putative class action without prejudice, holding that if a class action has only one representative, and that […]
Class Arbitration Supreme Court
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 […]
Class Certifications Employment Class Actions Massachusetts Decisions
April 15, 2019 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico
Every now and then a case comes along that rewards us class action nerds with an embarrassment of riches. Gammella v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc., decided last week by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, is one such case. In it, the Court addressed a number of important class certification issues, some unique to Massachusetts […]
Class Action Settlements
April 11, 2019 / January 12, 2023 by Don Frederico
Having heard good things about it for years, last month I finally got around to reading Dr. Atul Gawande’s book, The Checklist Manifesto, and have begun to give some thought regarding its application to class action practice. Proposed class action settlements are currently occupying much of my time, and my usual practice when drafting the […]
Class Action Settlements Supreme Court
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, […]
Appeals Supreme Court
February 27, 2019 / May 17, 2024 by Katherine Kayatta
Yesterday, the Supreme Court in Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert unanimously held that Rule 23(f) is not subject to equitable tolling. After the District Court for the Central District of California decertified a class of consumers who alleged that Nutraceutical’s marketing of a dietary supplement violated California consumer-protection law, plaintiff Lambert filed a motion for reconsideration, […]
Class Certifications First Circuit Decisions
February 19, 2019 / February 19, 2019 by Josh Dunlap
The Supreme Court meant what it said in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh – that is the primary lesson from the First Circuit’s January 30th decision in In re Celexa and Lexapro Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation. As my partner, Don Frederico, explained in a blog post last year, the Supreme Court observed in China […]
Appeals Class Action Settlements Class Notice
February 12, 2019 / May 17, 2024 by PAMarketing
On December 1, 2018, the amendments to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 took effect, principally altering portions of the Rule governing class action notice, settlement, and appeals. Although the amendments were approved earlier in 2018 by the United States Supreme Court, they had been in the works for some time. In 2014, a subcommittee of […]
